The Domestic Quilter: Machine Quilting & Binding

Batik Brick Road

2012-01-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

This quilt is so close to being completed! I've made many quilts of this design (Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs) over the past 10 years and I'm so ready to have this be the last one. Love the design but I've quilted a small freeway of these quilts over the years. Time to move on.

I still have a few more open spaces to quilt, but after quilting the feather border, I really wanted to get the binding on. I made the multi-colored batik binding about three years ago. Glad I could find it!

When joining the beginning strip to the ending strip, overlap the strips by the width of the strip (this one is 2.5"). Trim the excess binding away so there is only 2.5" of overlap. Fold the right corner over to form a 45 degree angle and finger press in a creased sewing line.

Use a chalk marker to draw along the creased line on the wrong side of the fabric. Lay right sides together, matching corners of the fabric together of both ends and pin together.

Trim the seam and press open. Press the folded binding together and sew in place.

Bring the folded edge of the binding to the back of the quilt and hand sew to the backing, using a whip stitch. Check the front of the quilt to make sure you don't poke the thread through to the front. Work your sewing needle horizontally by stitching into the batting and back out to catch the binding edge.

I'll talk more about the finishing details of this quilt as I work on them this week and I'll post some of the free form designs featured on the fabric.

Copyright©2012, Sharon Baggs

Washing a Baby Quilt/Batting Choices

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

Baby quilts are a wonderful gift to give and provide a great opportunity to practice beginning quilting skills or try a new free-form design. Choose a design that is simple and even so the quilting density remains consistent. The quilt pictured below features an edge-to-edge clamshell design.

These small quilts take a lot of wear and tear, so an even amount of quilting is really necessary for keeping the quilt held together as long as possible. Skimping on the quilting because it's "only a baby quilt" will result in a short life for the quilt. Large, open areas need to be quilted evenly so they don't get distorted and worn over time.

Minimal quilting and regular washing cause baby quilts to wear out in the first year. Rather than tossing a quilt in a regular wash cycle, try soaking out stains. A short time spent soaking is better than the agitation of the washing machine. Use a eco-friendly washing product for all your quilts. I like Orvus Paste and Ivory hand dish liquid. Detergents contain phosphates which are harsh and will strip the colors from quilts over time.

I usually let the washing machine fill with lukewarm water and the recommended soap. Let the quilt soak in this solution for about 20 mins.; spin out, rinse and spin again. A little agitation is OK but don't let the entire cycle run if you can manipulate this on your machine. My washer is 20 years old and I can control the dials but newer models might not allow changes in the cycle because they "lock in".

Another option is to use a clean dishpan, tub or sink for the soaking and rinsing. Use a large bath towel to roll the quilt and squeeze out moisture. Lay flat on a dry towel to air dry the quilt. Choosing a gentle washing/drying method will keep fabric intact longer. When giving a quilt as a gift, a little written note on how to care for the quilt and a small bottle of washing soap will be appreciated by the quilt owner!

Use a breathable, natural fiber batting such as Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 (cotton/poly blend) or Hobbs Wool. Avoid battings that recommend quilting 8-10" apart, such as Warm and Natural. Save these products for wall hangings or tablerunners. Also, 100% polyester battings don't breathe like a cotton batting. This means they insulate well but can be too warm for swaddling. Stick with natural fibers--cotton, wool, silk, with a bit of polyester mixed in for durability--and you will have a batting that can be quilted heavily and still maintain the drapability of a cozy quilt.

Copyright©2011, Sharon Baggs

Diana's baby quilt

2011-12-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

This baby quilt was designed by my friend, Diana. She asked me to quilt and bind it for her. She has a great eye for colors and how to put things together. I think this is a fabulous design to highlight a fun print in the 4" center squares, framed by green and yellow sashing and red cornerstones that pop!

I spent a little bit of time pondering how to quilt this because of the different pieces. I considered an all-over grid, but the diagonal measurements from cornerstone to cornerstone don't fit a 1" pattern, which I like to have on this size quilt; however, each square is 4" and that makes for an easy grid line to follow. I started by quilting-in-the-ditch next to the sashing. Then I chalked lines 1" apart and quilted continuously up and down vertically through the length of the quilt, traveling in the ditch to get to the next line.

I finished the border with a 1" diagonal line, changing direction at the corners. Then I added the red binding. It's OK to bind a quilt before all the inside quilting is complete. As long as the border is completely quilted, the binding can be sewn on. Sometimes I add more quilting. In this case, I only quilted the ditch of the inner border. I could have cross-hatched a grid in the 4" squares, but I decided to leave it with only the vertical lines 1" apart. All the seam lines were stitched-in-the-ditch, giving this quilt enough stability to withstand the tugging and washing that comes with using a baby quilt.

Next, I'll give some tips on care/washing and choosing a batting for baby quilts.

Copyright©2011, Sharon Baggs

Puzzle Piece Quilting Design

2011-11-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

The interlocking design of a jigsaw puzzle can be used as an all-over quilting design. To make a template, lay a white piece of paper over a constructed puzzle and rub a crayon over the paper to transfer the design onto the paper.

The steps that follow serve as a mental exercise in seeing how this design will be quilted. If your quilt top is a grid of squares sewn together, all you will need to do is stitch-in-the-ditch between the seam lines and free-form quilt the interlocking piece shape--hills and valleys. But drawing it out first on paper will definitely help coordinate your hands and head when quilting this design.

The lines between the puzzle pieces will appear white and need to be darkened. Using a black permanent pen, start at the top left corner and trace the horizontal lines across to the right side, travel down to the next row and trace from right to left, repeating the process until you reach the bottom of the design.

Next trace the vertical lines with a red pen.

The manner in which the design is traced is the same path that will be taken for quilting. This is a basic grid that will vary in size depending on the size of the original puzzle pieces. The example here is a 1.5" grid. Begin with the horizontal black lines and continue with the vertical red lines.

To transfer the design to a quilt top, lay the marked design on a light table and trace onto the quilt top with a blue washable marker. When transferring a design to a heavier fabric such as flannel, try tracing the individual puzzle pieces onto the quilt top. This works best with jumbo sized puzzle pieces where the grid will be larger. Remember, you can "eyeball" it, but if you like following the blue line, mark it!

Puzzle piece quilting designs would look great on a kid's quilt top. I can't wait to try it out soon!

Copyright©2011, Sharon Baggs

Sarah's skirt

2011-11-16T21:15:00.000-08:00

While visiting Sarah in Seattle recently, we made her a yellow stretch cotton skirt.

She wanted to make a waistband to use some 1.5" elastic. We cut the waistband the length of her waist and 4.5" wide. One end of the elastic was stitched onto the waistband, then the other end was overlapped 1/2" and stitched into place.This was folded down to make a 2.25" waistband. You will see stitching on only one side of the waistband, which you will want to have facing toward the body when joining the waistband to the skirt. Finally baste the raw edges together.

For the skirt, we used the full width of the fabric (selvedge to selvedge) and used the waist to knee measurement for the length of the skirt. For example, the full width will range from 45 - 60". The waist-to-knee measurement was 18-20". We trimmed the selvedge edges to make a smooth finished seam, which is sewn 1/2" and pressed open. Baste the top edges of the skirt to gather the fullness.

Taking this tube of skirt, pin the right side of the waistband to the right side of the skirt at the top raw edges. Ease in the fullness as the two pieces are pinned together.

Sew a 3/8" seam all around the top edge of the skirt to join the waistband to the skirt. Follow with a 1/2" or 5/8" seam to reinforce the stitching line. Once this is sewn securely, it is fine to remove the basting stitches.

Copyright©2011, Sharon Baggs

Doll Quilt Binding & Feathered Border

2011-10-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sewed a double-fold blue binding to the doll quilt, which needed to be flipped to the back and hand sewn in place. I took this with me on the bus a couple of weeks ago when I went to see Oklahoma! at Portland Center Stage http://www.pcs.org/ --a must see!!! The next day I took the bus/max train to Beaverton to meet Martin and finished up this project while en route. Very nice to have some handwork to do instead of averting glances at strangers...

Also this week I'm finishing up another Yellow Brick Road quilt. I've made enough of these to wrap around the block of my house. This one highlights all the free motion designs I have learned or designed myself, so it is truly a canvas of many quilting classes taught. Still have a few open spaces to quilt, but I'm excited to put on the multi-colored binding and put it on the extra bed in the girls' room upstairs. A quilt to greet Sarah when she returns home, if Hannah doesn't steal it for herself!

For the border, I used stencil LD21 Feather Border w/Tendrils 5" (LD stands for designer Linda Mae Diny and the distributor is QCI, Inc.), and also King Tut Old Gold (#976) with a size 80/12 topstitch needle. I lowered the top tension to 1 and had to drop it even lower when the bobbin got near empty. I put King Tut Betty Cotton Cottage Colors (#949) in the bobbin which blended well with the backing fabric. I used a hand-dyed backing fabric which had some darker streaks running through the base burgundy.

In other news...Becca ran her personal best of 22:50 at the Concordia/Adidas XC classic last weekend, finishing 6th in the unscored JV race, out of 157 runners. Way to go Bec!

Sarah was home from Seattle to cheer her on as well as the usual suspects, including my brother, John, who said Becca ran her best race EVER!!! This is senior year, she's a captain and it looks promising for her to run at the varsity level for next week's district meet. Barring a natural disaster, the team will go to the state meet. Last year, Becca got to run as an alternate when someone got sick. This year she's ON FIRE to train hard for all the season ending glory she can enjoy. And she should :)

Sarah snapped this lovely photo of my dad's habanero peppers which we left to ripen on the windowsill. It didn't take long for all the green ones to turn from yellow to orange, then we popped them in the freezer.

Oh, and the domestic quilter celebrated another year of wonderful life with family, friends, and quilts! Blessed am I.

Tomatoes & Quilt Discovery!

2011-09-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

Spent yesterday canning 13 pints of tomatoes (+12 last week), something I haven't done for several years. It goes hand-in-hand with the domesticity of quilting to be a canning woman. At least once a decade. When winter sets in and I'm a quiltin' away, I'll really be thankful for those jars and the yummy meals they will provide.

Most of the tomatoes came from my dad's garden. He had 12 Early Girl variety tomato plants this year. I had two growing in my yard and the fruit was never as red and juicy as those grown on my childhood homestead. I still have some Siletz, Northern Delight, Roma, and Sunspot packed into one raised bed.

Was cleaning back behind the loveseat and found this little quilt I was working on during spring break. I did blog about how I was hand quilting it and then I obviously forgot all about it. Leather is slippery! Out of sight, out of mind. I think all it needs is another line or two of quilting, then on with the binding.

Copyright©2011, Sharon Baggs

Dance Skirt

2011-09-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a yoga style dance skirt I made for my dancing queen from two remnants. The skirt is a poly/spandex fabric. I had a 20" x 54" piece, which I trimmed to 16" x 48". Normally you can use the entire length selvedge to selvedge but there was a flaw on the print which I cut off near one of the edges. I pinned the two 16" edges rights sides together and sewed a 1/2" seam down the back.

The waistband of unknown fiber--but a nice stretchy gray fabric-- is one piece cut on the fold 11" x 15", so it measures 22" x 15" (to fit a waist measurement of 25"). The 15" edges are sewn together with a 1/2" seam to form the waistband tube. The 15" is folded in half so it is 7.5". Edges are sewn together before attaching to the skirt, which is gathered. Sew with a zig zag stitch and then remove the basting stitches; otherwise they could pop when the skirt is pulled on. I didn't hem the bottom edge because this fabric doesn't fray and the length is perfect. Normally, I'd sew a 1/4" narrow hem.

The waistband can be folded down again to create a visible 3-4" band. Very comfortable for dancing and perfect for tonight's jazz and ballet classes. It took a couple of hours to make and only cost about $4 using remnants.

End of Summer...First day of School!

2011-09-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a couple of road trips. One was to Montana to visit a college with Becca.

Another was an anniversary/birthday trip to Victoria B.C., with Martin.

Really beautiful sunsets in Victoria...

On the way back, we stopped in Seattle to pick up David from a weekend visit with Sarah.

We had dinner at the Elephant and Castle in downtown Seattle before heading home.

Couple days to recover before the First Day of School! Hannah is an official 8th grader and Becca is a senior. (Becca, however, declined to be photographed).

Excited to get to work on my September projects, in and around the house and yard. Lots of quilting for the fall is planned, mostly projects in the works that have been waiting for my attention.

Happy Birthday David!

2011-08-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

My baby boy is 20 today! We celebrated with the family + Natalie with a sushi dinner at Tani's and then cake & ice cream at home while watching the I.T. Crowd (funny British sit-com). Very proud of our boy, a kind and responsible young man who has worked hard this summer as a head swim coach and swim instructor at a local pool.

And yes, there are 20 candles on the cake! Many happy returns of the day, dear boy. Love you!

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Completion: Sunbonnet Sue

2011-08-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Ah, the old girl is done...finally! Finished with the red binding which frames all the ladies quite lovely.

Here's a few highlights of the quilting. Background of each block:

Feather design in the setting triangles along the sides of the quilt:

Smaller version of the feather in the four corners:

Placement of the label on the back of the quilt, which also shows the quilting:

An exciting bit of news for Hannah this week. She is cast for the role of Helen in A Christmas Story at Portland Center Stage http://www.pcs.org/xmas-story-2011/

Making a Quilt Label

2011-08-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

A label is an important finishing touch on a quilt. After all the time cutting, piecing, quilting, and binding is complete, it is tempting to skip the label just to get er done. But including the detailed information of who, what, where, when, and how it was made will be a treasure to look at in the years to come. The label below was made by Andrea for the feedsack quilt I repaired and quilted for her.

Every quilt label should contain a few basic facts: name of quilt, the maker or makers of the quilt, who the quilt is for (if designated), when it was made, and perhaps where it was made. It can be written simply on a piece of muslin, or even more simply written directly on the back of the quilt.

One of my most used books for label making is Iron-On Transfers for Quilt Labels by Barbara Baatz of the American School of Needlework. I love the simple drawings and usually clip away some of the printed words so I can write in my own.

I begin with some muslin and a piece of freezer paper. The shiny side of the freezer paper is lightly ironed to the back of the fabric. This stabilizes the fabric for writing. On the non-shiny side of the freezer paper, I often draw dark, evenly spaced lines as a guide which can be seen through the right side of the fabric. Then I iron the quilt label transfer to the fabric.

It often takes a bit of trial and error to get a label that satisfies. With the Sunbonnet Sue quilt's label, my first attempt squeezed in all the information I wanted to include.

Next I over compensated and left too much room at the bottom of the label. Still I used this one to try out different colors and styles of pens.

Finally I reorganized the order of the information and everything balanced out. Using the same fine-tipped micron pen as I did for the writing, I outlined the design and colored it in. Besides micron pens, fabric markers, colored pencils, even crayons can be used to enhance a label. Sharpies can be used but tend to bleed, so use with care.

The final step is to peel the freezer paper off the back of the label and lay it face down on the front of the label. Use the iron to heat set the design. Peel the paper off the label and you will see some excess ink and waxy residue.

A border of fabric may be sewn to the edge of label, or just press the edges of the muslin under and whip stitch it to the back of the quilt. I usually place it on the lower left, a few inches in from the edge of the quilt.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

The Look & Feel of Quilted

2011-07-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

Only four blocks left to quilt the background lines of the Sunbonnet Sue quilt!

The quilt gets easier to handle as the pins are removed and the batting is quilted down more and more. It actually feels like a quilt to cuddle under now.

A quick rinse to remove the blue marking lines and then on to the binding!

Other notes for the month of July as it closes out...Becca received this tortoise for her 18th birthday. Meet Percival, a Russian tortoise who is over 2 years old and can live to be 50! He eats vegies and fruit and sleeps til noon so fairly low maintenance. She has been asking for this kind of pet for years and now that she is a responsible adult, we made her and the folks at Tropical Hut very happy.

Drama babe attended summer classes at Oregon Children's Theater: drama, comedy, and a prep intensive for the Young Professionals program. She interviews for that on Thursday. Tonight she is called back for Junie B. Jones at NWCT, but beyond that, it's all confidential.

You know it takes a ukelele to bring a comedy sketch together.

Dad attended the comedy showcase, having taken the day off work after the midnight opening of Harry Potter.

Looking forward to August and hopefully some sunny weather. My son saw a store's marquee that read "Summer has arrived! Get your space heaters here." I say, grab a quilt.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Background: Sunbonnet Sue

2011-07-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Twas a good day for quilting as the skies were cloudy. Thankful for the overnight rain that assisted me with the watering of the raised beds in my backyard, pictured here from my sewing room lookout.

When not driving the kids to and from work, theater classes and shopping, I spent the greater part of the day working on the Sunbonnet Sue quilt. Decided to quilt a line down the center of the sashing strips, 1" in from the seamline. I used the very daring red thread here, as it blended right in with the red stripe in the sashing fabric.

Finally reached a decision on the background quilting for the applique blocks. After considering several options, I saw this on p. 46 of Quilting Designs from the Past by Jenny Carr Kinney (C&T Publishing, 2008). I met her briefly at Quilt Market in 2007 and knew I had to pick this book up when it became available. It has 300+ designs from 1810-1940.

Using my small square ruler, I marked a 1" square from each corner, then a 2", 3", 4" and one more line to finish off the design. Only finished one so far but think it's a great choice. The line goes up to but not through the applique design. It is quilted continuously by traveling in the ditch and around the applique to get to the next line.

The design that didn't make it: outlining the qpplique and perhaps echo quilting beyond that..though the quilting would probably be too heavy with a 1/2" repeated outline. Much prefer the 1" square design and every block will be marked for this plan.

Happy that all the quilting decisions have been made. It's a road map to the finish and very motivating to know the next step. Indecision really breeds procrastination. Best remedy is to mull over the old antique quilting design books for inspiration and get quilting!

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Quilting Density

2011-07-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

How much quilting does a quilt require? That depends on both the style of the quilt and also the batting used. For this 1930's era Sunbonnet Sue, the designs chosen should keep with the original designs that were quilted during that time. For example, grids, outlining 1/4" from stitching lines or applique shapes, clamshells, feathers, etc., are all keeping with original design work.

The back of the Sunbonnet quilt shows the stitching alongside the applique. A next step might be to quilt 1/4" away from the design to outline it. In addition, a line quilted 1/4" from the sashing, in the background area, would add additional quilitng.

Here shows the back of the sashing quilted in-the-ditch. An additional line could be stitched through this area to quilt down the sashing, if desired. However, it is not necessary because the batting used allows quilting lines to be 8-10" apart. I do like to cut that number in half and really have no space that is more than 3-4" open without quilting.

Back in the 1930's the batting used was 100% cotton. If the quilting wasn't heavy enough, the batting would break down quickly during wear and washing. Several of today's battings have what is called a "scrim binder" which is something like a grid which the fibers are bonded to. This makes a tighter weave inside and allows for looser quilting. Heavy quilting with this type of batting (i.e. Warm & Natural) can also make the quilt feel stiff, so check for how the quilt drapes over your lap while quilting.

So when is enough enough as far as quilting goes? Flip the quilt over, as shown here, and take a look at the amount of quilting already completed and see where there are spaces that still need quilting. Also, check the package of your batting choice and see what is recommended for spacing the quilting lines. Stitching through a sample of your fabric and batting is also helpful.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Feathers

2011-06-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Sunbonnet Sue quilt has setting triangles along the outside. I decided to use a feather design to border the blocks. Here's the first one I did the other morning. I've since quilted more than half the feathers. Shown from the right side, you can see the blue washable marker I used to trace the design onto the quilt top.

A view of the back of the quilt:

Antique feather templates used for hand quilting are often adapted to machine quilting by creating a gap between the feathers so they can be quilted continuously. This can be achieved by quilting down one side of the marked line and back up the other side. The other option is to quilt it as the template dictates, but be prepared to re-stitch the top of every other feather so you can make the design continuous. This re-stitching technique works best for this design and is very good practice for accuracy. A light thread on a light fabric is very forgiving as well.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

When a Quilt Wears Out...

2011-06-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

What do you do when a quilt begins to show signs of wear and tear? Either repair it or love it til the threads no longer hold together.

It's a joyful thing to see one of my kids wrapped up in their quilt to sleep or study. It's a comfort when they are sick and want the quilt to cover them. I've repaired many a quilt belonging to my children over the years because kids tend to love their quilts to death.

If you are a quilter, it's a great excuse to go buy more fabric and design something really spectacular. But if the quilt was given to you or inherited and you don't sew yourself, you'll want to find someone who can spruce it up for you.

I do have a couple of quilts that are in need of repair. One is a strippy quilt with very heavy quilting. Some of the stitching has come loose so it only needs re-quilting in a few spots since the fabric is still very stable.

My son's I Spy quilt, which I made for him in 2003, has a few patches that have completely worn away. Even the batting is gone in one area. Looking at it I can see that the patches that are falling apart are lower quality fabric than some of the other patches sewn into the quilt.

Back when I was collecting novelty prints for this quilt, I was more interested in the design of the fabric. I didn't understand much about the different qualities of fabric such as thread count, the hand of the fabric, or manufacturers. I could have held up a print to the light and seen how easily it showed through to get a basic idea of the thickness or thinness of the fibers.

At any rate, this quilt has been loved and used daily on my son's bed. Since he is almost 20, he might want to retire this quilt in favor of a more updated style. But if he wants it repaired, here's what I will do.

First, I will replace the worn patches by carefully trimming the worn part away. I will use a quality fabric cut in the same shape--I have tons these left over from 2003! Turn under the edge, press, insert a new piece of batting, and hand or machine applique the patch in place.

Also, when the edge is worn near the binding, it is easy to trim the original binding off. If the quilting is not too close to the edge, you can also trim a bit of the worn fabric.

On this quilt, I quilted in the ditch between all the patches. On the border, I used orange embroidery floss to hand quilt a pointed design. Since I centered it along the border, there is plenty of space to trim up the edges--in this case I could trim a bit less than an inch if necessary--and then apply a new binding.

Designs for Sue

2011-06-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

Just starting the utility stitching (aka stitch-in-the-ditch) on the Sunbonnet Sue quilt. Everything is going along smoothly. Using 60 wt. 100% cotton Presencia thread for this part and will switch to a 50 wt. for some of the surface quilting, such as this feather design for the outer triangles.

Also visited Andrea this morning so she could take some head shot photos of the actress, who was delighted to see a new member of the family, 10-week-old Lolo. Very playful and cute!

Sunbonnet Sue: Take Two

2011-05-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

After sewing costumes, the return to quilting feels like I am going on vacation! Here's the completed quilt top of the second Sunbonnet Sue design, which I was working on a few weeks ago.

Today I am contemplating quilting designs for this top. I have a few ideas to audition and would like to make it a bit different than the first SS quilt. Since the sashing is plaid, I'd like to see how X's would look in that area. For the background, perhaps some McTavishing--named after Karen McTavish--which is short flowing lines that creates little pillow-like pockets of quilted space. It's a great background fill around an applique design. For the border triangles, maybe a feather design to fit the space. We'll see how it goes!

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Prom, Tom, and more pettiskirts!

2011-05-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

These last few weeks have been filled with non-quilting activity but plenty of sewing. First of all, prom rolled around and Becca's dress had to be taken in a bit and shortened just a tad.

At the same time, I was working on the costume committee for Tom Sawyer, CYT's spring production. My task was to make three pair of overalls for the girls in the whitewash gang. A white pair for Hannah, blue for Courtney, and brown for Alyssa. They were only worn for one short scene, but they were cute as buttons. And each pair of overalls had eight buttonholes, so after 24, I became an expert.

Since I had bragged about making a pettiskirt for Hannah's tap performance, I was given a load of pettiskirts to spruce up for the eight Liberty dancers in Tom Sawyer. I lost some sleep over this project because we had five useable skirts and I wasn't sure how to make something as full and fluffy with what we had to work with. These skirts are time consuming to make from scratch...and we didn't have that kind of time or money for materials.

There was one very full pink skirt that I split into two. I added a stretch waistband with a buttonhole opening facing inside to insert the elastic. The opening makes adjustments easier.

Two more skirts were needed so I split a very full brown pettiskirt into two. I added a brown satin waistband to each, fusing a 1/2" strip of interfacing to the edge for reinforcement and to prevent fraying. Finished those just the night before school day shows. The girls were thrilled to have them and I breathed a hugh sigh of relief. Whew!

When not in overalls, my whitewasher wore a bright red, white and blue outfit as a schoolgirl. She was awarded the "sparkplug" award for bringing life and a lot of snappy lines to her character. That's my firecracker! shown here with Emily who knows how to reign her in when necessary.

Big props to our committee chair, Lowanna, who calmly figured out how to solve problems backstage, like "the mic guy broke my zipper!" And fixing Tom's straps so they wouldn't keep sliding off his shoulders by sewing tabs out of the shirt material to hold them into place. She also replaced the hook and eye closures on the liberty girls blouses with zippers to make the quick-change go more smoothly. Amazing work. Below is Lowanna, Lori, me, and Jennifer (not pictured is Dawnette)

Huckleberry Finn (Caleb A.) and Tom Sawyer (Austin P.) with two adoring fans.

We are finished with productions for the year, but we look forward to Oliver, the Wizard of Oz, and Snow White next year.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Fabric Grainline

2011-05-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Contrary to assumptions, not all fabrics are printed on the grainline. To find the true grain of the fabric, the selvedge edge needs to be snipped and torn. The true grainline isn't found simply by rotary cutting the fabric. The torn edge will reveal the exact grainline of the fabric. Refold the fabric and use your rotary cutter and ruler to clean-cut the edge where some of the fibers may have been distorted.

When fabric is printed non-directional, it might not be noticeable if it's printed off the grainline. Stripes and plaids, however, will show if they are true or not.

For the Sunbonnet Sue quilt, I used this fabric to make the sashing strips. The stripe pattern is slightly off-grain. When viewing the 45" of length selvedge-to-selvedge, the print looks straight for several inches, then dips down, and then comes back to the printed line. In order to cut a long strip of fabric that would appear straight, I trimmed up the edge a bit along the print and found a line I could measure off. It takes a bit of tweaking the fabric under the ruler. Cut a few inches then realign the ruler.

The other option for this print would be to insert cornerstones along the sashing. Cut a strip of fabric equal to the length of the block. Then add a square of fabric for the cornerstone. The sashing strips are 2.5 inches wide so cut a 2.5 inch square for the cornerstone. Even if your fabric is printed off-grain, there will be sections along the fabric that will work for this option.

I do like the look of the red cornerstones here but the client's desire is to have a continuous strip of sashing along the diagonal. The strip between the third and fourth row of blocks show this option. It's not as bold and the red binding will pull it all together nicely.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Pettiskirt

2011-05-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

For my daughter's solo tap performance, she needed a pettiskirt. I wasn't sure what it was so I googled "pedi skirt" and came up with this very helpful tutorial from Ashley http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/07/full-and-fluffy-pettiskirt.html Read it for the full instructions because I only include here how I altered the size and materials used.

What makes the skirt so full and fluffy? It's actually two skirts. One is sewn to the inside of the satin waistband and the other is sewn to the outside.

Following Ashley's tip of tightening the top tension on the sewing machine (7-10) and elongating the stitch length to 5, I was able to ruffle very easily. In order to adjust the ruffle I left very long thread ends and ruffled a few yards at a time. I broke it into four sections.

I ordered a 60 yard roll of 7" wide candy colored nylon chiffon from http://www.afc-express.com/ The top tier of chiffon was 6 yards and the bottom was 12 yards. For both skirt layers I used 36 yards. For the waistband I used a stretch satin that was very shiny. My daughter's waist is 23.5 inches so I cut the satin 8" x 47".

When pressing the fold on the waistband, lay a piece of muslin over the satin (works for ribbons too) so the iron doesn't stick to the fabric/ribbon and damage it.

So after ruffling, gathering and pinning for what seemed like forever, the skirt was finished just a day before the outdoor showcase, a prelude to the final recital next month. I love the look of it, but honestly, it was very time consuming. Thankful I only had to make one. Worth it, though.

Good Friday for Sunbonnets

2011-04-22T07:25:00.001-07:00

Here's the five Sunbonnet Sue blocks I appliqued. I also added black embroidery thread to separate the fingers in the hand and added a chain stitch with a lazy daisy on the hat.

All 32 blocks are laid out here. I attached the red plaid sashing to one side of each block.

Next I'll sew the rows together diagonally, then add sashing along the diagonal. Setting triangles will be added to the edges to complete the top.

Hand Applique--Sunbonnet Sue

2011-04-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Many months ago, I finished a Sunbonnet Sue quilt for a delightful lady named Betty. Her niece, Jan, recently contacted me to work on another one, which will be for Betty to enjoy. The quilt will feature more red and perhaps have slightly different quilting design. Of course, I'm thrilled to be involved with the process once again.

This time I'm hand appliqueing five blocks. A total of 32 are needed for the quilt. My red block is on the left; the blue block on the right was completed by the original appliquer of all the blocks on the first quilt and 27 for this one.

Like handquilting, hand applique doesn't see much of me. But I do love the handwork when I have the opportunity! When I applique, I like to use YLI Silk #100. Another good choice is Superior's Bottom Line polyester for it's slick application. I've also used cotton thread and recommend a bit of Thread Heaven, a thread lubricant to avoid those nasty tangles.

I do what's called "needle turn" applique where you use your needle to tuck under the raw edge, about 1/4" and sew it to the background fabric. Using a bit of fabric glue and a toothpick can also help to tuck under stubborn edges, particularly corners. I also like the small applique pins (Clover brand, white heads) to keep a turned edge in place.

I started with the shoe and layered the dress over that.

Once the blocks are completed, I will attach sashing, quilt, bind, and label. This will keep me busy for awhile, but I'm pulling together some other projects to work on as well, including more costumes!

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Handquilting the Doll Quilt

2011-04-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

First of all, Happy Birthday to my little doll, who is 13 today! My quilting journey started when someone left an anonymous gift of a Moses basket on our porch with a little quilt inside it for her. I thought, "hmm, I'd like to learn how to quilt someday..." Now, 13 years later, we've both made many quilts and enjoy it together. That person probably has no idea the legacy that was started with that little pink quilt. We're so thankful!

Everytime I do any handquilting, and it isn't very often, I need to re-educate myself on the process. It takes a little bit of practice to get back in the swing of inserting the needle, rocking it back up through the layers, and making a nice row of stitches.

The goal isn't to get 12-14 stitches to the inch but to focus on consistent size and spacing of the stitches. Click on the photo for a closer look.

So far, I've stitched 13 of 17 horizontal lines through the light squares of each block and through the setting squares. I'll finish off with a few vertical lines and then put on the binding.

Handpieced Doll Quilt

2011-03-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Many years ago, I took a handpiecing class from the gracious Betty Anderson, owner of the now shuttered Quilting B in Clackamas, Oregon, where I first learned to quilt! In this class, we worked on a small ninepatch doll quilt pattern from the book Celebrate! with Little Quilts (That Patchwork Place, 1995) by Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Von Holt, and Sylvia Johnson.

I loved having the handwork to take with me, but like many of my UFO projects, this one was put aside. As part of my new quilting goals, I took this with me on spring break vacation last week where I laid out the blocks, book, and remaining pieces to finish the last two blocks.

I worked on it all week and accomplished my goal of getting the quilt top completely pieced. It measures approximately 16" x 19". Tea-dyeing the top is a way to make new fabrics have an instant aged look, but I think I will keep this one the way it is. I will handquilt it with a simple design and add a medium or dark blue binding.

Handpiecing is a great way to get blocks pieced when you are away from your sewing machine. The secret is to have some piecework ready to go so you can work on them anywhere. Although I don't plan to tackle another handpiecing project soon, I do enjoy some relaxing handwork, which is typically accomplished for me when attaching a binding to a quilt.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

New Quilting Goals!

2011-03-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

I started this blog a few years ago to help give more information to my machine quilting students. Often there wasn't enough class time to cover everything related to quilting on a domestic machine--needles, thread, batting, fabric choices, quilt care, design, etc.--so I tried to incorporate those details into my posts and much of the basic information is contained within the archives of this blog.

This past year, I decided to step away from a regular teaching schedule. Now that my time is not centered around prepping for class instruction, I've focused on some new goals.

My primary goal is to tackle the box of unfinished projects I have. Recently, I took a few days to go through all my projects stored in various boxes and bags. I made a list of each quilt top or random blocks and wrote down what is needed to complete each.

My passion continues to see finished quilts! To piece a quilt is one part of the process but sometimes we get stuck going beyond that. I'll continue to work with friends and clients to complete part of the process, be it piecing, quilting, or binding, I love to share the process we go through to make design decisions.

Finally, I enjoy general sewing and ocassionally find myself working on non-quilted projects. I loved making the messenger bag and tuffet for Christmas gifts, and working on costumes for Annie and Romeo & Juliet. I've learned that quilting has made me an even better seamstress than I was before.

Now is the time to refocus this blog to show a journal of what I'm doing in my week-to-week adventures in craft. It should be more fun and a little less academic. I'm still the domestic quilter but with a bit more going on...

Happy National Quilting Day!

2011-03-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

6" feather design on cotton sateen; quilted with YLI silk thread #100 (color 201), trapuntoed with Quilter's Dream Poly--Deluxe (weighty loft); back batting: Hobbs Heirloom 80/20.

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Final notes on Annie...Juliet

2011-03-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a joy to work on costumes for both Annie and Romeo & Juliet. Although I'm a quilter and this blog is dedicated to those projects, I enjoyed sewing and altering more than I thought I would. Here's a few closing photos of the past weekend. Megan B., pictured here with Hannah, was the Star-To-Be in NYC. Her beautiful blue dress was made by my longtime friend, Lori W.

Megan C. was superior as Juliet in Reynolds High School's presentation of Romeo & Juliet. She twisted her ankle during dress rehearsal week and needed her dress to be a bit shorter than the other frocks the actresses were wearing. It helped to not trip her up as she had to scale all the high risers onstage.

Zach Speer as Juliet's father gave an emotive performance in his acting debut. Maybe it's just the red hair that gave credence to his fiery performance, but it was the needed spark before intermission.

Daddy Warbaggs was at Opening Night of Annie, cheering on his favorite orphan!

All my girls were together for the Saturday evening performance of Annie. They described the scenes in the orphanage as "just like home!"

Hannah loved being the orphan, July, whose character description is the "quietest" orphan, but we all know better. She was sassy and spunky, a real fun role for her. She tap danced with these four girls (Ellie C., Hannah W., Hannah B., and Anne J.) who received the "rhythm" award at the strike party for their lively rendition of Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile, supported by a cast of 14 additional orphans.

My dad's vintage radio, a 1931 cathedral, was a classic prop in Miss Hannigan's office. I loved the scene where she is sitting with her arm over it while she listens to "hope for women over 35 to find love". Cassie is barely 16 but she played a mature, Carol Burnett version of Miss Hannigan that blew the audience away.

Here's a better look--not covered up by the chair and photo in the foreground--where the orphans are listening to Annie on the radio in Miss Hannigan's office at the orphanage. Thanks Emily W. for taking such good care of it!

Hannah and Alli O. became good pals during the rehearsals and run of the show. Their older siblings went to high school together so they knew about each other years before they had this opportunity to be in a play together. It was a great experience and memory for both of them!

Show aprons

2011-03-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

Annie Jr. is over but here are the aprons I made for the production, which was an amazing show with lots of talented and well-dressed kids, ages 8-18. This is the french maid's apron, worn on stage by Laura S. and Megan W. (also below). It's made of linen fabric, which I cut to insert the strip of lace, also sewn along the edge.

Next are the servant aprons made of rectangles of lacy fabric that was lined, worn over black dresses we pulled from the costumes at the CYT warehouse. I made five of these aprons.

This final white apron was for the baker, Mrs. Pugh (Amelia), shown here with the amazing Miss Hannah. I made the basic skirt, cut from an edged lace fabric, then added a pointed bib, to give it a 1930's style.

I made two hot dog seller aprons, made from a slightly stretchy canvas fabric. I added a large pocket on front and sewed a vertical line so the ketchup and mustard bottles could be held steady.

All together, I made 11 aprons for this show, including Annie's pinafore. During the last show, there wasn't time to get her red sweater on over her brown dress and blue pinafore, so she came on stage just like this. I loved seeing it without the cover-up. Allisonn was the perfect Annie and she did a wonderful job acting and singing while interacting with Sandy (Tucker) whom she didn't get a lot of rehearsal time with before the show. Well done!

Dress completed

2011-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Juliet costume is complete! I needed to take about 7" off the hem, so I cut 5.5 inches off and pressed a 1.5 inch hem of both the skirt fabric and inner lining, then basted those two folded edges together. The basting will be easy to remove if I need to alter it later.

The dress looks great on our resident model! Now I'm focusing today on designing and sewing two French maid aprons in the style of the 1930's for our first dress rehearsal of Annie tonight. Pictures to follow on that project.

Grommets!

2011-03-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

Just finishing up the Juliet costume with some grommets/eyelets along the bodice of the gown. These are fairly easy to put on, but I did learn a few tips along the way. First of all, I used this small paper punch to cut through the three layers of fabric (yellow cotton, interfacing and lining). I trimmed the hole to make it a bit bigger but not as big as the manufacturer's directions. I followed that on my trial run and the fabric pulled out from under the grommet edges. Best to make the hole just big enough for the long grommet piece to fit through.

Then I realized the hole punch had a sharp edge near the inside of the punch and could create some fray in along the finished fabric edge when I punched the hole, so I padded it with this piece of muslin to prevent that from happening.

I used a blue washable marker to mark the grommet placement, according to the pattern markings. The kit has two small tools to help keep the two grommet pieces lined up so they can be hammered together. When hammering, a few firm blows does the trick. Beyond that, the grommet can get flattened and have some sharp snags in the opening.

Altogether I used 24 grommets, six on each side front and back. A bit time consuming but easy to do. I'm sure I'll use this technique in the future with art quilts; lots of possibilities! The 1/8" yellow cord laced through the grommets completes this part of the gown.

Viola!

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Juliet's dress

2011-03-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

Today I'm working on making a costume for our family friend, Megan, who is playing Juliet in Romeo & Juliet at her high school. This bright yellow fabric is somewhat sheer, so I'm going to use lining fabric in the skirt. The bodice will also be lined and have a layer of muslin which acts as an interfacing to stiffen up the lightweight material.

The pattern is Simjplicity 2573, view B, which is the blue dress pictured at the right top. Just making the outer dress from the yellow. She will wear a long-sleeved shirt underneath and the director will add the trim and belt to the dress. I do have to put in grommets & cording.
Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Mug Rugs Received!

2011-02-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

Saw a package peeking out of my mailbox today and I just knew...my mug rugs had arrived! They were sent from Dorothy in Illinois, where I know there has been tons more snow than our neck of the woods.

Aren't these adorable?! They point to spring, Easter, and just put a smile on my face. I truly appreciate having a bit of someone else's creativity--beautiful machine applique and hand embroidery on the bunny. The flowers are so whimsical and cute! Love the stitching.

The patriarch of our family is British so we drink tons of tea each day. These rugs will gets lots of use. Thanks again, Dorothy!

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Snow & Sew

2011-02-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

Woke up at 3 a.m. this morning and looked outside to wet streets. Then at 5:30, the alarm went off and there is was, finally...SNOW. The weather here is so weird, just like Portland. It warmed up to 42 and all melted away. But as I write this, the skies are cloudy and it's getting colder. Snow flurries are starting up again...

The whole family is home today from work and school. It's been a good day to work on some sewing projects. I'm on the costumes committee for CYT's production of Annie (http://www.cytvanport.org/) and I'm making the dress & pinafore for the character of Annie. Hannah is cast as the orphan, July, and will wear similar clothing to what she is modeling here.

Just have to attach the pocket and sew in a narrow hem on the pinafore. On the dress, I have to split the side seams at the bottom so there is more room for stage movements. The orphans are doing lots of gymnastics on stage, and Hannah is one of a few who get to tap dance during the show.

Next, I'm making some aprons for the french maids and hot dog sellers. I already made a baker's apron and aprons for the five servants who work at Oliver Warbuck's mansion. It's gonna be a great show!

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Quilted Mug Rugs

2011-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

The mug rugs are finished! And managed to get red in there--really cheers up the asthetic appeal, at least for me. Looking to get these in the mail to Nicole in Texas later today, before the due date of Monday, which is a holiday and no mail moving anyway.

A look at the flip sides:

Using black cotton thread, I quilted a shell design and some stitch-in-the-ditch around the horizontal bars.

On the other one, I quilted spirals, angles, and leaves with variegated yellow thread. Finished with echo quilting around the outside edge of all the designs to fill in the area near the binding. It was one continuous line of thread.

Really enjoyed this little project. Fun to use a mix of contemporary fabrics with a few oldies but goodies from my stash.

Someday I will be a real art quilter.
Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Mug Rugs

2011-02-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in a swap through Quilting Gallery (see sidebar). Over 300 people signed up to trade two mug rugs with another quilter. We've had about a month to work on these and it's both my first attempt to make a mug rug and my first swap!

Naturally, I stalked my partner's blog to see what she might like. I did get some preferences from her via the swap coordinator: modern quilting and artsy quilts. I think we like some of the same things.

This first one is randomly pieced, I just kept sewing until it measured 10" x 6". It has a bit of an Asian look to it:

On her blog, my secret person used black, white and red fabrics to make a quilt. It sounded like she wanted to go with black, white, and yellow, just couldn't find the right fabrics to go together. I understand this. Only after making a Tuffet with these colors for my eldest daughter, did I think outside the box and incorporate yellow like this. I'm using the fabrics from that project and some stash favorites.

These were pieced following the directions provided by Ryan Walsh, inspiration to all us swappers: http://www.ryanwalshquilts.com/2010/11/dresden-wedges-mug-rug-tutorial-bliss.html

One of these will make it to my swap partner, but I'm asking myself, "Where's the red?" The other two will be added to the color ensemble in Sarah's room :)

Copyright ©2011, Sharon Baggs

Testing the Thread

2011-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

After considering the three choices for top thread, I started with the darker variegated thread (right). It seemed to blend the best across both the light and dark fabrics. I began quilting with it and then decided to use the lighter (middle) thread. Sometimes you have to try quilting a bit to see which one works best.

I used a darker bobbin thread. When I use a 40 wt. as the top thread, I use a 50 wt. in the bobbin (always Presencia brand, my personal favorite--good for top thread quilting too!) There needs to be a slight adjustment in the tension so the bobbin thread doesn't pop up. Each of these three stitched lines were set at a different top tension setting--3.0 on the first line, 2.5 on the second, and 2.0 on the third. The 2.0 tension setting gave the best result for a balanced tension.

With the lighter thread (Superior's King Tut 40 wt. Color #904--Mirage), it blends right into the pink fabric. The original quilting plan was to quilt a grid out across the border. The grid looked a little lopsided and with the light thread on dark fabric it is difficult to hide the unevenness. A new quilting plan for the border will be decided later. For now there is plenty of stitching-in-the-ditch to be quilted in all the pieced seam lines, as shown above and below.

Starting at each corner of the quilt, I stitched-in-the-ditch across the bottom of the square, pivoted at the inner border and stitched down to the edge on the opposite side, pivoted and stitched back to the starting point. I did this on all four corners. Since the quilt is longer than it is wide, these "anchoring lines" created two large X's on the back of the quilt as shown here:

Always begin quilting with these anchoring lines so you can check the back of the quilt. If there are any puckers, you can fix them before moving on with the rest of the quilting.

Thread for Boston Commons

2011-01-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

For this quilt, the top quilting thread will have to blend in with the pinks and variety of blue fabric. I pulled some of my lighter shades of Superior's King Tut 40 wt. cotton thread to audition for the quilting.

The quilting plan is to quilt a grid across the entire surface of the quilt. The piecing seams will be stitched-in-the-ditch and the stitching will extend across the inner pink accent border and the outer blue border. To get an idea what the thread will look like, the strands of the different colors are set on the pink and blue fabric.

Boston Commons Quilt

2011-01-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

A Boston Commons Quilt is constructed of strip sets which provide enough to make two quilts, sometimes called a two-for-one quilt. Typically made of two color gradations, this twin sized quilt features a variety of pinks in the middle and moves to shades of blue out to the border. The other quilt is a small square quilt with blue in the middle and pink on the outside edges. That will be finished later. For now, the focus is on the twin sized quilt.

This quilt top was pieced by my friend, Ruthann, who gave it to another friend, Felicia, about seven years ago. She asked me recently if I would help her finish it up and quilt it for her daughter, Aimi. The quilt covers a standard twin mattress but we plan to make it a bit bigger.

First, we trimmed the blue triangle edges off, to make a straight edge. Then we added a 2" inner pink border.

Next we will add a dark blue border which will really make the pink inner border pop.

The Tuffet Class

2011-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

My first completed Tuffet was the black, white, and yellow pictured (right) for my daughter. See my previous post (Christmas Gift #2). I took a class at Pioneer Quilt Shop in Happy Valley, Oregon, taught by Judy Dillree (also right, standing). She has made several of these adorable foot stools, including the four pictured (left). Judy will teach this class again on Tues., March 8 & 29, 1-5. Contact http://www.pioneerquiltshop.com/ for more information.

Judy is a wonderful teacher who provided helpful tips and an opportunity to purchase the plywood base and 6" foam insert needed to upholster the tuffet. I bought an extra set so I can make another tuffet in the future.

With two class sessions, held two weeks apart, we were able to sew the top together during the first class and return for the second class to put the tuffet together, adding a felt bottom over the base and hardware to secure the bun feet.

Heavy weight decorator fabrics, similar to those used to upholster a dining chair, made this tuffet special. High gloss black spray paint to finish the four feet, add to the regal appearance.

So many beautiful fabrics! Here are a few other tuffets made in class:

Christmas Gift #2

2011-01-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

This 18" round footstool is made of black, white, and yellow fabric. The pattern is The Tuffet, designed by Myra for PM Lane's Patterns. I took a class to put this together and it was great fun! I've been wanting to made this design for quite some time. In my next post, I'll share some photos of the other tuffets made by my classmates.

Some of the fabric is newly purchased but much of it came from my stash of black and white fabrics. My oldest daughter's room is decorated with black and white with yellow accents so this will look great in front of her black futon.

Our first class consisted of sewing fabric strips to eight panels. I think it would be fun to free motion quilt over these panels before putting the tuffet together, but I had to be realistic with this first time around and just focus on putting it together to get it done.

At the second class, we put the sewn top onto a 6" foam insert over an 18" round plywood base. Batting is added to the top to fill in all the soft spots and make a firm cushion.

Once the tuffet is covered, the center is secured with a fabric covered button. We used a 2-1/2" button made by Dritz but a large standard 2" button could also be used.

The bottom of the tuffet was covered with a black felt circle and stapled in place. Then the necessary hardware was added to the bottom of the plywood base over the felt, so the four feet could be added. These bun feet were purchased at The Home Depot. Interestingly, everyone in the class had a different set of feet for their tuffet.

I spray painted the feet with black matte paint. I set up a box in the garage and sprayed them in that. Light sanding between coats help achieve a better finish. I adhered non-skid 1" circles to the bottom of each foot.

The most challenging part was dealing with the winter temperatures so I ran a small heater/fan to dry the feet between coats and to ventilate the area. Next time around, I'll do this process on my back patio during the summer.

Christmas gift #1

2011-01-01T01:01:00.000-08:00

I made a couple of non-quilted, handmade gifts for Christmas. The first is a messenger bag, constructed of canvas fabric. I followed the directions provided by http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/bags-pillows/messenger-bag_1.html which were very clear and easy to follow. I did, however, make three modifications: the addition of two D-rings, a slightly larger pocket and larger velcro closures.

First, I added two D-rings, one to each end of the strap to allow items with clips to be attached to the bag. I wrapped the end of the strap over the straight edge of the ring and sewed through all thicknesses onto the bag, using a zipper foot attachment so I could sew closely to the ring. I double-stitched a long rectangle and sewed an 'x' through the center.

On the inside of the blue canvas lined bag, I attached a black pocket. The original directions call for a 7" zipper but I had a 9" zipper so I made it slightly larger. In addition, I added sew-on velcro, a 2" x 2-1/4" strip to each side of the bag. The original directions list 7/8" fusible squares but that didn't sound like enough security to me.

A final personal touch is the "tap" pin. Having lost other pins in the past, I secured this one with some thread. My youngest daughter dances tap and ballet and she's ready to go back to the studio in the new year.

Should I prewash my quilt fabric?

2010-12-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Back 12 years ago when I started to piece and grow a fabric stash, this was the question I asked every quilter I knew. With a short history of sewing my own clothes...6th grade home ec., a bit in high school and college, I figured pre-shrinkage was the way to go. I washed, ironed, and stored every bit of fabric I purchased. It was a lot of work! Now I stack my fabric on the shelf until I'm ready to use it and then decide if I want to prewash or not.

Whether to prewash really depends on the look you want for the quilt and how the quilt will be used. For example, for most of the lap and bed quilts I make, I love the scrunchy texture that results from using unwashed fabric and batting out of the package once the quilt is washed and dried for the first time. However, for wall hangings and applique, I will use prewashed fabric because I desire a flat look to the quilt and may not be washing the quilt at all.

My decision to prewash is really determined by what type of quilt I'm making which also helps me decide which type of batting to put inside the quilt. For example, if I'm making an heirloom quilt and want an antique, scrunchy texture that old quilts have, I will not prewash the fabric. The batting will be 100% cotton and the quilting lines will be close together (1-2"). After quilting and binding, the quilt can be washed and dried to produce the look I'm after.

The worst advice, which I've actually read in some quilting books, is to wash your fabric in the hottest water to shrink and set the color. The rationale being this will be the toughest treatment so you'll have no worries later. Well, that fabric just took a beating it didn't need which is an ignorant way to approach fabric care. Lukewarm water and a phosphate-free detergent that will not strip the color from the fabric is the way to go.

If you logically think about it and educate yourself a bit, you will learn how to care for your fabric, not tear down the fibers before cutting it up for quilt construction. For an educated look at fabric and how it is processed and should be handled, read From Fiber to Fabric by Harriet Hargrave. She and her daughter, Carrie Hargrave, are co-authors of Quilter's Academy, a new 6-volume series by C & T Publishing, which is a skill-building course in quiltmaking. Education=success!

Copyright ©2010, Sharon Baggs

Binding with dotted fabric

2010-10-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

For the binding on the feedsack quilt, the fabric chosen was Mama's Feedsacks by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman. It's a reproduction of the original red so it matches nicely to give an attractive edge to frame the variety of prints in the quilt. The same fabric was used to back the quilt as well. Love, love, love this red.

Using about 2/3 yd. of the fabric, fold in half, selvedge to selvedge, and cut several 2-1/2" strips. To join one to another, lay the strip right side down and fold the end over on a 45 degree angle. Finger press the fold or use a light iron.

Then position this vertical folded piece directly on top of a second horizontal strip, right side up. Notice how the fold is positioned so the dots are evenly spaced.

The dot pattern needs to remain even while joining strips so check each one for proper placement as you go. Once it looks correct, lay the fold out flat so you see the wrong side with the diagonal crease. Pin in place along the diagonal crease.
By folding the tip down you can see that the dots line up. The fold line is just to the left of the dot and will be the line that is stitched. The dots on the right will become part of the seam line as you will see in the pictures below.

Start at the corner and stitch down the visible fold line to the opposite corner. If you have prepared all your strips, you can continue to stitch the next one by allowing your machine to take a few stitches in between, then sew the next strip without breaking the thread. By chain piecing in this way, you will end up with your strips completely joined in one go. Snip between each thread join to make one continuous strip.

Double check your stitching before trimming the seam lines. Using an acrylic ruler, line up the 1/4" mark along the stitched line.

Trim the seam to 1/4" using a rotary cutter.

Press the seams open.

A perfect seam makes the fabric's pattern look continuous.Trim the thread tails. Fold the strip in half, right sides facing out, and press. This creates a double-fold binding strip. For more details on the process of sewing the binding to the quilt, please see posts from Feb. 2009--Straight Grain Binding and Binding Corners and Joining Ends.

Copyright 2010, Sharon Baggs

Minkie Coverlet

2010-04-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

Diana's friend bought a kit to make a crib-sized minkie quilt (40 x 46), which Diana pieced for her. They decided to nix the batting, making it a coverlet, which I stitched together with an overall meandering design to secure the top and back layers. Without a layer of batting which adds stability, I had to lower the presser foot tension on my sewing machine to avoid skipped stitches.

For the thread, I chose Presencia's 50 wt. cotton (color #300--medium bay blue). When you free motion on minkie, the thread 'melts' into the fabric, making it difficult to see the actual stitch. When your machine is stopped, with the needle down into the fabric, use your fingers to feel the area you are heading into so you don't cross over stitched lines. Sufficient lighting helps to see where you've been and where you're going. (View of back, shown below)

Preparing to quilt Andrea's feedsack quilt

2010-04-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

Ah, I love red. This backing fabric (white dot on red, right) for Andrea's feedsack quilt is Mama's Feedsacks line by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman fabrics. It is the perfect match to the 1930's red feedsack pieces in this quilt. What's even better is finding the exact matching thread (100% cotton, 50/3, #279 red) by Presencia (http://www.presenciausa.com/). I only had the small spool to fill a couple of bobbins but it's available in a 125 gram cone, just delivered to my doorstep by UPS. So I'm off and running.

For the top thread, I'm using Presencia's winter white #206. I like to use an off white rather than pure white for most vintage style quilting. I'm using a walking foot to stitch in the ditch to secure all the seams. Here's how I go about balancing the tension so the red doesn't show up on top and the white doesn't pull to the back.

Last time I was sewing something, I had polyester thread in the bobbin which requires a tighter bobbin tension--polyester thread is smooth and slick so if the tension is too loose, lots of loops will show underneath. When switching to the cotton thread I'm using now, I had to loosen the bobbin thread and also adjust the top thread tension. I go through a series of different settings and mark my test fabric with a pencil to see which # is the one to go with. Here, I had the best results with a top thread tension of 2.

To avoid getting small tucks in the backing fabric, I use a straight pin to secure the intersections which stitching-in-the-ditch. This is very effective is keeping the backing fabric from bunching up. I keep a couple of pins in the square I'm quilting and keep moving them down as I go. The safety pins are for basting the quilt layers and I keep them in until all the stitching-in-the-ditch is completed. Additional quilting can be done without safety pins because they have done their job and the quilt will be light, yet secure, to handle.

Copyright ©2010, Sharon Baggs

Cross stitch quilts

2010-04-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is a pre-printed cross stitch quilt that was cross-stitched by Bonnie and quilted by Heather. My job was to wash out the blue lines and bind the quilt. We had worked together on a quilt like this one before and the ink washed out easily; however, this time the ink set and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to remove the ink, or at least lighten it.

The ink was mainly visible in the center of the quilt where curled designs were quilted instead of the pre-printed x-stitch designs and some dotted lines.

My attempt to remove them resulted in only lightening the x's and dots. I did this by mixing a solution of baking soda, a few drops of Synthrapol (which contains Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol) so I added a couple more drops of rubbing alcohol to the solution and gently scrubbed it in with a toothbrush. Then I let the quilt soak in lukewarm water for 1-2 hrs., spun out the water and rinsed. I avoided heavy agitation of the wash cycle. I also read the suggestion to use Oxo Brite non-chlorine bleach. I tested this on a small area of the quilt and it didn't seem to lighten the dye. However, if left to soak for a time, it might be effective.

After a 20-minute dry cycle on warm, the slight shrinkage from the washing/drying process made the background recede and the quilting to be more visible. At first glance the remaining blue dye was not noticeable. Bonnie was very satisfied with the results and appreciated the care taken to wash out the unwanted dye. It definitely looked better than it did after the intial wash that removed none of the dye.

My suggestion with these pre-printed cross stitch kits is to stick to the quilting design given so you can go over the lines. There is no guarantee that the dye will be removed. Test first if you want to use an alternate quilting design.

Copyright ©2010, Sharon Baggs

Magic Carpet Quilt

2010-03-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Working on the souvenirs committee for Christian Youth Theater's production of Aladdin, I was inspired by the jewel tones and rhinestones we embellished everything with, to design this quilt for our Opening Night Opportunity Basket. It accompanied several gift cards and a free tuition to a CYT class.

My initial thought was to make a "Gold Coin Quilt" with lots of gold fabrics weaved into the design. I looked at traditional Chinese Coin quilts and made my coins longer and leaner than the standard. It was only after the quilt was completed and someone on the committee said, "It looks like a magic carpet" that the name stuck. The quilt measures 34" x 56".

The quilt top is made entirely of batik fabrics. I cut each coin 1.5" x 5" and sewed them in pairs. I sewed a long length of coins to a long length of the solid blue batik to complete the layout. I'm going to tweak the instructions for making the basic section/block for the quilt, adding more to make different sizes. This was just a first run with revisions and alternate border ideas still to come.

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch between the sections and between each coin. I had pressed the seams to one side on the coins but next time I will press the seams open and perhaps quilt an edge-to-edge design across the entire surface of the quilt.

I used Sew Art smoke monofilament nylon thread in the top for the ditch quilting and Presencia 50/3 in the bobbin (gold to match the backing fabric). For the background fill, which was all the blue batik fabric, I used Presencia 50/3 blue to quilt the curly-q design to give the quilt..er, magic carpet, some movement!

For the binding, I used a gold batik, that looked like the gold coins I was thinking about all along, to frame the finished quilt.

Hannah was a curtain warmer and a part of the Genie Chorus, pictured here with her #1 fan, sister Becca.
Hannah and her lifelong friend, Emily, who portrayed a friend of the Princess Jasmine.

Hannah and Haley, two peas in a pod who became good friends during this production!

Copyright ©2010, Sharon Baggs

Feedsacks!

2010-02-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

When I started quilting almost 12 years ago, I had an intense love affair with those perky reproduction fabrics designed after the original feedsacks of the 1930's. I collected many of them but I never owned an original vintage feedsack...until this week, thanks to ebay. I was prompted to go on the hunt for the sole purpose of completing Andrea's antique quilt.

To add three rows to the original quilt top, I needed 45 additional squares. Andrea's mom contributed these two red prints, one being a full sized original feedsack, the first I'd ever seen.

I removed 5" of stitching along the side seam at the top of the sack, clipped the fabric and tore it along the width. From this I cut the squares. Because thick string was used to sew feedsacks together, small holes remain where the string is removed. You can work around those by examining the fabric carefully before cutting a square to size.

As I started to remove squares from the quilt top and mixed in these prints, it quickly became evident that I needed at least one more print. The red prints really brightened the look so I searched for something lighter and found this perfect pink print.

Now the additional rows are nearly in place. This quilt will finish to approximately 65" x 85", just the right size for a twin bed. More will be posted on the layering and quilting of this quilt soon!

Jitterbug

2010-02-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

Jitterbug is the name of this contemporary style quilt from Debbie Bowle's book Dancing Quilts. The quilt was pieced by three friends who made it as a wedding gift for another friend. I quilted it and attached a scrappy binding.

Made entirely of batiks, they worked a beautiful color scheme around this design. According to one of the piecers, the quilt was very easy to construct; however, the tricky part was choosing the right fabric and then placing the blocks to show a semblance of order in the all-over design.

After discussing quilting options, we decided on an edge-to-edge angled design as shown here. It greatly enhanced the geometric design of the quilt. It's very easy to quilt this type of design. Quilt a short straight line, stop, then quilt in another direction to create the angle. Finger trace these close up shots to get the idea and try drawing this design on paper.

I used Superior Thread's King Tut for the quilting and changed color to blend in with the fabric. Batiks have a higher thread count so the fabric remains fairly taut while quilting. The backing was a heavy green felted fabric (I called it billard cloth, but it's not really that heavy!) I used a 40 wt. YLI brand cotton thread in the bobbin.

The border of the quilt was pieced from random pieces matching the color of the blocks and I pieced the binding to match each print along the edge. It turned out so well! Especially with a batik, you can just match the color, not necessarily use the same print and it will frame the quilt nicely, not distracting your eye away from the design of the quilt. The binding does need to be pieced-as-you-go with straight seams to join (not diagonal) but it's just a little extra effort that makes a big impact for the finished look.

Copyright ©2010, Sharon Baggs

Sunbonnet Sue

2010-01-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

I love the story behind this quilt. Earlier this fall, I was contacted by the niece of a woman who wanted a quilt for her daughter. The Sunbonnet Sue blocks were appliqued by another quilter who had that end of the project for at least two years. When the niece called me she was desperate to help her aunt get this quilt finished. The aunt was worried she wouldn't see the day of its completion, now that she was in her 80's. Within two weeks of our conversation, I had the blocks and got to work.

First, I added yellow print sashing to 32 blocks, which were set diagonally, to make a full size quilt top. Each block with sashing was approximately 13" finished. I added matching muslin for the setting triangles and corners.

Next came the quilting. I marked a continuous oval stencil design, typical of vintage style quilts, on freezer paper with a black felt tipped pen. I attached the design to my glass top coffee table and put a light underneath the table to illuminate the design.

Using a blue washable marker, I marked the quilt top, following the design that is visible underneath. I then pin basted the quilt top with Hobbs Heirloom Bleached batting and extra wide white tone-on-tone backing.

I used Presencia 100% cotton 50/3 thread for all the quilting in both the top and the bobbin. When I quilted the 1/2" grid (see below), I used the 60/3 thread in the top and 50/3 in the bobbin.

Following what I did, here's a suggested quilting order:

*Use a walking foot to stitch in the ditch all the seam lines between the blocks and the sashing. This firmly anchors the quilt.

*Next stitch the curves of the oval design, also with the walking foot.

*With a darning foot, stitch around the Sunbonnet Sue applique design, taking care to stitch just between the applique and the background fabric and not on top of the applique, except when quilting around the top of the foot, bottom of the bonnet, and around the sleeve/hand. This helps keep the design from popping out, especially after washing/drying the quilt.

*Quilt a 1" grid in the setting triangles and the corners with a walking foot.

*Quilt a 1/2" grid in the background of the Sunbonnet Sue. I used the walking foot here too, although you can use a darning foot for ease in maneuvering around the applique.

It's best to mark the grids before layering the quilt. I contemplated a couple different designs for the background, such as McTavishing and a meandering line with flowers interspersed, before settling on grids. When in doubt, quilt a grid. It highlights applique beautifully and is an authentic design choice for Sunbonnet Sue.

I'm happy to say the quilt was finished in time for the holidays. Here is Sandy, the recipient of the quilt on Christmas morning with her mom, Betty. There is such joy to see it finished!

Andrea's Antique Quilt--Part 1

2009-12-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my friend, Andrea, photographer/artist extraordinaire and blogger (http://www.hulaseventy.blogspot.com/), owner of this charming antique quilt top made of original feedsack fabric. She showed it to me several months ago and asked me to repair and quilt it for her daughter, Ava.

Through the years, Andrea used the quilt top for a stereo cover. Later she used some of the fabric at the quilt edge to make some glorious circus cards which appear in Jane Davila and Elin Waterston's new book Art Quilts at Play (C&T Publishing, 2009). Andrea casually showed me the copy they sent her and I thought 'girl, you don't even know how cool you are to be in that book'. But she clearly deserves it! Yea, Andrea!

After separating the squares, I spritzed each one with some of Mary Ellen's Best Press spray starch, and trimmed away the frayed edges to a uniform size of 4-1/2" x 4-3/4". I put a block of wood underneath my cutting mat to provide a firm surface underneath; otherwise the rotary cutter can break the mat because the ironing surface is too soft to withstand the pressure when cutting.

As I took each row apart, I kept them in a stack and labeled the first square. I sewed them together with a light gray cotton thread (Presencia 60/3) and shortened the stitch length slightly. The thread is fine yet strong and it's what I use to piece all my own cotton quilt tops.

The original quilt top has solid lavender and hot pink squares. Very random placement of these solid squares appear in two 9-patches. To get the quilt to the correct size, I'm incorporating some other solid colors of light yellow and aqua.

This quilt top is still needing a few feedsack squares to make it a bit longer than the original and to fit the twin bed it is intended for. So while Andrea is on the hunt for more fabric, I'll work on some other projects and show you the finished quilt in the new year!

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

9 for 2009: #2

2009-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

Finally tackled the UFO pile to complete another quilt for 2009. This one called Heart Puzzle is a wholecloth quilt with colorful hearts on a black background. The other side is a loopy print on a solid yellow fabric, which I consider the right side of the quilt because it really shows off the quilting.

A view of the back folded over the front of the quilt.

I used a stencil called "heart puzzle" (EL5) for the design. When I started the quilting, I drew the design onto Golden Threads quilting paper, stitched through it, then tore it away. When I resumed the quilting several months later, I used a blue washable marker to draw the design on. Finally, as I finished the quilt these past two weeks, I freehand quilted the remainder, having learned the basic line elements of the design.

I sewed on a blue binding and then added echo quilting around the outer edge where there needed a bit more quilting. I like the edges to have enough dense quilting to hold up to tugging and daily wear and tear. The thread used was Superior's Perfect Quilter, a 30/3 cotton.

Copyright 2009, Sharon Baggs

Denim Quilt 95" x 108"

2009-09-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Molly pieced this quilt top over the years from old jeans she had worn. She asked me to fix it and quilt it. The 'fixing' part required getting the seams as flat as possible by pressing them open and trimming away all the extra stuff on the inside of the quilt. This included zippers, white pocket linings and additional denim fabric that could be removed from inside the quilt top.

I removed the outside border and trimmed it even before reattaching it with 40 wt. white cotton thread. These seams were pressed toward the outside border.

Superior Threads King Tut (Color 976-Olde Golde), a #40/3-ply extra-long staple Egyptian-grown cotton was used for the quilting. It looks just like the thread on jeans and this meandering stitch was a good choice for an all-over design. When the quilting was complete, I had used up most of the 2,000 yd. cone of thread.

Nine yards of Sachet Flannels II by Marcus Fabrics was used for the backing fabric. Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 was used for batting and produced a nice, flat feel. There were virtually no folds or puckers on the back. Ya-hoo!!!

Because Molly incorporated many patches with pockets and name brands, the quilt has lots of interesting variations. The denim colors range from light to very dark.

I regularly had to adjust the presser foot pressure gauge on my Bernina 153, turning it to a higher setting when approaching the added height at an impending seam. After going over the seam, the pressure was readjusted to a lower setting; otherwise, the needle skipped stitches.

Random strips of denim were sewn together to form the border framing the quilt. After stitching in the ditch between the quilt and the border, I quilted a wavy curled design around the perimeter (Stencil #119, 2" border with corner).

A lightweight denim was used to bind the quilt. I avoided using a stretch denim so there would be crisp corners and no distortion.

This was definitely the biggest and bulkiest quilt I have tackled on my domestic machine. And yet here's proof it was possible to quilt it. The process was enjoyable too, but the best part was giving it back to Molly, whose determination to get this quilt finished was an inspiration to me.

Copyright 2009, Sharon Baggs

Fabric Color Touch-Ups

2009-08-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

A flaw in fabric can be noticeable and unsightly, particularly solids. This occurs from the manufacturing process or a safety pin causes a snag. There's a quick way to fix this problem.

Choose a permanent marker or fabric marker that matches the fabric and use a light touch, being careful to immediately cap the pen. Here I've used a fine line brown marker for touch up.

These markers can also be used to tint thread pop-ups if the bobbin thread is a light color. If you use a medium or dark shade of thread in the bobbin the pop-ups will show.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Kaleidoscope Quilt: Take 2

2009-07-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another look at the Kaleidoscope quilt block, made by the same quiltmaker but with slightly different color placement than the previous Kaleidoscope Quilt.

This time we decided to stitch-in-the-ditch through all the block seams and add a small feathered design to fill the 2" outer border.

I began with stitching through all the horizontal and vertical seam lines between all the blocks. This is my usual first step in anchoring a quilt before proceeding with any additional quilting.

Using Sew Art smoke colored nylon monofilament in the top and Presencia brown (color #226) in the bobbin for the anchor quilting, I used the same combination to stitch a ditch pattern. There is no set direction to this--just find a logical path and go for it. I decided to quilt vertically down from the top. On each block I made four passes to finish the ditch quilting. I started at the top, turned at the bottom and ended a line of stitching at the top.

I used a walking foot for the ditch quilting. If you want to avoid turning the quilt and you've become very comfortable with ditch quilting, try using your free motion foot for this step. It's easier and more convenient than you might think, especially for a larger quilt.

Here's a view from the back:

With the ditch quilting of the blocks completed, I quilted around the inside and outside edge of the blue accent strip using matching thread.

For the outer border, I chose a stencil (EK53 2" Ripple Border) that fit the space. I marked it with the Clover fine line white marker which resembles a gel pen. After marking it takes a few seconds for the white mark to appear.

Always test markers on the fabric to make sure it will remove. After a quick rinse the lines have faded. A gentle warm wash with Orvus Paste should remove the ink (See Washing a Quilt).

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Sew Oregon: Day Two

2009-07-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

On the drive back home from a mini-vacation to Crater Lake and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where we saw The Music Man, we stopped by six quilt shops on the Sew Oregon route.
I did the driving while my husband with GPS, laptop, map of Oregon and cell phone in hand expertly mapped out all our stops with precision and great patience.

Our first stop was Thistleberries in the town of Riddle. Hannah picked out a red Moda fat quarter and we were on our way to Something to Crow About in Springfield. Here we found an awesome polka dot print to match our Christmas print perfectly.

On to Callapooya Quilts in Brownsville. Gotta love the small town quilt shops and this was the one I will remember, situated at the end of the sweetest street I've seen in a long time. Hannah was given not just one charm square but enough to make a 9-patch!

We missed the next shop in Albany (The Quilt Loft) because the directions on their website were for I-5 south and we were traveling north--my navigator was very disgruntled over this! We scored big in Salem by visiting Rich's Sew and Vac who gave us two packages of machine needles, followed by Greenbaum's Quilted Forest--always a visual explosion to behold, and finally The Cotton Patch (just north of Salem in Keizer).

Today was the final day of Sew Oregon and I did not make it out to any more shops. Our total of nine shops was just one shy of entering the grand prize drawing (one ticket for every ten shops visited), so I'm keeping my passport with my blocks and will work with Hannah to make our keepsake quilt. Thanks to all the shops who participated; hope you were blessed!

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Sew Oregon: Day One

2009-07-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here in the great state of Oregon, 35 quilt shops are participating in the third annual Sew Oregon (http://www.seworegon.com/) from June 25 - July 9, 2009. It's been a few years since I've shop-hopped but thought it would be a fun adventure for my youngest daughter and I to do together.

Children 12 and under receive a novelty charm square from each shop and adults get a free pattern and fabric kit to make a quilt block. All the shops use coordinating fabric from "Have a Sheri Berry Holiday"--Lyndhurst Studio and have created a block featuring their "favorite ornament".

We decided to collect a fat quarter from each shop we visited and found a wonderful retro Christmas print "candy-colored christmas" by the Alexander Henry Fabric Collection. From this print we selected additional fat quarters. The fabric just happens to coordinate very nicely with the shop hop Christmas blocks. (The charm squares Hannah received are pictured 1,2,3 at the lower right-hand corner; she has project plans for those.)

So our first day out was today and we visited three shops. First was Cool Cottons at 2417 SE Hawthorne (Portland). This is where we found the Christmas print that jump-started our whole excursion. There is so much beautiful fabric in this shop and on the porch they feature bolts at $4/yard--very nice for backing a quilt. They also feature "baby bolts" (smaller lots of fabric) and several adorable sewing projects such as a bubble skirt.

Next up was Quilter's Corner at 15717 SE McLoughlin Blvd. (Milwaukie) tucked in a corner lot with other gift and children's clothing shops. Such a welcome entrance and even sweeter ladies inside. The previous owner of the shop I learned to quilt at 11 years ago now teaches classes at this shop. It was fun to see her primitive style, homespun quilts up in the shop and to smell the wonderful smell that was like coming home again.

Our last stop for the day was Canby Quilt and Fabric at 248 NW 1st Ave. (Canby). We had just been in this shop last month and the owner asked if we were going to participate in Sew Oregon. "No time" I said but...here we are!

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Kaleidoscope Quilt

2009-06-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Following up on how to layer a quilt, here's how it was quilted.

I started off with stitch-in-the-ditch using Sew Art's clear monofilament nylon in the top and Presencia's 50/3 100% cotton thread (color 225--part of Jo Morton Coordinates Spice Collection) in the bobbin.

This process of quilting a grid through all the horizontal and vertical seam lines is called "anchoring" and provides a basic, minimal amount of quilting. A walking foot (or even-feed foot) is used because it is designed to "evenly feed" the three layers of the quilt under the needle. It handles the bulky work and can also be used for the next step of quilting.

With the same thread in the top and bobbin (Presencia #225), a series of arcs were quilted along the rose-colored triangles. This is referred to as "continuous curve quilting". In 1980, Barbara Johannah, published a small booklet by the same name which illustrated how to incorporate this technique on blocks featuring squares and triangles.

I used a closed toe free motion foot to quilt the continuous curve pattern; although I typically use an open toe foot, it kept getting caught in the triangle edges of this block. There was a greater amount of bulk at the center of each block so I switched back to the even feed/walking foot. For slight curves, such as cables, this foot can be used--it's not just for straight line quilting.

The third step was to stitch-in-the-ditch around the inner frame of the quilt between the block area and the green accent border using the monofilament/cotton combo. I used matching Presencia thread to stitch between the aqua and the green and again between the outside border rose print and the aqua.

Lastly, I used medium green Presencia thread to freehand quilt an oak leaf design continuously around the outside border. There is an oak leaf printed on the rose fabric so I looked at the curve of the leaf to adapt my basic leaf design to look like an oak leaf. There was no marking on the quilt so I had to gauge the spacing between each leaf and pay attention to the corners. An alternative for quilting the border would be a straight line design such as channel quilting--three lines 1/4" apart with a 2" gap between the next three lines, for example. Because the print is busy, these leaves aren't too visible so lines are a good option.

After quilting is complete, check the corners with a square ruler and trim the edges even around the perimeter of the quilt. I basted 1/8" from the edge this time--not always--but now it is ready for binding.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Layering and basting a quilt

2009-05-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

When it comes to layering and basting a quilt together to prepare it for machine quilting, there are several ways to approach the task. I've used different techniques including spray basting, pinning to the floor, etc., but my standard method is using an oblong table. This procedure is explained and illustrated further in Harriet Hargrave's Heirloom Machine Quilting--4th Ed.

The first step in putting it all together is to turn your quilt top over and clip all the loose threads from the back, making sure your seam lines are pressed to one side or open, with no flipped seams that will add bulk. If you plan to stitch-in-the-ditch, always press seams to one side in the piecing process. Press both sides of the top and use a bit of spray starch if desired. If your backing fabric has a seam, press it open and starch the entire backing for smooth quilting.

Mark the center edge of the two short sides of the table with either a toothpick, safety pin, or button; tape over the top. Fold the backing fabric and mark the center edge with a safety pin. With the fabric wrong side up, lay the backing down on the table, matching the safety pin to the toothpick on the table.

Use large office clips to secure the backing fabric to the table top. The fabric should be taut but not stretched off grain.

Use as many clips as necessary to secure the backing fabric to the table top. Smooth out any wrinkles and re-clip if you see any waves in the fabric. The center clip on both ends of the table should clamp over the toothpick.

Fold the batting to find the center and lay it over the backing, matching the center fold with the tootpick (you can't see it but you can feel it). Smooth out the batting over the clamped backing.

Put the top over the batting, matching the centers. It's a good idea to cut your batting piece about 2-4" larger than the quilt top--this is a bit close here so be careful to give yourself what you need.

Be sure your pins don't get in the way of your quilting foot. My quilting plan is to first stitch-in-the-ditch through all the horizontal and vertical seams; next I will free motion a continuous curve through the rose colored triangles (this could actually be accomplished with a walking foot because of the slight curve and it can also help get over any bulky seams where the triangles meet). Therefore, I pinned the aqua and light green triangles so it will hold secure and my walking foot or free motion foot will clear the pins.

Begin pinning from the center out. Once you have pinned everything on the surface, unclamp the backing. Smooth out one side and pin out to the border; repeat with the other three sides. After stitching-in-the-ditch and forming a grid of stitch lines your quilt is now anchored. If necessary, some of the pins can be removed without worry of shifting the layers.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Chevron Lines--Quick and Classic

2009-04-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Having taught students how to quilt simple line designs on samplers, the chevron line design is one I've always wanted to use on a full scale quilt. Recently, I was contacted to quilt this top for a man who is a Denver Broncos fan...this is a birthday gift from his wife. For a strip quilt such as this, chevron lines are classic, masculine, and fairly easy to quilt.

Strip quilts can be somewhat challenging to square up because there isn't a corner block to work off of. Measure it through the top, middle, and bottom both vertically and horizontally with a 120" tape measure to get it right. I used my 12" square acrylic ruler and a metal T-square to check the corners.

To mark the top, I used a Clover white chalk wheel and a 6" x 24" acrylic ruler. The chalk does stay on fairly well through the quilting. It's easy to remark when necessary and rubs out when you want it to.

First I chalked a line 1/2" in from the edge around the perimeter of the quilt--this is the quilting edge that will be covered by binding eventually but I use it as a guide to quilt to. I can move beyond this line a few stitches to travel to the next quilting line without having to stop and start a new line of quilting.

Next, line up the 45 degree angle of the acrylic ruler on the chalked quilting line and begin marking a line from the top left corner. Keep the ruler on the line and mark the next line, 1-1/2" away.

It really doesn't matter when you decide to change directions and make a point that meets at the quilting edge, but I found the center and then ended up marking it off-set a bit which looked fine. With that kind of freedom, you really can't go wrong. No need to worry about an exact fit as with some grids, this design works even if you decide on 1" or 2" spaced lines.

Using 1" stainless steel safety pins, keep them horizontal with the chalked lines. The quilting is done with a walking foot so there is room for the foot to clear the pins. A sufficient number of pins will prevent puckering and distortion that can occur when quilting long lines; unfortunately this problem is difficult to hide on solid fabrics so keep the pins in as you quilt.

This quilt has Quilter's Dream 100% cotton batting, which I presoaked and dried in the dryer because the quilt fabric had been prewashed. My client wanted the thread to match--navy on navy and orange on orange. The backing was navy so the tricky part was to balance the thread tension so I didn't get pop-ups from the navy bobbin thread while quilting the orange. I quilted several rows on a practice swatch, made adjustments and the tension was balanced. There were a lot of starts and stops but keeping dedicated to 1/4" of small stitches (8-10) at the beginning and end of a quilting line keeps everything secure. Then bury those threads, rather than snip them at the surface. I used a quality thread, Presencia 50/3.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Washing a quilt

2009-03-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Whether or not I prewash my fabric, and that does depend on the quilt's use and desired 'look', the first bath usually happens directly after the binding goes on. There is a bit of dust and oil from handling and marking the quilt during the construction process that needs to be removed so the quilt will emerge soft, cuddly, and ready for the bed or couch.

The basic soap is Sodium Laurel Sulfate, commonly known as Orvus Paste or Quilt Soap, packaged in 8 oz. bottles. After discovering the same is used to wash livestock, I bought a 7.5 lb. container at a feed store. It's an inexpensive way to dispense some soap and washing instructions to those who own a quilt. I learned my lesson when my niece washed her batik quilt with a commercial detergent which stripped the original color. Fabric has binders to retain the color and detergents go on the attack. Stick with pure, simple ingredients that are biodegradable and won't harm your fabrics. Soak continues to amaze me by successfully removing stubborn stains.

Batiks and hand-dyed fabrics have a greater tendency to bleed color. Prewashing with Synthrapol helps remove excess dye. If a quilt is constructed without this pre-treatment, use Retayne to stop the fabric from bleeding, particularly when a dark fabric is sewn to a light fabric. For future washings, I use Woolite's Dye Magnet or Shout's Color Catcher, both of which resemble dryer sheets to pick up any renegade dyes in both the washing and drying cycles.

Here's my 10-step process to washing quilts:

set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.

fill the wash tub with warm water (no more than 80 degrees)

add 1-2 tablespoons of mild soap. Allow the soap to agitate for a minute.

toss in a color-catching sheet to catch renegade dyes.

stop the machine from agitating while adding the quilt into the basin.

push the quilt into the water until it is saturated.

resume the wash, rinse, and spin cycles.

remove the quilt carefully from the washing machine.

dry on low heat for 20 mins. until slightly damp.

complete drying by laying the quilt flat on a clean sheet on the floor.

Older quilts must be handled with care. Use the bath tub to hand wash. Hand press out the extra water, blot with a terry towel and dry flat on a sheet. Set a fan to aid drying. Quilts with some wear and tear should only be aired, not washed.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Single stitch throat plate

2009-02-14T22:48:00.001-08:00

Sewing machines come with a standard throat plate with an oval opening to accommodate everyday sewing. A single stitch throat plate is an added accessory worth investing in. It garners excellent stitch quality for both piecing and quilting. Particularly with free motion quilting, there is a noticeable difference using the single stitch throat plate. One stitch at a time through the hole keeps the stitchline straight and even.

With a standard throat plate there is a greater possibility of fabric bunching up, even slightly. Some of the chronic problems with thread knots and skipped stitches can be remedied with the use of a single stitch throat plate. Just don't try to zig zag, satin stitch, decorative stitch, or shift the needle position with the single stitch throat plate on or you will break a needle!

Binding Corners & Joining Ends

2009-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Instructions on how to make the binding and begin sewing it on the quilt was covered in the previous post so read that one first if you missed it. This is the conclusion on how to handle the corners and joining the beginning and ending strips.

As you are sewing the binding down using a 3/8" seam allowance, stop 3/8" from the bottom corner and pivot diagonally. Stitch to the corner and back stitch. Remove the quilt from the machine and clip the threads.

Bring your binding strip up to create a diagonal fold.

Fold back down. This creates a mitered fold after it is sewn. Pin to hold the fold in place.

Beginning at the top edge, continue sewing a 3/8" seam down to the next corner. When you push the sewn binding back at the corner, it will fold back into a mitered corner.

When you round the last of the four corners you will approach the beginning of the binding strip. The ends are joined by overlapping one of the ends over the other by 2". Trim the excess fabric from the ends so you just have the 2" of overlap as shown.

You should have 8-10" of 'loose' binding on both ends so you can easily join the ends and sew them together.

Join the ends using the same process described in joining all the binding strips (previous post). Lay the left strip right side up and the right strip right side down. Fold the top strip down and press to create a fold. Lay the corner back in place, pin, and sew along the diagonal fold line.

Trim the seam to 1/4" and press open.

Fold the binding strip in half, right sides out, press and sew into place.

Wrap the binding around to the back of the quilt. Hand sew in place. With the tip of the needle, catch the backing and batting, then point the needle diagonally into the binding edge. Continue sewing small stitches. This method is called 'blind stitching' and you want to use a thread color that will match or blend in with your binding fabric. At the corners, sew the mitered corner closed on both the back and front of the quilt.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Straight Grain Binding

2009-02-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

Binding widths vary but when I cut strips 2-1/2" I use the June Tailor Shape Cut Plus. The rotary cutter cuts through the open slots in the ruler to cut strips accurately and quickly. For the king size quilt I'm binding, I cut 10 strips which requires 3/4 yds. of fabric.

Trim off both ends of the selvedges. On an ironing surface, lay one strip right side up, another right side down.

Fold the top corner down to create a diagonal fold so the right side is showing; press.

Lay the pressed corner back and pin, making sure the folded line matches up at each point on the fabric underneath.

Pin in place. The folded line will be clearly visible. Continue the process of joining strips, paying attention to the direction of the print on the fabric. Here I made sure all the red circles pointed down, rather than being up on top. Just turn a strip around to keep the direction the same.

Load your machine with 100% cotton 50/3 thread (Presencia) and a microtex sharp machine needle (I used an Organ titanium tip 75/11). Use a normal or slightly shorter stitch length--this is sewing on the bias. Sew directly on the fold, taking care whilst going over the pins. Chain piece each pinned section.

Take the chain gang and clip the threads between each section. Remove the pins and trim each seam to 1/4" using a rotary cutter and an acrylic ruler. Press the seams open, then fold lengthwise with right sides out and press.

The binding is now double-folded and 1-1/4" wide. Use the walking foot to sew the binding to the quilt edge. Lay the raw edge of the binding (about 10" from the beginning) to the raw edge of the quilt (begin 1/4" distance in from a corner) and sew with a 3/8" seamline.

Check the seamline by folding the binding to the back and make sure the edge will cover the stitches. You may need to readjust your seamline. The binding should fill into the fold so if it's too loose, take a deeper seamline; if it's too tight and rolls, use a smaller seamline.

There are a couple more steps to handling corners and joining the beginning and end of the binding strips which I did not photograph. I'll include those and the instructions in my next post.

Mosaic Quilters' Pinwheel

2009-01-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

A group of ladies at my church meet monthly to sew together. They made this pinwheel quilt to donate to a family at a local grade school. A beautiful variety of blue, burgundy, red, purple, lavender and white fabric spin together for a stunning result.

Swirls as an all-over design add movement to this pinwheel block. Although this quilt was finished on a long arm machine, swirls are easily accomplished using a domestic machine. When quilting swirls, echo around the outside of previously quilted swirls to fill in the empty space, particularly along the border. Quilt to within 1/2" of the border to maintain the quilting density.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

9 for 2009: #1

2009-01-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

New Year's Resolution: Finish nine quilts in 2009! My aim is to complete works in progress, commonly referred to as "UFO's" among quilters. Look for these under the sidebar 9 for 2009. I quilted this quilt a couple of years ago to show beginning quilters how to use simple designs in a small project. I recently finished it by adding a 2" double-fold binding from the yellow flannel.

Loop-De-Loop Flannel Baby Quilt, 28" x 42".

Six 9-patches of solid blue, red and yellow are paired with two companion squares and setting triangles from airplane/helicopter fabric. Simple walking foot and free motion techniques were used in the quilting.

After stitching in the ditch, I used the serpentine stitch on my Bernina to quilt through the red and blue patches.

Starbursts were quilted in the yellow squares, using a darning foot. Begin by quilting one line and double-stitching back to the center to create one spoke. Each starburst will have 6-8 spokes, depending on the size. All four squares can be quilted continuously by quilting a meandering line from one square to the next.

Large loops were quilted over the airplane fabric to give the feeling of movement. Each corner contains a loopy cloud design.

Here's a look of the loops from the back. Solid yellow flannel was used for the backing and for the binding.

When quilting on flannel, a heavier thread can be used. I used 40wt. cotton thread (King Tut by Superior for the yellow fabric and Signature Primary Brights for the red, blue, and airplane fabric.) Designs used include: stitch-in-the-ditch, serpentine stitch, starbursts, clouds, and loops.

Copyright ©2009, Sharon Baggs

Quilt as you go

2008-12-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

I've been having a little fling with quilt-as-you-go. This is an old school technique designed to handle the quilting in small sections. I learned this technique to make this Log Cabin quilt for someone who constructed with this method. She had all the strips and batting squares cut out ahead of time so it seemed it would be fast and easy. It actually took me much longer to make a quilt this way, but here's what I learned.

Rather than layer a top with batting and backing, the block is quilted directly onto the batting, as a foundation, during construction. I found I needed an acrylic ruler to keep the strips in line while adding them or the squares didn't come out quite right.

Once the blocks are constructed, they are sewn into strips, then sewn to the backing. This is where I ran into some trouble. There was too much slack on the back, so I removed the stitching. Instead I continued to sew fabric and batting together until the top was completed. Then I layered the top/batting to the backing.

For the quilting I stitched-in-the-ditch through all the construction lines and borders. I added quilt lines around the center green block and quilted in a square a couple of seams away from that. Really simple quilting with a walking foot and it turned out well.

Another quilt-as-you-go method involves stitching all three layers together block-by-block, then sewing them together.

I faced a bit of a quandary when binding this quilt. I had to use what fabric was trimmed away from the back. I cut 2" strips from all the remaining fabric and ended up just 3" short of enough. What to do? I decided to sew together two short strips 1-1/8" x 6" to make a 2" wide strip When I pressed them in half, the seam line was on the fold that was handsewn to the back. Easy to disguise and a good solution when you don't have enough fabric in the width you need--piece them!

Leaf designs to quilt

2008-12-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ah, the beautiful leaves of fall, now all sittin' under seven inches of snow and ice outside. Winter has arrived! But severe weather outside allows you to be inside and work on some free motion designs, provided the electricity is still on...

Use a white board with a dry erase marker or a pencil with your sketch book. Begin with a simple arc, elongated s-curve, drawing a small hill and then going down into the valley until you reach a point. Easy, right?

Now head back the other way with another arc until you reach the starting point...basic shape accomplished. If you can draw this, you will be able to quilt it even better.

Add a vein by drawing up the center to the tip of the leaf and retracing the line back to the starting point. When you quilt this center vein, the retracing doesn't have to be exact. In fact, it will look great if you stitch a bit away from it, about a 1/8" echo line.

Quilting the basic leaf shape, add in veins, maybe echo around the shape, then once you have one leaf quilted, go on to the next by quilting a meandering line to an open area where you can stitch another basic leaf shape, repeating the process.

When I quilt these leaves in a block, say as a background fill, I will begin my securing stitches in the seam line, then begin quilting a short meandering line. Add leaves, meandering in between, until the space is filled. Return to a seam line to secure the final stitches.

I have a few little journals where I sketch out a basic design. It's not to be an aspiring artist...it's how to train my brain to follow the lines. Then I'm prepared to quilt lines, curves, and swirls with needle and thread on my sewing machine.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Fall Leaf Project

2008-11-17T19:47:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to create a design to remember the beautiful fall leaves. I pulled some appropriate colors of 50 wt. Presencia thread to support the quilting, along with a few leaves for inspiration. This is the mulling-it-over stage, an important part of figuring out what to do next.

Sarah made this card for my birthday, knowing how much I love the leaves on her college campus. I'll never recycle this one. When I went to visit her last week, she had tacked leaves all around her dorm door. Crazy creative girl. This got me thinking about this project again...

When in doubt, toss it all together. Leaves are a most interesting shape to quilt. So much variety! Try sketching an arc to form one side of the leaf, come up to a point, then arc down the opposite side. Add a stem, then go inside the leaf and add veins. After a few drawing attempts, go to your fabric and stitch what you have taught your brain to do. Being 'artistic' is not required. Just follow the lines nature has shown you, keeping a sample within eyesight as you quilt. If your shape looks anything like a leaf, you're doing great. I definitely stitch better than I draw but the pencil work is an important precursor to quilting. Get your sketch book out and try it.

Spectacular Spectrum

2008-11-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

Color can intimidate. But look at nature, an obvious place to start. A myriad of brown, green, yellow, orange and blue dictate color choices. You can't go wrong. My little neck of the woods, Portland, has been more gorgeous than ever this fall. Chalk it up to a long stretch of sunny days that brilliantly illuminate creation's vibrant palette. Who wouldn't want to wrap up in these rich autumn hues? Time to pull out these colors from your fabric stash before the cool blues, grays and whites of winter set in. Go make a quilt.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Using the washable blue marker

2008-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love the washable blue marker. If you follow some basic guidelines it will work a charm everytime. The basic ink is produced in Japan, then packaged through different manufacturers. I like Dritz's Mark-B-Gone and Clover's Water Soluble Marker (Thick) for marking through stencils. For marking grids, I use Clover's thin version or the Water Erasable Fabric Marking Pen.

Some pens come with a blue water soluble marker at one end and a white eraser pen at the other. This is helpful when you need to remove a marked line in a small area. For larger areas, wet a paper towel with COLD water to lift the markings. You must wait for the fabric to dry before marking again or it will not hold the mark.

Never apply heat to blue washable markers or the ink can set and may reappear as brown lines. Mark with a light touch; the less ink you have to remove the better. Plan to mark, quilt, and remove the ink as soon as possible for best results.

When quilting and binding is complete, submerge the quilt in COLD water. I use the bathtub for this step so I can see the lines disappear! Either continue to hand wash with a bit of Quilt Soap or Orvus Paste (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) in the tub or use the washing machine. Remove excess water by rolling up in a terry towel or use the spin cycle of the washing machine. Lay the quilt flat to air dry or use the clothes dryer on a low setting for a few minutes. Finish with air drying.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Spray and blot

2008-10-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

On the butterfly quilt I was curious what the thread looked like apart from the blue marking. I decided to use a "spray-and-blot" method to remove some of the blue marks. Complete removal comes later after binding.

Using a spray bottle of COLD water, saturate the blue lines.

Blot up the excess water/diluted dye with a terry towel.

When using the spray-and-blot method, it's important to dilute the blue dye as much as possible; a slight spray only temporarily fades the lines as the dye migrates into the batting. Traces of blue usually show up when the fabric dries again.

After binding, the quilt should be completely submerged in cold water to remove any remaining dye. Hand wash in the tub or in the washing machine with a bit of Orvus Paste (sodium lauryl sulfate), rinse, spin and dry on low for 5-10 mins. Lay the quilt out flat to finish air drying.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

The butterfly quilt

2008-10-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun quilt made by my friend, Diana. She came over to get some machine quilting tips, then decided to let me quilt it for her. The focus fabric features butterflies with a few dragonflies in the mix. Fortunately, I had stencils of both creatures on hand which made design choices easy.

Using a blue washable marker, the top was marked with a 7" butterfly continuous line design (RB42-Promise) in the center of each block. Tendrils were added free form during the quilting. Next I marked a dragonfly in the four corners (http://www.timesavertemplates.com/) Finally the border was marked with a companion stencil of the blocks (RB45-4 1/4" Promise Border).

The next decision was the thread. I played around with Superior's Perfect Quilter (a 30 wt. cotton) and kept getting skipped stitches no matter which needle I tried. Then I put in YLI Machine Quilting Thread (40wt. TEX, cotton) in both the top and bobbin and used this thread to quilt the blocks. This worked best with a 75/11 embroidery needle, which is a smaller needle but has a larger eye like a topstitch needle.

The other thread I used was Presencia 50/3 Color #261--light lavender on top and YLI in the bobbin for stitching-in-the-ditch and quilting the border.

The order of quilting: First stitch in the ditch through the diagonal seam lines, using a walking foot. This avoids stitching over any markings. Next stitch in the ditch along the inside border, all around the perimeter.

Next the internal blocks of butterflies and corner dragonflies were free motion quilted with a darning foot. Finish by quilting the outer border.

Pink Quilt Finished!

2008-10-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

A finished quilt is always a cause for great rejoicing. The pink quilt made its way across the street to 2-year-old Rose who was delighted with it and has been toting it out of the house and into the car according to her observant and proud neighbors.

Hannah tried free motion quilting, first on a practice piece. After a couple of minutes she said, "This takes practice!" But she kept on, writing her name and following the markings of a stenciled flower. She quilted Rose's name on the quilt near the top and I did the same at the bottom. She did a great job and demonstrated an I-can-do-it attitude which is imperative when approaching the art of free motion quilting.

Using a darning foot, I added some free-motion stitch-in-the-ditch around the green lines to get them to lie down flat and not pop up.

After the binding was on, we submerged the quilt in cold water in the bath tub to remove the blue water soluble markings. After a thorough rinsing, we took the quilt to the washing machine and spun out the excess water. At this point, we dried the quilt in the clothes dryer for just 10 minutes on a low heat setting. Hannah was somewhat surprised that the quilt had shrunk up a bit. This could be attributed to the batting more than the fabric, which I think was prewashed. Something to think about if you want a flat quilt with no compression around the quilting. Prewash fabric and soak the batting and dry on low heat to preshrink.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Story quilt: the order of quilting

2008-10-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hannah displays the progress on the pink quilt she pieced. Together we worked on the quilting. Here's what we did:

We domestic machine quilters "stitch in the ditch" to secure the seam lines before free motion quilting. A ditch is created by pressing seams to one side resulting in a high side and a low side. Use a walking foot and stitch so the machine needle sinks right into the low side of the seam. If seams are pressed open, stitching in the ditch is difficult because there is no ditch.

After using the walking foot for the first quilting lines in the ditch, I will sometimes switch to a different foot. The #10 foot for Bernina machines has an edge foot that rests right in the ditch. I used it here to stitch around the inner border.

After the grid of horizontal and vertical lines were quilted, stencil motifs of a butterly, flower, and heart were marked with a blue washable marker in some of the pink squares. After quilting and binding, remove the blue marking with COLD water.

A beautiful loopy heart border stencil fit this border perfectly. First I marked the corners and moved toward the center. Sometimes the spacing has to be eased in to make the design fit and sometimes it needs to be resized through reducing or enlarging the drawn design on a photocopier. This time it needed no altering. The variegated Mettler 100% cotton 50/3 used on top was paired with Presencia solid pink of the same weight and ply in the bobbin, stitched with a 80/12 machine needle. When you need to stop quilting and reposition your hands, it's best to stop where the design lines cross over, such as the bottom of the heart design, to insure a smooth stitching line.

A green binding was chosen to match the green story lines of the quilt. The strips were cut 2-1/4" on the straight of grain. Stitching the corner closed on both the front and the back keeps the corner crisp and neatly finished.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Preparing to quilt the story quilt

2008-09-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Due to a lack of pink thread, this quilt has been sitting in the corner of the diningroom for several weeks, waiting for me to get it together. The backing and batting are 2-4" larger than the top, pinned away from the seam lines and ready to go!

Always, always, always make a couple of quilt sandwiches of the top fabric, batting, and backing fabric. This allows you to practice a bit o' quilting before getting to the real deal. Check tension, thread choice, and correct needle. Make adjustments and write the information right on these pieces so you'll remember next time: needle size, top thread, bobbin thread, tension setting, etc. Use the exact same batting that is in your quilt. For this quilt I chose Fairfield's Bamboo Batting (50% bamboo, 50% cotton). It has a scrim which means it doesn't have to be quilted to death and it will emerge from the wash without much shrinkage and puckering.

First thing I'm going to do is stitch-in-the-ditch with a walking foot and Presencia 50 wt. 100% cotton thread (color #269) in both the top and bobbin (pictured left). When I move on to free motion quilting with the darning foot, I plan to try out the Mettler 100% cotton variegated pink thread (color #9847) in the top while still using Presencia in the bobbin.

Quilt from Modern Quilt Workshop

2008-09-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

My 10-year-old wanted to make a quilt for our 2-year-old neighbor so we found this pattern from the Modern Quilt Workshop. It's a type of I-spy quilt using nostalgic prints; connecting blocks of horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines allow the pictures to tell a continuous story. The quilt was small enough to lay out on our kitchen table. First we put the backing fabric wrong side facing up, followed by a layer of bamboo batting (these are both 2-4" larger than the top), and smoothed the quilt top over these.

Starting in the center of the quilt, we used 1" safety pins to pin the center of every block. This bastes the quilt adequately while allowing room for your walking foot to clear the pins when you stitch-in-the-ditch to secure all the seam lines, the first step in quilting that anchors all three layers together.

Step two is to stitch through the middle of the green lines to give them some definition and keep them from "popping" up from the surface of the quilt. The final touch will be to free motion quilt some small loops in the pink background. The pink fabric has small dots so it is easy to quilt loops around them as a helpful visual guide. This is our quilting plan; we'll soon show you how it turns out!

Copyright © 2008, Sharon Baggs

Monofilament Thread: Nylon or Polyester?

2008-08-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

When choosing monofilament thread, which type should be used: nylon or polyester? For stitching-in-the-ditch on bed quilts and outlining applique shapes, I use nylon--either Sew Art or YLI Wonder, available in clear or smoke. Use clear for light colored fabrics; smoke blends in well with medium and dark fabrics. I load my bobbin with a cotton thread, usually Presencia 50/3 or 60/3. Auriful 50/2 is also fine. The combination of nylon and cotton gives a good result.

Use a size 60 or 70 microtex sharp needle. Loosen the top tension and quilt a bit slower for successful feed along the thread path. To avoid thread wrapping around the vertical thread stand at the top of your machine, try standing it on the table at the back of the machine. Use a 2" piece of surgi-tubing and wrap that over the spool with the thread feeding out the top. This creates drag and keeps the thread under control. Superior Thread sells a plastic net product for the same purpose.

Polyester monofilament is slightly more shiny, stretchy, and wiry than nylon but is still a good product, just different (see Superior's MonoPoly below). I used the clear in an art quilt where the shine was desired to highlight snowflakes. There is the point that polyester is more heat resistant than nylon (that statement infers nylon isn't heat resistant and should be avoided) but you need to consider how you are applying heat to your quilt. If working on an art quilt where you may be applying heat to the surface, even polyester thread will melt from direct contact with an iron. Quilts we sleep under encounter heat from a clothes dryer. Avoid the highest heat setting and your quilts containing nylon thread will emerge from the wash/dry cycle intact. No melting or popped stitches. Become your own expert by taking quilted swatches of each thread and see how applied heat affects each.

Quality does count. Some brands of nylon and polyester threads are too heavy and strong; steer clear of threads that feel like fishing wire which can damage your fabric. Try breaking the thread. With a slight tug the thread should break easily--Sew Art, YLI and Superior brands all do. Lower quality threads, the "tough" stuff, can be used in art quilts that will not be going through a wash cycle. For bed quilts, however, a true .004 lightweight nylon thread is my thread of choice. See Heirloom Machine Quilting by Harriet Hargrave to view exquisite quilts made with nylon quilting thread.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Olympic Inspiration

2008-08-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

These Olympics, from the precision of the Opening Ceremonies to the architectural design of both the Water Cube and Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium, plus the aesthetically pleasing color scheme and swirly designs on banners everywhere, have been nothing short of awesome. It was my intent to work on UFO's while watching Michael Phelps repeatedly win gold but so far I've just been viewing and not really sewing.

The Water Cube mimics the geometric design of soap bubbles and changes color which naturally appeals to our visual sense. The stadium reminds me of the retro craft of wrapping starched yarn around a balloon. This is wonderful imagery I don't want to forget.

Even the NBC peacock has adopted a crayon colored plume, a bit more muted than the traditional bright colors. Take note of how design plays an important part in what we like to look at. Then during a commercial break, sketch some swirls in your notebook, capturing a memory of the magic surrounding Beijing 2008.

Using Decorative Threads

2008-08-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Glamour and glitz on the surface of a quilt is the result of using decorative threads. Technically, these are heavier than standard sewing thread. Some decorative threads can be threaded through the needle while others are too heavy and must be couched or drawn up from the bobbin.

For threads that can be threaded "through the needle" use either a size 80 or 90 topstitch needle. The topstitch has a larger eye and can accomodate most threads, including metallics. Other needles can work but the topstitch is usually successful. Try this: take a sewing machine needle and insert it upside down in a pin cushion. Thread the needle with a decorative thread and pull it back and forth to see how easily it runs through the needle; if it snags and the needle tries to tip over, try a larger size needle.

For threads that are too heavy for top threading, use them for couching or bobbin drawing. For couching, load the top thread with either invisible monofilament thread or a neutral fine polyester that will blend with the thread, cord, or yarn that is being couched onto the fabric. A couching foot for your machine will help feed the thread to the surface of the quilt while the top thread zig zags over the top and secures (couches) the thread. (See Machine Quilting Made Easy!, p. 41--Exercise 13: Learning to Couch by Maurine Noble.)

Bobbin drawing uses the same machine set up for the top thread but the heavy thread is in the bobbin. Loosen the bobbin thread tension. Turn the quilt over so the back is facing up. As you stitch and see the top thread, the bobbin thread will be drawn up to the front surface of the quilt.

Decorative threads I've used include: Superior Thread's Razzle Dazzle, Rainbows, King Tut, and Glitter; Yen Met Metallic, YLI Variations, and hand dyed perle cotton, chenille yarn, etc. These can add a special sparkle to wall hangings and novelty quilts. Give them a try!

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Threads for quilting

2008-08-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is a broad category that contains plenty to meet the fiber needs of quilters today. The threads I choose for a bed quilt will be different from what I choose for an artistic wall hanging. In addition to thread, many art quilts employ the use of yarn, beads, metal, and found objects as an example of mixed media. But thread is used in virtually everything quilted. Here's what I use in my beginning quilt classes and for general quilting:

Sew Art Monofilament Nylon Thread--when stitching in the ditch I stand a cone of this at the back of my machine for the top thread and use a cotton thread in the bobbin (Presencia 60/3 or 50/3) to anchor all the horizontal and vertical quilting lines. Also great for outlining applique' pieces. Beginning quilters may find this easy to work with while learning the process of free motion quilting--any bobbles and wiggles are easily disguised.

Presencia 50/3--excellent choice for quilted items that will be washed regularly. The 60/3 can also be used for fine heirloom quilting when stitching lines are close together (1/2" - 2"). The 40/3 is also suitable for quilting lines that are further apart and it works well on flannel.

Superior King Tut--beautiful for quilting open feather designs, this 40/3 cotton variegated thread changes color every inch or so. I use Presencia 50/3 in the bobbin so the resulting thread application doesn't look or feel too heavy. Choose a bobbin thread color that will blend with one of the variegated thread colors on top.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Threads for piecing

2008-07-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Thread is addictive. I love the colors, textures, and different applications for using them--piecing, quilting, and embellishing.

When piecing a quilt consisting of cotton fabric, I stick with cotton thread. Especially for quilts that will be washed regularly, such as bed quilts, cotton on cotton is a solid fiber marriage for the long haul. Use a quality thread--avoid short staple cotton threads. These may seem fine but they contain slubs and are weaker than a long staple or extra long staple thread.

A quality spool of cotton thread will cost less than a yard of fabric. My favorite piecing thread is Presencia 60/3. It is available in 600m spools or 125 gram cones so you can piece forever!

This 60 wt. 3-ply thread is fine yet strong. When aiming for an accurate 1/4" seam, this thread yields both precision and strength. A taupe or light/medium gray works well with most fabrics. Presencia 50/3 thread, available in 182 solid colors, is also excellent for piecing and quilting. Try sewing a seam with each of these threads and compare the difference.

Pictured below from left to right: a 125 gram cone of 60/3; a 500m spool of 50/3 and a 400m spool of 40/3. When sewing binding on a quilt, I machine sew the double fold binding edge to the front of the quilt with 60/3 thread and hand sew the fold to the back with 40/3. This is the recommendation of Harriet Hargrave and it gives a strong finish to the quilt edge.

A popular choice for piecing is Aurifil Mako Cotton and Superior's MasterPiece, both 50/2 threads. With just two plys it's important to shorten the stitch length on your machine to insure strength in the seam.

With 60/3 thread you get the benefit of an accurate 1/4" seam without adjusting the stitch length. Also the 3-ply thread has about 50 more twists to it, adding to its strength. For this reason, Presencia's 60/3 is my hands down favorite piecing thread. Check out their full line of quality threads at www.presenciausa.com

A fine polyester such as Superior's Bottom Line or So Fine may also be considered for piecing projects that are not bed quilts. Wall hangings, miniature quilts, wearables, bags, crafts, etc. are perfectly suitable for using polyester thread. Again quality is important so look for the word "trilobal" on a spool of polyester thread.

Sisters Quilt Show

2008-07-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Always the second Saturday in July, the Sisters Quilt Show attracts thousands of visitors to view hundreds of quilts. Pictured above are Ruthann and Rod, friends from church who invited me to join them this year. Armed with my new DSLR camera, I was able to get some close-ups of fine quilting examples (click on pics. for a closer view.)

This batik quilt of a sharply paper-pieced star reflects even and interesting quilting. I like the movement of the lines quilted through each part of the star. The outline of the star stitched in the white fabric is simple and classic. On the border feather, there are two lines quilted inside the feather.

Clamshells are my favorite to quilt so I was delighted to see them used here to highlight the scales on this fish. White really stands out; maybe a lighter value orange would also work. The spirals on the blue background have an added hook (click on pic. for a closer look). Didn't "catch" what this quilt sold for.

There were many featured art quilters at the show including Gabrielle Swain. Her color composition in this quilt of different leaves is lovely with impeccable hand quilting. The line designs bring out the texture. See how the straight lines of the background accentuate the flow of the leaf shape.

At the end of the day while sitting in the Stitchin' Post quilt shop, these beautiful ribbons caught my eye from a seat near the front of the store. I bought two spools of thread: orange and magenta then sat down to observe the myriad of quilters getting their last minute souvenirs of a memorable day in Sisters.

Copyright ©2008, Sharon Baggs

Final Photos--Cat Quilt

2008-07-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Camie has had her cat quilt back for two weeks now but I promised to post a few final pictures for her friends who have been following the progress.

I used red silk thread (YLI 100 wt.) to microstipple around the print on the Santa cat. White swirls were quilted on the beard for a curly effect. The background between the snowflakes is a jagged line simulating etching--I used clear polyester monofilament (Superior Monopoly)because it is shinier than nylon.

Pirate kitty has a white clamshell design on his leg and black circles quilted on his paw-print body. The background patchwork is stitched-in-the-ditch to keep it from rising up and looking "loose".

The full length view of the 12 cats. Camie is planning to finish it with a scrappy binding, add a hanging sleeve and display it proudly. There are a lot of design decisions to make when it comes to quilting a quilt like this but it was a great education for me to work on it and apply my free form quilting skills to something more than a practice piece. Mission accomplished!

Batting: Part 3 of 3 -- Personal Picks

2008-07-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

What batting do you use is a question I'm often asked. The answer depends on what I'm making and the look I want to achieve; then I choose the appropriate batting.

Crafts: (i.e. quilted bags, table runners, pot holders, wall hangings, etc.) -- flat polyester such as Dream Poly or a cotton batting with scrim (Hobbs, The Warm Co.) Fairfield's new bamboo batting also has a scrim, allowing the quilting lines to be further apart. If a flat, no-shrink appearance is desired, prewash your fabric and presoak the batting. To presoak: fill wash basin with tepid water, lay batting in and allow to soak for 10 minutes; spin out water--avoid agitation--and dry on a warm cycle for 10 minutes.

Bed quilts: Natural fibers such as cotton, wool, or silk are my top picks because they b-r-e-a-t-h-e. Polyester fiber, on the other hand, traps heat and can be quite warm. For a puckered, granny style quilt, do not prewash your fabric and batting. Simply layer, quilt, bind, and wash so everything shrinks together. My favorite cotton battings include: Fairfield's Soft Touch, Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon, and Hobbs Heirloom which is 80% cotton and 20% polyester. Hobbs Wool and Hobbs Silk are quality products--no bearding (fiber migration through the quilting holes), machine quilting friendly, and loft is retained after quilting. Because I like drapability and close quilt lines in a bed quilt I generally avoid battings with scrim. Note: If you plan to sometimes hang a bed quilt for display, avoid using wool and silk battings that can sag over time. Best to use Hobbs 80/20, Fairfield Bamboo/Cotton (50/50) with scrim, or 100% polyester.

Baby quilts: I see more baby quilts with polyester batting because it is inexpensive but it does not breathe. Unless the child lives in an igloo, try one of the natural fibers mentioned above. Baby quilts get more wear and tear than the average bed quilt so a batting with scrim (i.e. Bamboo) may hold up longer. I try new battings by using them in a baby quilt.

College dorm quilts/throws--lap size: Whether it's a quilt on the dorm bed or a couch, Hobbs 80/20 is the universal batting that works well for these items. College kids may not wash their quilts often but they will treasure a soft, drapable quilt that this batting provides.

Test for yourself: The best way to know what you like is to start gathering available battings and quilt some samples. Use different combinations of pre-washed fabric/pre-soaked batting and unwashed fabric/unwashed batting. It's your personal preference that counts so educate yourself on what works for you. For a batting sample square set, check http://www.harriethargrave.com/products_show.asp?cat=batting

Copyright 2008, Sharon Baggs

Batting: Part 2 of 3 -- Choices

2008-07-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

Used to be the main players in batting were flat cotton and super lofty polyester, but the field has expanded and choices abound.

Polyester: Super loft is great for hand quilting and tying quilts; however, it creates a slippery feel for machine quilters. I can only quilt on the puffy stuff if I use basting spray. There are some flatter, denser polyester battings available now, such as Quilter's Dream Poly, which are much easier to machine quilt and are particularly suitable for wall hangings and trapunto work. A bit of polyester (10-20%) is sometimes blended with cotton or wool to create a batting with added stability and less fiber migration. Polyester doesn't shrink or breathe like a natural fiber will.

Cotton: An excellent choice for machine quilting. It adheres to cotton patchwork, lies flat, and rolls up easily under the arm of the machine. A cotton batt such as Hobbs Heirloom (80% cotton, 20% polyester) is a good choice for lap and bed size quilts. Use 100% cotton batting without scrim for authentic looking antique quilts that will be quilted closely and shrink after washing (i.e. Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon or Fairfield Soft Touch). The 100% cotton batts with an inside layer (scrim), such as Warm and Natural/White are more rigid with a quilting density of 8-12". Beginning quilters may be starting with this but it best for craft projects. Try this: take two squares of cotton batting--one with scrim and one without. Compare tugging on them and you'll see the difference.

Wool: Another natural fiber that breathes, keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Comfortable to sleep under. Wool has a loft that gives a trapunto look. It machine quilts like a dream is washable.

Silk: Another fine feel batting that resembles wool, just not as lofty. Good for lightweight quilts and quilted garments.

Bamboo: The new kid in town being touted for its environmental attributes, made of 50% bamboo fiber and 50% organic cotton. It does contain a scrim but it is soft and cuddly for a baby quilt or any craft projects. Check out this product at http://www.poly-fil.com/

Corn: Another addition to the environmentally friendly family of battings, corn is a natural fiber that prides itself as an alternative to the use of polyester fibers in battings. Look for Eco-Friendly Batting (100% PLA Fiber) and Eco-Friendly Batting Blend (50% PLA and 50% Cotton Fiber) from the makers of Mountain Mist. Both are soft, durable, and can be quilted up to 4" intervals.

Copyright 2008, Sharon Baggs

Batting: Part 1 of 3 -- Terms

2008-06-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

How carefully do you consider batting? The "inside stuff" can affect the final look and feel of your finished quilt. Batting packages feature information that can be confusing so I'll start with batting terms, followed by batting choices, and my personal picks.

Much information on this subject comes from Harriet Hargrave who wrote From Fiber to Fabric (1997, C&T Publishing, Ch. 12, p. 95-112). Although this book is out of print, check your local library, Amazon used books or ebay. Harriet gives an indepth look by actually going into the factory to explain how batting is manufactured. It's important to know the "science" behind the product and not depend solely on popular opinion.

Brands: The current major manufacturers of batting include Fairfield, Hobbs, Mountain Mist, Quilter's Dream, and The Warm Company.

Fiber content: Battings consist of cotton, polyester, wool, silk, bamboo, corn, cashmere and alpaca, including blends of these fibers.

Bonding process: Batting begins with a web structure that is crosslapped with fibers to build up a certain thickness. Most battings are then bonded through a mechanical, chemical or thermal process to garner stability and minimize fiber migration.

Needlepunching: This is mechanical bonding where barbed needles puncture the web and stabilize the fibers.

Scrim: This is the net-like layer that can be added to the web before needlepunching, making the batting firm and less stretchy.

Resin: A chemical bond that is applied to the batting and cured. Resin bonding acts as a "temporary hold" and will soften up after the quilt is washed.

With thermal bonding, low melting point fibers are blended with other fibers in the web and heated to achieve bonding.

Quilting distance: This is the recommended number of inches between lines of quilting.

Copyright 2008, Sharon Baggs

Cat Quilt Nears Completion

2008-06-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

A final look at Camie's Cat Quilt. This is a quilt of 12 cat blocks, representing each month. My favorite kitty to quilt was the October cat (my birthday month). Click on each picture to see a close-up of the detail. Quilting tip: Top thread is Presencia 50/3 cotton (black); bobbin thread is Aurifil 50/2 cotton (cream--I used this exclusively in the bobbin to match the muslin backing). The cat looks and feels like he has real fur. I put a clamshell background behind the cat using Aurifil 50/2 (gray). Finally I used Sew Art nylon monofilament thread (smoke) to stitch-in-the-ditch between the patchwork below. All my anchor quilting, which is the first step in securing the rows of quilt blocks, was completed using mostly nylon thread in the top. With cream thread in the bobbin I was able to deal with thread pop-ups to the top of the quilt by using a very fine point black pen (Pigma Micron .005) to do touch-ups. This is what many award-winning quilters do and it works!

Rotary Cutter Care

2008-05-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

If it takes more than one pass of the rotary cutter to cut through fabric, it might be time to change the blade. Disassemble the parts of the cutter and lay them out in the correct order for easy assembly. I keep a container marked for used blades and when there's 4-5 in there I toss the lot. Use a Sharpie pen to write the month/yr. on the new blade to keep track of when you changed blades. Periodically check your blades by cutting strips of scrap fabric. Sometimes loosening the nut on the cutter will result in a smoother cut; these are often too tight when taken from the package so try this and it could improve cutting without having to change the blade.

Camie's Cat Quilt

2008-05-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Twelve blocks of playful kitties adorn this whimsical quilt. Camie purchased the pattern through the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon. She asked me to quilt it and this post is to let her know things are moving along. Camie is a patient woman. Here's a look at three of the cats. Quilting tip: After stitching in the ditch with Sew Art smoke nylon thread in the top and Aurifil 50 Mako Cotton thread in the bobbin, I used the same threads to free-motion quilt around each of the cats and other appliqued items. Next I put Aurifil in the top and bobbin to stitch swirls on Cat #1, flower shapes (following the print on the fabric) for Cat #2, and finally several rows of pointed straight lines for Cat #3. After quilting all the cats, I'll tackle the backgrounds. Aurifil, a 2-ply thread, works for this quilt because it will be a wall hanging; for a bed quilt I'd use a 3-ply thread. The quilt contains Dream Poly batting, a flat polyester that hangs well.

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

It was a ho-hum Memorial Day weekend here in Beantown. Couldn't afford to pull the car out of the driveway, the rain ruled out any chance of a barbecue, and I was hit with a pretty nasty head cold. Long naps and lots of movie watching. I did spend time cleaning out and organizing my quilting closet, which is always a step in the right direction. I'm forever getting organized! I've lined up the UFO's and will get to some of them (pep talk) later this week. Yes, I will.

Mark Lipinski

2008-05-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

Gregarious Mark Lipinski was in Portland last week for Quilt Market. When he held "the wildest half hour at Schoolhouse" you couldn't get in the door. Sheesh. Kinda like the Barak Obama of quilting (who ironically was in town the same weekend), he needed to be staged at Pioneer Square or Waterfront Park. Later I wandered over to Mark's booth where he was signing copies of his magazine Quilter's Home; three ladies surrounding him asked me to snap a picture. He had been telling them he was no writer. Gimme a break. Talking with such flair as Mark does translates into an entertaining read. When it was my turn to get my two minutes of xoxom, I mentioned that in a much earlier life, I did some writing and think he writes very well. He said, "You're a writer? Well, you should write for me!" As if. For the last 20 years I have been staying at home to raise my kids. His response? "Dude, before this...I was a stripper!" That must explain why he signed my magazine "Quilt Naked Cupcake!" Enough said.

For the love of...Soak

2008-05-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

Recently I picked up some samples of Soak™, a rinse-free wash care product for fine fibers. Excellent stuff! Daughter Becca purchased a white sweater on Friday and embellished it with raspberry stains by Saturday. The 15 min. recommended bath yielded just OK results, so I decided to treat it like dried beans and submerged it overnight. Next morning there wasn't a trace of any stain. Amazing. Going beyond the recommended soaking time is perfectly acceptable, according to Soak's President Jacqueline Sava. Soak is safe. Dip your dainties for as long you like.

For quilt washing, stick with pure and simple products, such as Soak or Orvus Paste. Avoid detergents that strip the binders holding the colors in the fabric. A small bottle of Soak would make a nice fiber care addition when gifting a baby quilt, covering the inevitable infant stained clothing as well. Check out the full line at www.soakwash.com

Copyright 2008, Sharon Baggs

Simple flower motif

2008-05-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

A student showed me a quilt top she needed quilting suggestions for. It had simple pink and blue flowers appliqued on a white background. Taking a cue from the applique, I drew the basic shape of a flower on a dry erase board. Then I used my sketch book to connect one flower/leaf to another and created an all-over free form design. Quilting tip: start with a rounded hook and add arched petals to the outside of the shape. Add a leaf shape and continue to a new space to quilt another flower. For this particular quilt a pastel variegated thread would look great.

Copyright 2008, Sharon Baggs

Table Topper #2

2008-04-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

I snagged these roses from a family wedding, which was laden with at least 1,000 flowers in my favorite color. They look beautiful on this table topper, the second take from Charlene C. Frable's Quilt as Desired (Krause Publications, 2007). The fabrics appear in reverse order from the first table topper (see previous blog post.) Five fat quarters make enough wedges for both toppers. Before free-motion quilting this one, I looked at the Swirls and Curls shown on p. 124 of the book. I doodled the design in my notebook and discovered my interpretation of the drawn design appeared a bit different. That's OK, and in fact, necessary if you are going to make the design your own and be able to quilt it free-form with no marking. My style could be dubbed Hooks and Spirals which look like large comma marks. Work through the process of drawing it out and you recognize a design that has your personal style attached to it, much like your handwriting. Then get to quilting it while the line drawings are fresh in your mind.

Quilting tip: Sandwich a scrap piece of your top fabric with the batting and backing to try out thread choices; work on adjusting even tension with the top and bottom thread. I used Madeira Cotona 30 wt. variegated cotton thread in the top and Mettler 50 wt. cotton in the bobbin, paired with a size 90 topstitch needle. Polyester batting doesn't shrink; it's a good choice for this project. I used DreamPoly brand batting. Other brands are lofty and slippery to machine quilt, but DreamPoly lies flat and cooperates.

Here's a close-up of the center. I quilted about half of the topper along the outside rings, giving it stability, before quilting into the center. I like the long hook quilted here. This is where your artistic interpretation and instincts take over, allowing you to decide what to quilt in the style you are following.

The purple backing really shows off the design. If your skills are just developing and you feel a bit shaky, use a busy print backing to ease your critical eye. Keep quilting and your stitching will continue to improve to the point where you want to show off your quilting ability.

Binding note: I used a 2-inch bias cut double-fold binding. With topper #1, I noticed a bit of curling on the edges when the binding was complete so this time I clipped 1/8" toward the sewing line every 1-2". Avoid clipping too close to the stitching. Because some areas of the seamline were not sewn a consistent 1/4", I ended up double stitching the binding's raw edges to the topper, creating reinforcement. I flipped the binding to the back and hand sewed it in place with a blind stitch.

Copyright 2008, Sharon Baggs

Table Topper #1

2008-04-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Who said quilting with a walking foot is boring? Shown here is the front and back of the table topper from Quilt as Desired (Charlene Frable), revealing a simply classic, yet stellar design, quilted completely with a walking foot. Quilting tip: I used 50 wt. cotton thread (Mettler brand) in both the top and bobbin, a 80/12 microtex sharp needle, and a 2.0 stitch length. Follow the quilting directions as described in the previous post, but keep your needle down in the fabric when pivoting slightly to quilt diagonally. Next stitch in the seam line between the purple circle and the blue/purple print fabric. I used a star stencil to mark the center circle and quilted it with matching Mettler cotton thread.

Binding note: I decided a piped binding would best finish this project. I cut 2" bias strips of blue fabric and used purple fabric for the piped accent. I used an acrylic yarn inside the piping strip to get it to stand up a bit. This was my first attempt at piped binding and I think it turned out well. My only issue was the edge finished a bit tight and tended to curl up in spots. I pressed it well and that helped. On a second attempt, I will clip the edge slightly to help it lay down before sewing the binding down.

Remember, this pattern makes two table toppers. Next time, I'll show you a different way to quilt it using a darning foot and a free motion design.

Copyright 2008, Sharon Baggs