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Cathy Fandel led a on binding class before the Feb meeting. Her technique was described in American Patchwork & Quilting, and I found an online copy of the article for any of you who missed the class or need a handout: “Joining Binding Ends…“
Pat Wade went to the Ricky Tims Super Seminar in Asheville last fall and brought back information on his techniques.
Here are the notes from Pat Wade’s demonstration at the January meeting.
This PDF has lots of pictures.. takes a while to download.
(from Kristin Hamilton’s 6:30 class at Nov Guild meeting)
The first rule of needle-turn appliqué is that there really are no rules for needle-turn appliqué. There are many different methods, so keep trying until you find one you love!
clear overlay as placement guide
freezer paper on top.. needle sweeps seam allowance under
Appliqué supplies:
|
MUST HAVE |
MIGHT WANT, depending on technique |
| Scissors: good, sharp, small embroidery scissorsHand sewing needles: I prefer size 11 straw needles
Thread to match appliqué: 50-weight cotton or silk Fabric: 100% cotton Bias tape maker or bias bars for vines |
Freezer paperThimble, if you use one
Sandpaper board Clear vinyl Appliqué glue
|
I’ve taken several appliqué classes and I use a variety of the techniques I’ve learned. Here are a few.
- Freezer paper on top – glue or baste to background (demo)
- Freezer paper or plastic templates on the back – press around
- Tracing onto fabric – uses sandpaper board and sequin pins
- Back-basting (demo) – trace design onto wrong side of background. Lay appliqué fabric over top, flip, and baste around line on back – ON the line. Trim away on the front leaving seam allowance. Chalk-mark at basting stitches if necessary, and then remove a few at a time as you appliqué.
Tips to remember:
- A ¼” seam allowance is too big. 3/16” is ideal.
- Start on a “boring” stretch – not a curve, corner or point
- Snip inside curves but leave outside curves alone
- On points, fold in one side, trim overlap, extend the point with thread, and fold in the other side
- On inside “V”s – clip to ALMOST the line, use the needle to “swoop” the fabric in on either side, and take an extra stitch or two inside the V to secure
Other Resources
Googling a number of these terms, including “needle-turn appliqué” or “back-basting” is helpful. Alex Anderson does a series of video tutorials on her website, and there are probably others on YouTube. Some of my favorite appliqué-focused blogs include http://www.allaboutapplique.net which also links to many of the appliqué designers’ sites as well.
By Kristen Hamilton
http://tenquilts.blogspot.com
There was much discussion during the meeting about the difficulty of threading these straw needles with fine thread. Here are some shots of the threader some of us use with ease..
These quilts are supposed to be somewhat spontaneous and a surprise, but I don’t want to completely surprised by how large or small the final convergence turns out to be.
These lists show the finished width of a convergence based on a starting strip size & the size of the increase for each strip. The “normal” one on the left starts with 1 inch and increases by a half inch. The “miniature” one starts with 3-quarter inch and increases only by a quarter inch.
They are cumulative… cut as many strips as desired starting from the top of the list.
- Fabric Size: required width of fabric needed to make a convergence using all the rows from top to this one.
- Strip Cut Size: size of each successive cut strip
- Converged width: the final finished size of a convergence of 2 fabrics using all the rows from 1 to this one
| Normal | Miniature | |||||
| Fabric size | strip cut size | converged width | Fabric size | strip cut size | converged width | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | 0.75 | 0.5 | |
| 2.5 | 1.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 1 | 1.5 | |
| 4.5 | 2 | 6 | 3.75 | 1.25 | 3 | |
| 7 | 2.5 | 10 | 5.25 | 1.5 | 5 | |
| 10 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 1.75 | 7.5 | |
| 13.5 | 3.5 | 21 | 9 | 2 | 10.5 | |
| 17.5 | 4 | 28 | 11.25 | 2.25 | 14 | |
| 22 | 4.5 | 36 | 13.75 | 2.5 | 18 | |
| 27 | 5 | 45 | 16.5 | 2.75 | 22.5 | |
| 32.5 | 5.5 | 55 | 19.5 | 3 | 27.5 | |
| 38.5 | 6 | 66 | 22.75 | 3.25 | 33 |
Don’t forget to leave a final piece of fabric AT LEAST as width as your last cut strip.
If you need more information to know what this is all about; Ricky Tims is the man! Here’s his gallery
or.. my lazy version of Sharon Schamber’s fastidious fashion
Oct 3 pre-meeting Technique Class by Loretta Twiford
Reference: www.YouTube.com search for Sharon Schamber. The video(s) to watch for this reference are Binding The Angel; there is a Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Here is the site for Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/user/SharonSchamberNet#p/a/AAF390EBC02BDD33/0/4PE0Yq9iGlc. It is soooo much easier just to go to www.YouTube.com and search Sharon Schamber !!! She has many informative videos available for viewing.
Preparing the Binding
In Binding The Angel Part 1 she goes into detail about preparing the binding fabric, cutting it, and her method of preparing/attaching the binding strips together. Different!
- You lay out your binding strip and the right end of each piece, you fold the end back to a 45 degree angle and press. Oh, except the last piece, of course.
- Then, place a thin line of glue on the 45 degree fold line of the first strip and lay the left end of the second strip on the right end of the first strip, matching carefully; then press with a hot iron to set the glue.
- After gluing all the strips together, you then sew on the fold line of each strip, pop open to break the glue so you can trim to 1/4″ and iron the seam open.
She then goes into a step-by-step about gluing your binding. This she does one side at a time, taking care not to use too much glue. She stresses that in order for the glue to adhere, it needs a press with a hot iron.
By doing this, you can prepare the binding for your whole quilt and it can travel with you for hand sewing at your convenience, or it will patiently wait for you to machine stitch it.Elmer’s School Glue is washable and will completely wash out of your quilt without staining !
Sharon Schamber’s videos are very informative; I recommend you watch them a couple of times and bookmark for future reference !
Joining the binding ends:
In Binding The Angel Part 2, she shows a fascinating way of attaching the beginning/end pieces of your binding – no strain, no pain !!
(this presupposes that you have starched your binding and that the 2 layers are adhesed together)
- Flip end of left binding back about 3″ and give press mark.
- Pull left binding open.
- Fold over at press mark for 45 degree angle and press.
- Lay it back on quilt with 45 degree angle showing, tag end hanging down.
- Pull right side binding over and cut off all but about 3″ to 4″ beyond the left binding.
- Open left binding, put line of glue on 45 degree fold line.
- Put closed right binding over the open left, position and press
- scrunch up quilt, pull binding out onto flat surface
- Open right binding, line up with left binding and press
- Make sure it lays flat and even over the quilt
- Sew on the 45 degree fold line.
- Pop open to break glue so you can iron seam open.
- When you are sure the binding lays flat, trim off tail ends to 1/4″.
- Press seam open.
- (see the presupposition at the beginning) Joining the ends has opened the binding out so they are no longer adhesed; run a line of glue down the edge of the inside of the binding strip to adhere the 2 edges of the binding back together.
- glue binding to quilt and sew
-
Residue on your iron? When my iron cooled down, I was able to take a wet paper towel and clean all residual glue from it ! Hey, washable glue, right ?? lol
Ta da !
Can you tell I was impressed ?
She also spends some time with the treatment of corners, which is especially important if you enter your quilts in juried shows and desire recognition in ribbon form. One thing I noticed is that when she turns the corner, she takes scissors and pokes all the bulk right into the corner and it really does make a very nice, clean, crisp miter !!
As a comparative sample, I have prepared a piece showing 4 different methods of binding application; pins (ouch!!), clips, clamps and glue, as well as several samples so each of you will be able to try out the glue method yourself.
References:
www.theclipstore.com
Smart Clipper
Small Refills (50)
Binding & Hem Clips
www.petalplay.com
Glue-Baste-It (comes with fine applicator tip)
A 7-page PDF guide to the basics in both EQ5 and EQ7, showing buttons and screens for common tasks like setting blocks, re-coloring, and printing.
This handout was distributed at the September 2011 guild program.
Let’s first answer the question: What is a Round Robin quilt? A Round Robin quilt may be described as fun, challenging and exciting. Each quilter makes a center block and hands it over to another quilter to put a border around the center block. The new border might be plain, pieced, appliqued, or embellished. It might not even go around all four sides. Then the center block is passed to a third quilter to add a 2nd border and so on to each member of the group. After the final border is added, the quilt top is returned to the center square maker to finish the quilt. The challenge is each quilter will be designing and putting a border on each quilt. It may be the 2st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. The exciting part is the maker of the center block does not see her block until the final border has been added to it.
The rules for a Round Robin quilt may vary from guild to guild and from group to group. Two facts that do not vary are that the quilter does not see his or her center block until the last border has been added and that each quilter is asked to do his or her best work. Each quilt is passed along in a non-see-through container. A label and/or journal should be included win the center square so that each quilter can sign the label and make notes in the journal. One guild also suggested including a disposable camera with the quilt square to take pictures of each step in the progress of the quilt.
The four Star Quilters 2010 Round Robin quilts were gorgeous. We think part of our success was having few constraints — no rules about size or specific designs in the borders, so we’re did it that way again.
The 2011 Round Robin commences at the May meeting.
- Bring your center (12.5″ minimum) to the meeting in an opaque container.
- Include a journal or camera, and a label.
- Include fabric or special instructions (like “washable only” or “I hate orange”) if you wish.
- If you can’t be at a meeting, get a friend to act as your courier/proxy. Don’t let your fellow quilters down!
Notes:
- There were 8 of us this time, so we randomly exchanged bags, making sure to get someone new each time.
- We returned in June and July to repeat for the next border.
- Completed tops were revealed at the August meeting show ‘n tell.
Drafting a block to a different size is a common mystery for EQ (Electric Quilt) users. In truth this is a breeze in EQ, but so different from pencil and paper.
The short answer? Design the block any way you like, then print the block from the quilt worktable, checking the “size from quilt” box.
Here’s a longer answer, with pictures. Note: the screen shots are EQ5, but the prose works with all versions.
- Go to the block worktable. Don’t worry about size; just get the block design you want into your sketchbook. If you’re designing it yourself, use a size like 6″ with 24 subdivisions (grid dots).
- Change to the quilt worktable.
- On the layout tab, set up a simple layout that blocks the exact size you want — 3.5,9, 17.75 — anything.
- On the layer 1 tab, use the set tool to place the block in the quilt.
- Now it’s all about printing. Still on the quilt worktable, get the “select” tool and click on the on the block on the quilt.
- Choose “print” from either the tool icons, or the menu. You’ll get another menu to choose from…
- Block: I use this all the time for appliqué, but it’s also prints a good paper piecing foundation.
- Rotary Cutting: this tells you exactly what strips to cut for 1 block.
- Block: I use this all the time for appliqué, but it’s also prints a good paper piecing foundation.
- For whatever you print — rotary cutting instructions, foundation patterns, templates, etc., make sure you choose “size from block” so that it’s scaled to the size you chose. You should get results like these…
