Archive for the ‘Quilting’ Category

Why wonky borders occur and how to prevent them!

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

This has been bugging me for a while, and I’ve never seen it explained quite right (in my opinion), so here’s my attempt.

Wonky borders, or dog-ear borders, are what you get frequently at the end of a long-arm quilting process (see Figure B).  When you piece a quilt, and here in my very basic drawing I’ve just sewn a bunch of squares together (Figure A), all of the seams are locked together — except the ones on the outside!  As quilters, we do not tie off our seams when we piece, so those end-seams are somewhat loose.

Dog-ear Quilt effects

Figure A: The pieced Quilt. Figure B: What can happen on a quilt frame if the end seams are allowed to open

When you take the quilt on the longarm frame (here we are assuming there is no border), the top is generally forced to be square to the frame.  Then, as the quilter quilts and advances the quilt down the frame, if the quilter is not exceedingly careful to keep all the stitching lines straight, those edge “open” seams will give a bit, and start to stretch downward (Figure B).  If each seam stretches only slightly, say 1/32″ of an inch or so, but your quilt has small blocks (say 64 down a side), you could get 2″ of stretching before you’re done!  As a result, you get the dog-ear effect shown in the picture.  As a quilter, I use a 90-degree laser level to ensure that all of the seam lines are parallel as I quilt to prevent this from happening.

However, this is important to you as a piecer as well!  Let’s say you’ve finished off your quilt, and you’re ready to throw on those borders.  If you do like I used to do, and just whip those borders on, you may be in trouble.  I always had a tendency to “pull” on the quilt a bit to make sure it was feeding straight into the machine.  Guess what?  I just opened up all of those edge seams, and now I’ve just created Figure B again, but now with a border that your friendly longarm quilter cannot adjust for.   That’s why it is so important to pin that first set of borders to prevent this from happening.  You might even spray-starch your quilt ahead of time to make sure those seams are stable.  It’s even more important for borders, because you can tug on these seams on all four sides, resulting in “wonky borders”.   The longer edge of the quilt still tends to get more distorted, just because of the number of seams involved.

So, here you go — why you can get wonky borders and how to avoid them!

Posted in How-Tos, Piecing, Quilting | No Comments »

Batting — What to pick?

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Wow, batting choices have certainly proliferated over the last few years, haven’t they?  I think the choice of batting is darn important when finishing your quilt — don’t just run out and get a cheap JoAnne’s batt, or take the only batting that  your longarm quilter has on hand.  I use Quilter’s Dream Batting, which you can get through your local quilt store or through me.  There are other quality brands out there, but Quilter’s Dream allows me to custom-order the batting for my clients, so I go with them.  Regardless of which brand you choose, the type of batting is crucial.  Here’s some general guidelines to consider:

  1. Cotton Batting — the classic.  Heavy, though, and shrinks when you wash it.  If you want the “classic” antique quilt look, this is one way to go.  I don’t use this much any more, because of:
  2. Cotton/Poly Blend — the improvement to the classic.  Not as heavy as cotton, still shrinks some during the wash (typical mix is 70% cotton / 30% polyester).  A good, cost-effective batting for most quilts.
  3. Polyester — much lighter than cotton, does not shrink.  If you don’t like the “antique” look after you wash your quilt, this is the most cost-effective way to go.
  4. Wool — the greatest batting for quilts to be used as bedspreads.  Wool is more breathable than cotton or poly, has a nice puff to it, and it is now machine washable.  The price is comparable to cotton, and is lighter and drapes very nicely.  This is my new favorite batting.
  5. Child-protective batting — if you are making a crib quilt, get flame-resistant batting.  The problem with polyester is that it is very flammable — if a quilt is lit on fire, you get a lot of burning effect very quickly.  Flame-retardant battings (like Dream Angel) do not burn easily.  This is the best batting for a quilt crib or a situation where the person cannot independently get out from under the quilt.
  6. Recycled batting — Quilter’s Dream now has “Dream Green” batting made from recycled plastic bottles.  This stuff is actually quite good!  It drapes very nicely and generally behaves like polyester.  Don’t use it on a white quilt, though, as the batting is shaded green!
  7. Poofy Batting — Do you really want that poofy effect?  Then get batting designed to do just that.  Dream Puff is super-poofy and gives that quilted look very nicely.

Okay, now you have a batting type guide.  What thickness should you get?  Really thin batting has been very popular over the last few years, but I’m not a huge fan of it.  It tends to disappear in the quilting, and you have more of a blanket than a quilt.  I always recommend at least the middle-thickness (weight) batting.  If you choose a contrasting thread on top and bottom, choose a thicker batting, so that your chances of “pokies” (top thread showing through to the back in the stitching knot) is minimized.   If you use coordinating threads, this is not so much of an issue.

I hope this helps!  Contact me if you need any help with your batting choices!

Posted in How-Tos, Quilting, Shopping | No Comments »

Are you a threadaholic?

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

“Hi, my name’s Jeanne, and I’m a Threadaholic.”  (“Hi, Jeanne…..”)

I used to drool over fabric.  Different feels, colors, patterns, everything.  Thread was just something to put pieces together.  Ah, how the times have changed.

Now, I drool over thread.  Quilting thread.  Different weights, different colors, solid, variegated, polyester, cotton, silk — you name it, I like to (a) buy it, and (b) see how it interacts on a quilt.

Why do I care?  you ask.  Excellent question.  Two reasons:  First, I want to brag about my new thread storage device — check it out:

Thread caddy byt www.romwoodworking.com

Thread caddy by www.romwoodworking.com

I just got this at the Rocky Mountain Sew Expo — this is Made by Rom Woodworking.  This is fantastic — you can see all of your thread at a glance, and it looks good, too.  This is the half-barrel size — there is another unit twice as tall!

Second point:  I am totally convinced that the thread you use on a quilt is crucial.  Choosing the wrong thread will totally ruin a quilt, and the right thread can just melt in (if that’s what you want!) and add a fantastic texture.  For example, take this beautiful quilt based on a Thimbleberries pattern:

Thimbleberries Quilt

Because the quilt is a “sampler quilt” it was important to pick a thread that would be pleasing throughout all of the blocks and the borders.  We went through a lot of different threads, and eventually picked “Bulrushes” by Superior thread.  Check oThimbleberries Quilt Closeuput the closeup and see how nicely it merges with the quilt:

The point is that the thread you choose is just as important as every other variable.  Be wary of the quilter that only has a few thread colors to choose from.  I custom-order the thread for every quilt using the entire catalog of Superior quilting threads.  Oftentimes we need all few-hundred thread samples to figure out the right thread!  Don’t forget the backing thread — that’s important too.  I like to choose a thread that is complementary to the backing fabric — with the right tension settings, you can minimize “pokies”, or the top thread showing through to the back.

Summary:  Don’t forget the thread!  See your friendly neighborhood quilter (i.e.  threadaholic) for the right choices for your quilt!

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Posted in How-Tos, Piecing, Quilting | 2 Comments »

The importance of meeting with your quilter

Monday, January 12th, 2009

I work with people throughout the US and the world, but when I can, I love working with quilters in the local Denver, CO area.  Why?  Discussion.  It’s the key to a happy, artistic final product.  Whoever you are choosing to finish your quilt, make sure and discuss the following topics:

1.  The history of the quilt:  who is it for, what they might like, themes you might want to use.  Obviously, a baby quilt will have different requirements than a wall-hanging, but subtleties can make or break a quilt.  I was picking up one long-arm quilt for a client, and we were discussing some options, but it wasn’t until they mentioned it was commemorative of a snorkeling trip that I found the perfect pattern.  Otherwise, the quilt would have been just ho-hum; now it is fabulous.  See the Underwater Quilt page.

2.  Thread color.  It is amazing how the choice of thread color can affect a quilt.  Look at the first beautiful quilt below.  A very nicely set of chosen colors, but what do you quilt it with?  We chose a maroon variegated thread, which allowed the quilting to sink into the quilt, so you can admire the piecing.  You can choose thread to coordinate or contrast with the quilt; sink into the piecing or stand out.  But without a face-to-face meeting with your quilter (I bring hundreds of thread color samples with me when we meet, and believe me, we need them all!), you may be surprised with the quilting you get!

3.  Batting and Backing.  Oh my gosh, how much bad batting is there in the world!  Make sure and talk to your quilter about your batting choices — I like carrying Quilter’s Dream, because they have a number of weights (thicknesses) of cotton to choose from, along with polyester, a poly/cotton mix, wool, and recycled bottles!  Choosing your batting should depend on the purpose of a quilt — a wall hanging quilt will need drastically different batting than a baby’s quilt, which will need different batting than a king-size bed quilt.  Don’t pick up the default batting at your local craft store — make a knowledgeable decision.

As far as backing goes, resist the urge to spend as little as possible on backing.  I know, you’ve already spent $200+ on piecing the quilt, $25-50 (hopefully) on quality batting, and you could just get away with muslin for the back.  Resist the temptation!  Choice of backing fabric will effect how the quilting shows up on the back, the tension of the entire quilt, and can add dramatic interest.  Traditionally, quilting is done with the same thread top and bottom, so you might want to choose a backing fabric that would include all of the quilting thread colors.  Now, we can quilt with one color on the bobbin, but you may still see some “poke-throughs” of the top fabric, so the principle still applies.

4.  Finally, of course, design choices.  There are thousands of patterns out there, and it can be difficult to choose.  I find it is useful when a client describes the quilt or emails me a picture before we meet, so we can start thinking about it ahead of time.  For example, in the second quilt above, the client told me it was a quarter-circle quilt, so I was able to pull out a subset of patterns before I even saw the quilt for the first time!

I hope you see the value of a face-to-face meeting with your quilter, if possible.  I hope to see you soon!

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Posted in Quilting | No Comments »