Annies Crazy World

 
 
 
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    This is Annie Whitsed's Crazy World a world where I stitch the joys and chaos of life into beautifull crazy quilts. email annie@loopylace.com
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Part 10 – preparing the quilt for adding the real backing February 18th, 2006

Last week we (being Sharon and I) decided not to put buttons over the corners of the blocks but that meant that I wouldn’t have anything to hide the tail of the thread under, when finishing the thread it is easy enough to run the end of the thread under the fabric but what to do with the tail of the knot when starting, the knot can be popped through some fabrics but I didn’t want to risk pulling a thread on this backing fabric, the thread can be secured by a couple of tiny back stitches but that is difficult to do when trying to keep the quilt as flat as possible and as I was planning tiny stitches on the back even the bulk of those extra stitches could make the needle more difficult to push through the layers of fabric…

…When I got to the point of getting the quilt ready to tie the back on, I realized that the messy back solved the problem…I co opted my son to thread 30 needles (the number of corners) and knot the ends, I then threaded one up through each corner so that my tie threads where in place with there knots hidden on the messy back…This is the first time that I have used a hidden messy back but it has made putting the layers together securly just so much easier that I reckon I will always use one for future quilts.

thread in corner knot on the messy back

When I put the borders on cut them wider than they would finish so when I basted the edges I basted the edges in from the edges so that when I trimmed the border to width the layers would still be held together by the basting.

trim the borders

Even though the layers where basted together I zig zagged the edges, it is an optional step which I did because the silk frays and the zig zag stops the fray so that the edge stays neat the way I like it…I only did the sides and bottom at this stage (I will tell you later why I didn’t do the top edge at this stage).

zig-zag edges

Part 9 – WE have borders… February 14th, 2006

I left adding the Purple border until after I had tied the layers together so that I could baste the lining under the borders and because the seam is at the edge of the blocks and going through the layers means that the blocks are well anchored so that there weight is transfered to the other layers reducing any drag on the borders.

So I stitched the side borders on and then the top and bottom borders and All That Jazz has lovely Purple borders…Unfortunatley for me stitching them on was not so simple, I made a few slight oversights: like I knew that the edge of the blocks would form a bit of a ridge but didn’t calaculate for the extra thickness of having the inner border or for the extra thickness of the crinkles in the green fabric: I chose the fabrics for colour without thinking about how they would be to work with, they were both slippery…I knew that with the narrow 1/2 inch border there wasn’t much room for error, there was no room for error, the slightest miss stitch showed.

I marked the stitching line onto the first border and pinned it with sideways pins and stitched the seam, looked at it and unpicked it the pins had pulled the fabric to the side and bits of the seam were to wide between the pins the fabric had slipped the other way and parts of the seam were to narrow…I repinned the seam using more pins and putting them on the other side of the seam, I stitched the seam, looked at it and unpicked portions of it that had slipped and some were I had not stitched exactly on the line, I restitched, checked again, unpicked bits and tried again….For the second border I basted it before stitching, better but I still had to unpick and restitch, pins as well as the basting helped…For the third seam I basted, I pinned and I found the walking foot, this eliminated most of the fabric slip but still had to unpick and re sew spots where I had missed the line…for the last border I basted and pinned and used the walking foot and got my son to hold the quilt and keep it moveing along, almost worked but I still had to restitch the bits were I went of the line because I just can’t see as well as I once could, not much I can do about that one.

The lesson to be learned from this is to make inner borders an inch or more wide, if I must have a narrow border again I will stitch a braid or something on top, and that where there’s a will there is a way even if you would never repeat that way again…I did start taking photos of this effort but didn’t continue when I realized that this way was not to be repeated…I will show you a different way to put the borders on when I make up the quilt from the competitors blocks, which will not have a narrow inner border, as lovely as the narrow border on this quilt looks.

All that Jazz has borders

Still to come the real back and bindings

Part 8 continued February 13th, 2006

To stitch the layers together I stitched through beads and buttons, under embellishments and along seams hiding the stitches by coming out ot the seam at a slight angle and back in at a slight angle.

stitch in seam at an angle

Here you can see the stitch because I am holding the seam up with my thumb.

looking for stitch

But when the seam is relaxed the stich can not be seen.

the stitch is hidden

At the edges I folded the border lining back and did a row of tacking stitches along the seam.

basting border seam

I then flipped the border lining back into place and basted the edges with big tacking stitches, finishing with a row close to the edges.

When I made the quilt sandwich I left the back and batting larger than the top, after asting around the edges I cut them all to be level with the top.

trim to be even with the quilt top edges

And Here is the messy back so that you can see that I have done more in some areas than others depending on what was on the blocks that needed extra support, What you can’t see is that because I knew I was covering it I carried the thread for several inches between stitches, it is messy but much quicker than having to stop and start and hide all the thread ends.

the messy back

Part 8 – Quilt Engineering February 12th, 2006

The reason that I have had to Engineer a different way of constructing All that Jazz is because the Project requirements clashed – those requirements being: a neat back, enough tie stitches to support the weight of the blocks and no stitches that I add to be visisble on the front.

A neat back means having the tie stitches at regularly spaced points, as each block is different the corners and points along the joins are the only places that I can do a tie stitch without my stiches showing on the front…that would be a tie stitch ever 8″ but that is not close enough…if I only tied it every 8 inches all the weight of the heavy blocks would be concentrated on 2 points and with no support in the middle the blocks would pull and sag and add extra stress to the tie stitches.

Adding more tie stitches will distribute the weight over a greater area which reduces the weight that each stitch has to support which in turn will reduse the stress on each stitch…but more stitches means a messy back, more so because some blocks need more stitching than others to support there weight.

Enough stitches to support the weight of the quilt means a messy back and I want a neat back…Ummmm what about…

…What about having 2 backs…A light weight back that can be messy because it will be covered by the real back which will be neat because it will only need to ne tied at the corners of the blocks…Time for another shopping trip…

I purchased Muslin (Calico in the USA), a light weight cotton fabric, for the messy back and A wool/cotton blend batting.

I taped the muslin to my table, Layed the batting on top of it and layed the quilt on top of the batting forming the quilt sandwich.

quilt sandwich

It is still on my table being stitched and I have to finish it before I can move it to photograph and explain what I have done…

Part 7 – More about attaching borders February 10th, 2006

Before pinning the top and bottom borders I check that the side borders are square at the ends…you may have noticed that I do a lot of checking of measuremnets and angles, that is because I like the accuracy and it is easier to check and get it right the first time than it is to unpick and resew.

checking that border is square

Position the border on the quilt right sides together and when pinning work from the centre out towards the ends…When looking at the photos in my last post you may have noticed that as well as the guideline for the border I also marked the stitching line on the back of the lining, I have marked the stitching line because the quilt is now very heavy, even with the ironing board supporting the weight, it pulls and gets caught making the guide on the sewing machine difficult to follow and as the lining is easy to draw on it becomes easier to stitch along a marked line.

stitching line marked on lining

Detail of the corner with the lining and first border on.

the corner

And so All that Jazz has its first border.

quilt with the first border

*At this stage I again deviated from what I would Normally do…Normally I would add the remaining border, stitching the sides on first and then the top and bottom…with the quilt top finished I spread out the backing the batting and the quilt top to make the quilt sandwich…And then to hold the layers together, I stitch through beads and hide stitches under embellishments….works for me on my quilts but on the back the stitches are randomly placed and the back is not pretty and all that Jazz deserves a pretty back.

I also have the problem of the weight differential with heavily embellished blocks being next to lightly embellsihed blocks….When I was telling my sister why I was constructing it the way I am, I was talking about weight bearing seams and stress points and she said that it sounded like I was a Quilt Engineer, I thought that it sounded like a good title so next post will be Part 8 – Quilt Engineering…

Part 6 – Borders to Frame All that Jazz February 10th, 2006

For the borders I needed to do a shopping trip…It was before I had stitched the blocks together so I pinned them to a piece of fabric and rolled them around a tube so that I could take them to the shop without loosing or crushing any of the blocks….My friend Lynne came with me to the fabric shop where we had fun auditioning fabrics for the borders and showing the blocks of to the staff who loved them and offered suggestions of what they liked as the borders…

I thought that purple would be the colour for the borders but I never know what will be just right for any quilt until I lay the quilt next to them so we set about auditioning colours…we tried Purple, burgundy, some greens, blues and even a gold…Purple was the best of them all but even it looked a bit flat and dull and did nothing to enhance the blocks which are so colourfull, vibrant and full of life…How to give the border some zing?…I actually knew the answer as I posed the question, my sister had given it to me, when she first saw the blocks layed out, she suggested that a narrow border of green would look good, specifically the green that Valeri used in her block…a few more bolts of fabric were dragged out and she was right, The Purple with a narrow green border Frames the blocks as they deserve to be framed…somehow the narrow green border pulls the blocks together and makes them sing.

We had the quilt blocks on the shop counter when started auditioning the fabrics but when it became to cluttered with bolts of fabric we overflowed onto the floor.

auditioning fabrics for border

To complete the Border on a crazy quilt you also need some lining/foundation fabric…having to line the border is a bit tedious but needs to be done because the border needs the extra substance of the lining to balance/support the thickness and weight of the crazy quilt blocks…without the extra support of the lining the borders are more likely to be dragged down by the weight of the crazy quilt blocks making them sag and look floppy…so it is worth taking the extra trouble to line the borders.

Normally to attach the border and lining I would place the border right sides together with the quilt edge and then place the lining on top of the border and pin the 3 layers together…If you have trouble keeping the raw edges of the 3 layers together you may prefer to stitch the border on with a slightly smaller seam allowance and then add the lining and stitch the seam again using the full 1/2 seam allowance.

Sandwich border fabric between block and lining

As I said that is what I would normally do but it is not what happened with this border…The Purple is Duponi Silk, a firm easy to sew fabric But the green is the stuff of nightmares…I chose it because it was the colour I wanted but the fabric itself is a polyester, its soft and flimsy, slippery and the crinkles in it make it impossible to cut a straight strip from it (I ended up drawing a thread to get a straight edge to work with)…and most problimatic of all, when I did an test iron, the crinkles ironed out…

iron test

I needed to be able to iron the borders but didn’t want to lose the crinkles….it took me a few days of thinking to work out how I could keep the crinkles and still be able to iron the borders while putting them on, turned out to be the lining that gave me my solution…Because this is not a common problem I considered not explaining the detail of what I did but when I got it finished I realized that it was probably a good technique for adding any narrow border because there is more chance of small slippages when you are trying to keep 3 raw edges lined up, small slippages are not noticeable to the eye on a wide border but a small slippage on 1/2 inch border is noticable.

I cut strips of calico (muslin in USA) the width of the total border and marked a guide line 1 1/2 inches (width of the border plus seams) from the edge of the lining.

marking guide line onto lining

I placed the edge of the green fabric on the guide line and pinned it in place.

place edge of fabric on guide line and pin

To prevent the machine from disturbing the crinkles I placed a piece of lunch wrap paper over the green fabric and pinned it in place…this step can be skipped when their are no crinkles in the fabric.

I covered the seam with paper

Stitch close to the raw edge of the border fabric.

stitch close to the raw edge

Turn the piece over and stitch close the the raw edge of the lining fabric.

turn over and stitch near edge of lining

I then removed the paper…this is the same technique as I will use to remove the paper from the back of the blocks.

crease fabric along seam line tear paper along perferations the other side will pull from seam

I cut the border fabric level with the raw edge of the lining…

cut border fabric level with edge of lining

leaving me with a border strip ready to be stitched to the blocks.

the border ready to stitch onto the quilt

I have the 2 side borders stitched on.

side borders stitched on

Next post Part 7 – More about attaching borders.

ONE – the conclusion to part 5 February 8th, 2006

Nearly Done…

nearly done

ONE…

One

Part 5 – Joining pairs of blocks Together February 8th, 2006

To align the seam intersections on blocks that have the seams ironed open, spear a pin through the seam of both blocks and while that pin is holding the seams together put pins either side of it, after the intersections are pinned in place, pin the end rest of the seam and when stitching the seam stitch as close to the pin before the intersection as you can so that it has the least space to slip out of alighnment (Note Don’t stress over getting perfect joins because whilst I aim for perfect alignment of seams at the corners they are not necessary on crazy quilts because the joins will be covered by buttons and never be seen anyway).

spear pin seams to align thempin either side of spear pin

As I said I ironed the seams of Catherine’s block to one side, I also ironed the rest of the seams on the quilt to one side because as well as the odd bead deflecting your stitching off line, as the units you are stitching get bigger they get heavier and the weight can pull the work off line…If the miss stitching goes into the finished area of the block or the raw edges get pulled out of alignment then it needs to be unpicked but if the raw edges are still together and the miss stitching is within the seam allowance then it is OK to oversew the seam on the correct line, leaving the miss stitching in the seam allowance, it just means that the seams need to be ironed to one side because it won’t iron open.

Double sewn seam

To align seams that are ironed to one side the seams need to be facing in opposite directions.

Seams facing in different directions

Butt the joins together and pin…Joins where the top seam points towards the sewing machine are the easiest to get perfect because the seams lock into each other conteracting the effect of the machines foot dragging the top layer.

match joinsSeams pointing away from machineSeams pointing towards machine

When you have joined as many pairs as you can continue joining smaller units into bigger units….Five…Four….Three…

Five units Four Three

As the units get bigger, as well as getting heavier, they take longer to stitch and clank around more as you manipulate them through the machine…to protect the embellishments I spread a piece of old sheet between the layers to prevent the embellishments clanking and catching on each other.

protection sheet

To counteract the increased chance of slipping as the quilt gets bigger and bulky, I use more pins as the seams get longer.

more pins as quilt gets heavier

Two

Two

To support the weight of the quilt when stitching the last seam I covered the ironing board with plastic to make it slippery, put it beside the sewing machine which I had moved to the corner of the table and adjusted the height to be level with the bed of the sewing machine…

ironing board to support the weight

ONE………for one you will have to wait till I have stitched that last seam…in my next post, Part 6 – Borders to Frame All that Jazz, I will show you the borders we have chosen and how to stitch them on.

Part 4 – ‘How ” to stitch the blocks together February 6th, 2006

To join the blocks into pairs lay them side by side to check that they are right way up… As I trimmed each block I printed out the block and artists statement from the All that Jazz Gallery so that I could get a full appreciation of each block while I was lucky enough to have them in my hands, I have also attached all the info and extra beads that came with the blocks to the print outs. I also used them to check that I had the blocks right way up, on most of the blocks the top was obvious but it wasn’t until I checked with the photos from the gallery that I realized that until then I had Catherines block on its side…yep it is worth checking…you will also be checking that you will be stitching the correct edges.

checking that blocks are right way up

Place one block face down on the other, match up the raw edges (or paper edge) and pin the seam…Pin the corners first and then use as many pins as necessary along the seam.

pinning first cornerpinning second corner

And how many pins are necessary?…

Well if there is no slippery fabrics and no bulky embroidery beads or embellishments within 1/2 inch of the seam then you may only need 1 or 2 pins.

If the blocks have slippery fabrics then you will need a few more…Velvet is the worst, I resorted to stitching the velvet section of one seam by hand but found on another block that putting a few extra pins, where I could leave them in place whilst stitching the seam, prevented the velvet from slipping.

pinning velvet

If there are bulky embellishments near the seam extra pins will help prevent the seam slipping because of them…

Some embellishments are to bulky to stitch over…These can be marked with a pin on either side, then when stitcing the seam stitch as far as you can without forcing the fabric, stop and restart on the other side of the embellishment.

pin either side of embellishmentgap in seam

Hand stitch the gap in the seam.

hand stitch gap in the seamembellisment near seam

Some embellishments I pin out of the way (or in this case needled because the needle is finer and less likely to damage the ribbon than a pin) before stitching the seam so as not to risk catching them in the stithing.

embellishment pinned out of wayafter seam is stitched

I had to rescue this poor little flower after I had stitched it into the seam, fortunaly I have a replacement flower in the bag of beads that Sharon gave me for christmas.

oooops

I used the zipper fit when stitching Catherine’s block which was heavily embellished with beads and charms to the very edge…

using the zipper foot

The Sewing Machine…

Thread the sewing machine with light coloured thread if most of the fabrics in the quilt are light or with a dark thread if most of the fabrics in the quilt are dark…I have used black thread.

Stitch the seam by guiding the raw edges along the 1/2″ mark on the sewing machine…If you have trouble seeing the line you can mark it with a piece of tape (note masking tape works better then the medical tape I have used to demonstrate because I couldn’t find the masking tape)…If you have trouble guiding the edges along the line try using a commercial magnetic seam guide or a piece of sticky foam core board or something else that will give you a ridge to guide the fabric.

1/2 inch seam1/2 inch marked with tape1/2 inch seam marked with foam core

Don’t be tempted to rush the end of the seam, it usually results in a slightly smaller seam allowance at that end which can distort the finished size of the block…to aviod that happening keep the raw edges on the guide line until the very end of the seam.

ending the seam

I ironed the seams open to distribute the bulk of the fabrics…When ironing the seams on my own work I iron with a flat iron…When ironing other peoples work I use just the tip of the iron and I use a piece of paper under the iron to further protect the fabrics.

Using the tip of the iron

Well I ironed the seams open until I got to Catherine’s block where I ironed the seams away from her block because that balances the weight of her block better.

blocks stitched into pairs

Time for me to go and stitch the next few seems and take the photos that will show you how to Join Pairs of Blocks Together into bigger units that will join to make the quilt top…

So Stay tuned for Part 5 – Joining Pairs of Blocks Together.

Side story – How hot was it?
You will have noticed that the colour in the photos vary greatly, the variation is due to the different times of the day that I have taken them, different light on different days (today there was an orange tinge to the air from fires that are burning over the border) and 2 different cameras because yesturday after taking yet another photo to illustrate a point I got a Card Error message…I was just glad that there was only one photo lost and that I have a spare digital camera so I could keep working…Today I tried it again and the card is working, it is a coller day today and I think my dear camera had heat strock yesturday…it was that HOT.

Part 3 – “How” to make Linda into a square February 5th, 2006

Under sized blocks aren’t generally a problem, they happen because the embrodiery pulls the fabric in but if one person cuts out all the foundations, pieces and embroiders the blocks then all the blocks for their quilt will shrink at about the same rate so that when it comes to sizeing the finished block the smallest block can be measured and then all can be cut to that size.

For a group quilt each block is measured and cut by a different person, pieced by a different method onto a variety of different foundation fabrics, then some are lightly embellished and others are heavily, make that Very heavily embellished with a variety of different types of embroidery and beading..it is no surprise that there is a variation in the sizes of the blocks, actually the surprising thing is that the greatest variation was only 1/4″ shy of the asked for size.

My own block was was undersize, just in the top right corner I fixed it by using fusible webbing to add small strips of fabric, it worked on mine but I didn’t want to put fusible webbing on anybody elses block…I thought about different things that I could do…I could mark the stitching line onto the back of the blocks and match them up when I pin the blocks together but the embroider and beads would have made the lines difficult to mark and besides I hate matching seams…I could baste the blocks to another piece of fabric but that would have added unnecessary weight and bulk so I would have to cut out the middle of the fabric just leaving the bit I needed around the edge but that would be way to much effort when all I want is a guide to line up with the edges so that the seam lines would match up….All the blocks do have sufficient seam allowance so I could have cut all the blocks down to have 1/4 inch seams but 1/2 inch seams sit flatter in the finished quilt so I didn’t want to do that…Ummm I wonder, I don’t even know where the thought came from but less than a minute later Linda was square…The solution was to cut a 9 inch square of lunch wrap paper and to pin the undersized block to it…easy peasy and Linda you are now a square.

cutting a 9\" paper squareLinda is now a square

Stay tuned for Part 4 – “how” to stitch the blocks together