Saturday, August 09, 2014

Calling proper quilters


All right, quilty experts: I  have a question. As you see, I have more or less finished hand-quilting my little cot quilt. Boldly - because I am that sort of wild, adventurous person - I didn't quilt it as per the pattern (all straight lines) but instead quilted different sizes of hearts and stars on it - and quite a lot of straight lines. Then maintaining this iconoclastic attitude, I decided to substitute wavy lines (below) for the suggested straight lines on the border.

Now for the question. Would it be completely bonkers to attach the binding before doing the wavy lines? My reason for being tempted to do so is that I do not entirely trust the quarter-inchness of my quarter-inch seams, and if the binding were done first then I'd be more confident that my wavy lines would be in the middle of the border, since the border would then be the finished size.


But then I realise that this isn't what proper quilters do and despite all the evidence, I do aspire to be a sort-of-proper quilter.

I have now bought a quarter-inch foot for my machine but am still not sure that this will rein in my tendency to be slightly inaccurate.

Any advice would be welcome.

14 comments:

  1. Isabelle, that's lovely! How wide is your quilt border?

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  2. Currently 3 and a quarter inches, so once the binding is on, three inches. Theoretically.

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  3. I wish I could make an intelligent comment here about construction, etc, but having no such expertise at all I can only say it looks pretty good, and very pretty, to me. Well done.

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  4. You're asking the wrong person. My quilt has come apart at the seams. I am considering machining ribbon over the gaps.

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  5. The quilt looks lovely. The words you wrote...were they in Serbo Croat? 'cos I didn't understand them at all.......

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  6. Yes, you may sew the binding first. Make sure your border is flat and not bunched in any way. (I've quilted for 30 years and sew with a lovely group of friends every Friday.) Your quilt is very nice. You can be proud of making that lovely quilt. Patty Mc

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  7. It's lovely!
    Yes, I do that all the time( add the binding early ) ( sometimes way earlier than that stage.)
    I would suggest you put a line of stay stitching( just big machine stitches) right around the outside edge of the quilt first.It will hold all 3 layers together neatly. If any wrinkles appear at that stage they can be rectified before you bind. You should also do a few test measures to make sure that border is the same width all the way around. If you have a square lay that over each corner to check. ( You then can adjust if need be before attaching the binding.

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  8. Thanks, ladies! If it's good enough for Ali and Patty, it's certainly good enough for me.

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  9. OHMYGOSH!!! I'm jumping up and down with excitement -- it's just beautiful Isabelle!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE what you did with the quilting -- you're SOOO clever! And I love that you've chosen that little ribbon-like design for the border -- I can't wait to see it finished!

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  10. Congratulations, Isabelle - you've taken to quilting like the proverbial duck to water! I'm still even more of an amateur than you, after five years of messing around with my version of quilting, lol. I wouldn't attempt that pattern for a start, and as for hand quilting hearts and stars over a quilt...all I ever do is machine straight lines!
    As for when you add the binding, I do that last, after rotary cutting around the whole thing to neaten it up. Then I pin the edge about 2 inches in, just so it doesn't move when I sew on the binding.

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  11. being the Most Improper Quilter Ever, i was curious to see what the Proper Quilters would have to say because i really didn't know (having not hand-quilted, except for once upon a time before Michael Myson was born - at which time i decided i would never be a Hand Quilter) ... i thought that i had been told that more quilting can be added after a quilt is bound, but i might have dreamed that (yes, i DO have dreams about quilting ... sometimes they are nightmares)

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  12. That is very pretty! And beautifully quilted - much more interesting than straight lines :) I've never bound before quilting but I might give it a go, there doesn't seem to be any reason why not ... I tend to end up hacking off at least an inch at the binding stage to even things up a bit (bad, bad quilter) but you shouldn't have that problem :)

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  13. Anonymous6:17 pm

    My goodness Isabelle, haven't you done that well? I would never have the patience. I am pleased that you have your answer.

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  14. There is no such thing as "a real quilter"... or rather, we are ALL "real quilters"! I think your cot quilt looks simply darling. It was very clever of you to include quilting patterns as well as straight lines. It makes it more interesting.
    I never liked quilts - my mother is to blame as she insisted that EVERYTHING be pressed nice and smooth... and quilts are bumpy... Then I saw a video on quilting that explained that quilting added texture, form and shadows to otherwise plain piecing. The quilting was as artistic as the piecing and contributed to the whole - both in function (to hold the layers together) and artistry (adding the shadows and texture). THEN i GOT IT... and have been quilting and making all kinds of textures and shadows (and bumps) ever since. ;-)
    Your construction and addition of the binding will be fine. It is generally not recommended to bind a quilt before any of the quilting is done - adding the quilting does shrink the size of the quilt and can pull it off-kilter. But since you have the body and majority of the quilting done, go ahead and bind it before you do the edge border. It will be fine.
    Suzi

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