I had been working on a series of grapevine wreath quilts, challenging myself to interpret the original Baltimore Album design using different techniques.  My first version was made using crayons, with machine embroidery to outline the edges.

I tried broderie perse, and created the wreath by cutting out grapes and leaves that were printed on fabric, fusing them to the background, and finishing the edges with a machine blanket stitch.

I used a three-dimensional appliqué technique and sandwiched a layer of fusible adhesive between two layers of fabric to create grapes and leaves.  These were tacked onto a quilted background.

And then, I tried making a grapevine wreath fabric mosaic.

Small pieces of fabric were arranged to create the grapes, the leaves, and even the background in this quilt.  Light Steam-a-Seam 2 was fused to the wrong side of each fabric scrap and the paper backing was removed before cutting the fabric into little snippets.  This particular brand of fusible web has a sticky finish, allowing the tiny bits to hold in place until they are permanently fused.

How fun!  This fabric mosaic is held in place mostly by the fusing of the swatches to the background, but I did add a certain amount of machine quilting over the layers as well.

I wanted to share this technique as a workshop but I wasn’t sure if the grapevine wreath would be the ideal project.  I decided that a butterfly would work well and give students lots of opportunity for creativity and expression.

On my version, I layered the fabric in sections by color, starting with dark blue swatches for the body …

then adding yellow-green at the bottom of the wings …

pink and violet …

light blue …

and swatches of blue-green for the top of the wings.

I added some navy-blue swirls to the wings …

then covered the butterfly with tulle.  I stitched the tulle around the outer edges of the butterfly then trimmed the tulle close to the stitching.

The mosaic was completed by couching navy-blue perle cotton around the edges of the butterfly and antennae.

To watch this butterfly mosaic come to life before your eyes, check out the video!  (http://youtu.be/wIs75u5JUUE)  If you would like to make your own butterfly mosaic, the class will be available on Friday, November 18th, 2011 at Quilter’s Cupboard in Uxbridge ON; Friday, March 16th, 2012 at the AQS Show in Lancaster PA; Friday, June 1st, 2012 at Quilt Canada in Halifax NS; or by booking directly for your guild or quilt group.

While I must confess that washing quilts is a fairly new concept for me, a variety of factors prompted me to start.  One, I replaced my washing machine with a new high efficiency front loading model.  This dramatically reduced my apprehension about entrusting my hours of painstaking labor and my newly completed work of art to the whims of a spinning washer drum!  Second, I started to incorporate extensive amounts of trapunto into my quilting using the cut-away trapunto method with water-soluble thread.  Third, a decision taken in conjuction with these first two factors, I began marking my quilts with wash-out markers.

My final reason for washing my newly quilted quilts was the opportunity for blocking.  Blocking is a concept I first encountered while knitting.  After each section of a sweater is completed, it is dampened and then shaped into its desired dimensions while laying flat to dry.  The same principles can be applied to quilts.

Extensive machine quilting and dense stippling can significantly distort the shape of a quilt.  Washing a quilt before applying the binding means that it can be blocked first – measured, squared, returned to its proper shape.  Here’s how.

Find a flat area large enough for the quilt.  For larger quilts, I move the furniture out of the way in my living room.  (It doesn’t get used all that much anyway!)

To protect the carpet or floor, lay out a large sheet of plastic or a shower curtain liner.

Cover the plastic with a clean bed sheet…

… and towels.

Before placing the quilt in the washing machine, make sure that all pins have been removed.  You may want to thread baste around the outside perimeter, particularly if the quilting does not extend right out to the edges.  Wash the quilt on a delicate cycle with a small amount of gentle laundry soap if desired (there are products designed specifically for washing quilts), but remember that the goal has less to do with cleaning and more to do with getting wet.  If you are concerned about fabrics bleeding, you can also add a product like Woolite Dye Magnet or Shout Color Catcher.  When the cycle is complete, carefully remove the quilt onto a large bed sheet taking care not to pull or stretch the wet fibers.

Lay the wet quilt onto the prepared flat surface and gently smooth it into shape.  This will take some time as you work your way around the quilt, flattening and easing out any ripples.  Once the quilt is flat and smooth, start taking measurements.  Make sure the sides are the same length at the top, middle, and bottom.  To determine if the quilt is square (not skewed and with all corners at 90-degree angles), check that both diagonal measurements are equal.  If any of these measurements are off, adjust the damp quilt accordingly.

Now leave the quilt until it is completely dry, which could take a few days.  I have heard that fans can be used to speed up the drying process.  This important finishing step will ensure that your quilt is square, hangs straight, and will help make the next step of applying the binding more successful.

The motifs in the middle of the vertical borders include a fairly large section of dark green fabric.  With the surrounding areas being heavily quilted, I needed to quilt the green area with equal density – but how?

I decided upon a fairly traditional motif of overlapping circles known as “orange peel”.  And these circles, I concluded, would be a mere half-inch in diameter!

Now how was I going to get these circles marked on my quilt?  I debated my options, but didn’t like any idea that involved actually tracing or drawing these circles – that would take forever!  Since I had produced them on my computer using CorelDraw software, wouldn’t it be great if I could just print them onto tracing paper?

Enter Simple Foundations Translucent Vellum Paper from C&T Publishing.  Introduced as a product for paper piecing, it is see-through, it is 8 1/2 x 11″ and can be used in a printer, and it tears away easily after stitching.  Perfect!  I decided to give it a try.

I printed my half-inch orange peels onto a sheet of this foundation paper, laid the paper over the green fabric, and traced the outline of that section.  By cutting out the shape formed by the green fabric first, I could ensure that my quilting stitches wouldn’t inadvertently cross over onto the nearby gold fabric.

I pinned the paper in place and quilted the orange peels right through the paper.

Removing the paper was easy – especially with these two tips.  One:  run a blunt edge tool over the line of stitching first.  I use my Easy Edge Appliqué Tool or you could also try That Purple Thang.  This loosens the paper from the stitching and helps lift it off the surface of the quilt.  Second:  wrap a piece of masking tape around your index paper, sticky side out.  This will help pick up any remaining little bits of paper tucked under the quilting thread.

Ideally, we don’t want our quilt to drag while we are stitching.  We want the height of the quilt to be flush with the needle plate and the weight of the quilt to be balanced.  Not only does a quilt drag when it falls off the edge of the table, it drags if it hangs below the height of the needle plate.  This occurs when a sewing machine sits on top of a table.

There are beautiful sewing machine cabinets designed to address this very problem.  Available in a wide variety of sizes, finishes, and price points, these cabinets feature a recessed shelf which allows the sewing machine to sit lower than the table top.

How I longed for one of these cabinets!  But I had a problem:  I didn’t have enough space in my sewing room.  Last week, I showed you this photo of the two Ikea-style tables that fill the center of my studio.

To add a sewing machine cabinet, I would have to remove a table.  This did not appeal to me because I like having those two tables together.  They come in handy for all kinds of tasks, including basting!  But how could I set up my workspace for machine quilting so that my quilts wouldn’t hang over the edge of my sewing machine?  My solution was to build a custom table-top for one of my work tables.

Here’s how it works.  Position the sewing machine on the table as far to the right as possible.  Measure the width and the depth of the space used by the machine.  Also measure the height to the needle plate.  From a sheet of melamine, plywood, or other laminated sheet the same size as your table, cut out a section measuring the width and depth of your sewing machine.

Build a base underneath the table top to raise the height equal to the sewing machine.  Having this base inset a few inches from the edges is a good idea.

Place this unit onto the original table top, lining up the edges.

Now, the height of my sewing machine is equal to the table top…

…but the height of my two tables is unequal.

This is easily solved by placing blocks of wood beneath the legs of the second table.

Now my quilts are well supported.  They don’t drag while I am machine quilting and I was able to keep my two tables!

I have two basic Ikea-style tables in my sewing room, each measuring approximately 32″ x 48″.  If you don’t have this kind of work space, many quilt shops will allow you to use their work tables.

Divide each layer of your quilt into four equal quadrants.  I do this by folding the backing fabric, the batting, and the quilt top in half and marking each midway point with a safety pin.

Lay the top left quadrant of the backing fabric, face down, on the tables.  Use masking tape to secure the two raw edges and binder clips to secure the edges with excess fabric.  Make sure the backing fabric is smooth and taut, gently stretching it as it is fastened to the table.

Did you notice the legs of my tables?  Coffee cans raise the height just enough so I can baste without bending over.  This sure helps prevents back pain! 

Add the batting, lining up the safety pins that mark the centers.  Smooth out any bumps or wrinkles.

Add the quilt top, again matching centers, and baste the first quadrant.  For machine quilting, I baste with safety pins.  There are pins specifically designed for this task, with a bend to help go through all the layers, but I like to use these small brass pins.

Remove the masking tape and binder clips, and move the quilt over to the top right quadrant.  Use the binder clips to secure all three layers along the left (already basted) edge.

Peel back the quilt top and batting along the left edge, and secure the backing fabric to the table as before – using masking tape for the two raw edges and binder clips for the remaining edge.

Return the batting into place and smooth over the backing fabric.  Add the quilt top and baste the second quadrant.

Remove the masking tape and binder clips, and move the quilt over to the bottom right quadrant.  Use the binder clips to secure all three layers along the top edge.

Peel back the quilt top and batting along the top edge, and secure the backing fabric using masking tape and binder clips.

Return the batting and quilt top into place as before, and baste the third quadrant.

Remove the masking tape and binder clips once again, and move the quilt over to the bottom left quadrant.  Since three quarters of the quilt have now been basted, use binder clips to secure all three layers along both the top and right edges.

Peel back the quilt top and batting on an angle, from one midpoint to the other.  Use masking tape to secure the remaining raw edges of backing fabric.

Return the batting and quilt top into place and baste the final quadrant.  Remove the masking tape and binder clips and start quilting!  (Before you do, you may have to trim or file a couple finger nails.  Those safety pins can be rough!)  Have fun.

Originally, trapunto was done by slitting the backing fabric in order to stuff the design with batting.  The slit was then slip-stitched closed or covered with a second backing fabric.  Vines or straight lines were sometimes stuffed with yarn or cording.  I must admit that slicing the back of my quilt didn’t appeal to me, so I never seriously considered trying trapunto.

That was until I learned about a new way to add trapunto to my quilts.  With this technique – sometimes called “machine trapunto” or “cut-away trapunto” – the extra stuffing is added before the quilt is layered and quilted.

Begin by marking the design onto the quilt top.  (See last week’s article:  To Mark or Not to Mark!)  Pin a layer of high-loft batting – the stuffing – under the motif.  I have been enjoying good results using wool batting.

Stitch the two layers together, following the marked design, using water-soluble thread in the needle and regular thread in the bobbin.

Stitched Front

Stitched Back

Now for the fun part.  Carefully trim the batting close to the stitching, so that only the design is “stuffed”.

From this point on, construct the quilt as usual.  Layer the quilt top with batting and backing fabric and baste.  Quilt by stitching over the same design lines, this time using your choice of quilting thread.  For best results, add dense quilting in the background around the motif.  This will compress the background and really make the stuffed areas stand out. 

Once the quilting is complete, wash the quilt.  Not only will the design markings be removed but the first layer of water-soluble thread will dissolve.  All that remains will be beautiful embossed designs.

This photo is a close-up of some of the trapunto in Instruments of Praise.  The step-by-step photos, however, are from my quilt “Flourish on the Vine”.  Since I haven’t quilted it yet, I can’t show you how that motif turns out – but I will, eventually!

Fruitful is the first quilt I made with trapunto motifs.  I quilted straight parallel lines in the background around the trapunto.  Because the background quilting isn’t as dense as say, stippling, the trapunto doesn’t stand out quite as much.

So for my next attempt, in the quilt Bridal Tea, I stipple quilted the background.

It is an extra step, and trimming that batting can be a challenge, but I believe the results are well worth the effort.  Judges and viewers alike love to see the extraordinary visual texture created by trapunto.  Consider adding it to your next quilt.

You might also be wondering why I spent so much time marking my quilt.  That is a good question – especially if you have taken my machine quilting class!  Anyone who has taken that class can tell you that I will go to great lengths to avoid marking my quilts.  So why now?  Why mark or why not mark?

Part of the answer revolves around removing the marks.  You see, design marking lines should not be visible on completed quilts.  (See the Canadian Quilters’ Association Quilting Standards.)  So the decision to mark quilting designs directly onto a quilt means that quilt will need to be washed to remove the marks.  The question “to mark or not to mark” includes “to wash or not to wash”.

The rest of the answer lies in the quilting designs themselves.  Quilting designs can be random or planned.  Random designs – such as stippling or echo quilting – do not need to be marked.  The quilting lines are formed as they are stitched.

Stippling

Echo Quilting

In the quilt Butterfly Kisses, the loop-de-loop quilting in the blocks was random and didn’t need to be marked whereas the border quilting was planned and did need to be marked.

Except, I didn’t mark it.  Remember:  I will go to great lengths not to mark a quilt!  So how do I “mark” quilts without leaving any markings?  Here are some of my favorite ways.

~ Marking the designs on tracing paper
Golden Threads tracing paper is wonderful for this.  It comes in rolls of various widths and it tears away cleanly and easily.  I trace my design onto the paper, then staple several layers underneath.  By stitching through all the layers using my sewing machine without thread, I can create many hole-punched versions of my design at once.  I pin the tracing paper onto my quilt, stitch the design, then remove the paper.

~ Using masking tape
One-quarter inch quilter’s masking tape works particularly well for quilting straight lines without marking them.  Simply lay the tape alongside a ruler or other straight edge, pressing down lightly to adhere it temporarily to the surface.  A strip can be reused several times before it loses its stickiness. 

~ Using clear contact paper
Traditionally sold as a shelf or drawer liner, the adhesive backing on this inexpensive material makes it very useful as a temporary template.  I trace or draw my shape onto the contact paper, cut it out, stick it onto my quilt, then quilt around the shape.  Again, the template can be used many times – providing you don’t accidently stitch too many holes into it!

In fact, most of the quilts in the Gallery on my website were machine quilted without marking by using one or more of these products.  The most notable exception would be Instruments of Praise and now, my quilt Flourish on the Vine.  Why?  Because of the trapunto.  And I’ll tell you more about that next week!

Scanning Fabric
To create an electronic version of real life fabric in your stash, you can scan it and import the file into EQ7.  Lay the fabric on your scanner bed and scan using your scanner software.

Set the resolution to 72 or 75 and crop the scanned image to approximately 3″ x 3″, following the pattern repeat in the fabric as closely as possible for best results.  Save as a jpg or bmp file.

Fabric on the Internet
In addition to scanning fabric yourself, you can also find images of fabric swatches on the internet.  These can be saved to your computer as a jpg or bmp file by right-clicking on the image and choosing “Save Picture As…”. 

Most fabric manufacturers and on-line retail stores display images of fabric on their websites.  Moda Fabrics, however, has gone one step further.  They provide the option to download jpg images of their fabric collections with a simple mouse click.

Importing Fabric into EQ7
Once you have fabric saved as a jpg or bmp file (gif, png, and tiff are also supported), the file can be imported into EQ7.  Go to the Fabric Library and click Import>From Image Files.  Select the fabric files to import and click Open.  The new fabric swatches are now ready to be added to your Sketchbook.

FAB Fabric Files
Computer files in the format .fab are fabric files that are formatted for EQ software.  Once these files are saved and linked to EQ, they are available directly from the Fabric Library.

Connecting Threads provides FAB files for their latest fabric collections.  Download and extract the zipped file, then save the FAB file in My Documents\My EQ7\user on your hard drive.  The fabric will appear in “My Libraries” in the Fabric Library.

The Electric Quilt Company also offers free FAB fabric files to download.  A new collection is added each month, with each FAB file containing six months.  Download and save the FAB file in My Documents>Monthly Libraries on your hard drive.  Once this folder is linked to EQ, the fabric will appear beneath the pre-loaded EQ7 fabrics in the Fabric Library.

STASH
If all that is not enough, you can purchase even more EQ fabrics.  STASH Fall 2010 includes over 4600 new fabrics from 28 different fabric manufacturers.  Imagine!

How can we avoid shadowing in our quilts?  When it comes to patchwork, the first suggestion is often taught right in the beginner quilting class.

Press Seam Allowances toward the Darker Fabric
Quarter-inch seams in quilting patchwork are most often pressed to one side, rather than pressed open as in garment construction.  Where there is a choice, pressing those seam allowances towards the darker fabric will prevent shadowing near the seam.

This isn’t always possible, especially with butted seams.  Butted seams occur where two seam allowances meet at the same spot.  By pressing one seam allowance to the left and the other to the right, the bulk is evenly distributed in the new seam helping the intersection to line up perfectly and the patchwork to lay flat.  Butting two seam allowances may mean pressing towards the lighter fabric.

Butted seams pressed towards light fabric

Grade or Trim Seam Allowances
If pressing towards the lighter fabric creates shadowing, try removing a bit of the darker fabric in the seam allowance.  Trim the darker fabric by carefully cutting away a sliver of the ¼-inch seam allowance – just enough that the darker seam allowance is narrower than the lighter.  Or, grade the seam allowances by cutting them on an angle such that the darker ends up slightly narrower than the lighter.

Trimmed seam allowances

Even though it was an appliquéd seam, I encountered this situation with the dark purple fabric framing the blocks in Instruments of Praise.  Carefully trimming the dark fabric away from the seam allowance ensured that it didn’t shadow through the paler background fabric.

Shadowing is even more likely to occur with appliqué, when a light-colored patch is stitched on a dark background or overlaps an adjoining dark patch.  To avoid shadowing in my appliqué, I employ a different strategy.

Line Appliqué Patches
A second layer of fabric beneath a light-colored patch – a lining– will successfully prevent darker fabrics from showing through.  Plain white fabric or muslin works well for the second layer.  This lining can be added a number of ways, depending on the method of appliqué.

For fusible appliqué, the lining can be fused to the light-colored appliqué fabric first to create a bonded two-layer sandwich.  Then, the individual appliqué patches can be prepared as usual – although the wrong side of the appliqué fabric is now the lining fabric. 

Lining Fusible Applique

I used this approach with Stormy Seas: The Puffin to prevent the black body of the bird showing through the white face.

For needle-turn appliqué, the lining patch is prepared without a seam allowance.  It is then secured to the wrong side of the appliqué patch with a water-soluble glue stick, so that the raw edges of the lining match the marked stitching lines on the appliqué.  As the patch is stitched, the seam allowance of the appliqué patch covers the raw edge of the lining.

Lining needle-turn applique

This is how the white sails were lined in Stormy Seas: The Sailboat.

Sometimes, in our appliqué, we are faced with the dilemma of determining the order in which each patch will be stitched.  These decisions are particularly critical in designs where the appliqué overlaps.  Which patch goes under and which patch goes over?  The implication of these choices is that any part of a patch that is underneath another patch doesn’t need to be stitched.  It also means that patches that are under must be sewn before patches that are over.

Let’s look at an example.  Here are two patches:  A and B.  Patch A appears to be on top of patch B because it extends over the left edge of B.  This would mean that we stitch patch B first and patch A second.  However, if we sew the patches in this order, we will have to manage an extremely skinny point at red circle #2.  If we reverse the order, we have a slightly more manageable point at red circle #1 but we might ruin the illusion that patch A is on top of patch B.

This is where partial seams come in.  A blue line marks the mid-point of the seam between patch A and patch B.  If we split the seam at this point, patch A can be stitched over patch B to the left of the blue line and patch B can be sewn over patch A to the right of the blue line.  Perfect!  As patch A covers patch B at red circle #1, the point on patch B is created.  But even more importantly, as patch B is stitched over patch A at red circle #2, that very skinny point in patch A becomes perfectly executed.

So how, exactly, do we appliqué this partial seam?  First, mark the split point on the freezer paper templates and transfer this marking to each appliqué fabric as it is traced (see article on preparing patches for needle-turn appliqué).  Next, cut out each patch with a seam allowance and clip through the seam allowance at the marking.

Begin stitching with the patch that appears to be under, in this case, patch B.  Appliqué the left edge of patch B, leaving the area that will be covered by patch A (to the left of the blue line) unstitched.  Appliqué the right edge of patch B but stop an inch or two before reaching red circle #2.  Don’t knot or clip the thread – leave it for completing the stitching later.

Position patch A and begin stitching the right edge, again leaving the area that will be covered by patch B unstitched.  Appliqué patch A, overlapping patch B, until the split point.  Knot and clip the thread for patch A.  Rethread the needle with the thread for patch B and complete the appliqué, overlapping patch A, until the split point.  Knot and clip the thread for patch B.  The split point will be virtually indetectable and both points will be perfect!