Over two weeks in and the background is pieced, the appliqué motifs have been all hand drawn & cut, auditioned, and fused in place. This last step is what caused a big oops.
I use a smallish hand held iron (HOT) to fuse motifs in place while the work is on my design wall. See the iron here: It's far more efficient and accurate than trying to move lots of pinned motifs to a pressing surface.
This project was quite a bit larger than previous ones and during some minor readjustment, I temporarily placed the iron upside down on the carpet....being sure the hot surface didn't touch it. Hummm....not careful enough, it tipped over and now I have this ugly and unrepairable mess. I'll have to sell this quilt for thousands in order to make up for what it will cost to replace the carpet for the entire loft studio. Big sigh here. Anyone want to bid on this 37" x 43" piece now???
I've never found solid, black, black cotton fabric that doesn't fray more than it should. Why is that? If anyone knows a source, please share. I'm terribly fussy about the look of frayed edges.....which is why it took me years to replace hand appliqué with fusing. Batiks of course work pretty darn well, but there's no such thing as solid black, black. Traditional black fabric is always a problem! Here's a trick I learned from Linda Cantrell....a very skilled appliqué artist. it's another time consuming step, but worth it to me. I run a thin line of Fray Block along all edges to be appliquéd. (Follow manufacturers directions!!) It helps to tame the unsightly thread bits. However, many times have to come back after the machine appliqué has been completed with a tiny sharp embroidery scissors and tidy it up even more.
We are having another rainy fall day here in the mountains of Western NC.....sure wish we could share it with he folks out West who need the rain! I guess I'll just hunker down and start appliquéing all those edges.....happy, happy!
9 comments:
Two words---throw rugs! Indulge in a beautiful pattern and have some fun shopping. It's your loft studio, not the main public space in your home. And the work is progressing wonderfully well, in spite of the mishap!
That's a very good solution Kathy......it is directly in front of my design wall......so placement might not seem odd.....I do have to think about tripping concerns....need a product that is flat and sticks to the rug. Amazon here I come....Thank you Kathy.....but the quilt is still up for bids if anyone wants it? Grinnin.....
Ignore it and keep being creative!
Love this work.
The art gallery solid fabrics are quite tightly woven, thus don't ravel much. I don't know if there is a black black or not.
https://artgalleryfabrics.com/cgi-bin/fabricshop/gallery.cgi?Category=271
Yes, I was going to say the same as Kathy, a throw rug! Or, if you cannot do that, I did repair a carpet before by cutting out the damage and replacing it with a bit from a closet corner. This looks small enough to do that. I just glued the patch to the floor.
Now that's another great suggestion Carole......and I know just the closet that I can 'borrow' from. That's why blogging is so wonderful......useful helpful friends ready to jump in solutions!! Thank you all.....
Quilting can be hazardous! Sounds like a good fix suggestion from Carole. The piece is looking good though!
Too bad about the rug, but other comments have given good suggestions. I do love the quilt. What type of machine appliqué will you use. I find that a buttonhole stitch hides any fraying.
To answer Norma Question...I agree buttonhole stitch is nice an tidy but it just didn't work well on this.....really dealing with fraying even after using a lot of Fray Block. Chose to use a very narrow zig-zag which tended to blend in better than the button. hole.
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