Thursday 16 February 2012

Quilt Along with Leah Day #6

Quilt Along #6 was about stippling in the sashings and the borders. As my little sample had the same size border as the sashing I stippled all over it in a half inch stipple as this allowed me to follow Leah's recommended directions for the stipple in the sashings. This worked very well and was done in one single go, working down the sashing, filling in the left and right sashings, then down again. I then turned the quilt and continued along the border, filling in the spaces around the stars as I went around.  One thread for all of that...brilliant.


Here is a close up shot of the stitching. 



I am really enjoying this as I am learning something new each time. My stippling was good, although a bit mellow...my neck has been out for most of the week so I was concentrating on keeping my neck straight (physio has not been very happy with me) while at the same time concentrating on the stitching. Every now and then I am just making wavy lines. 

What I did notice though and I had not realised this before was that my stitching was ten times better on the black fabric. On my quilts I have  usually been using colours that blend in and are hardly noticeable in order to hide those imperfections. On this little practice piece I used highly visible thread, i.e grey on black fabric, to do the overall stipple. While I was going over the light blue sashing I noticed that every time I hit the black fabric the consistency of the stitching would instantly straighten up. Back to the light blue and the stitches again would be sometimes short, sometimes too long etc. When reflecting on some of the quilts I made I had to laugh because I have often wondered why I have some really decent stitching on some and not on others. Thinking back I had the same experience with variegated thread on one quilt...as soon I hit the light section of the thread on a darker background I have got the most beautiful stitches. This really makes sense to me now... the high contrast of the stitching probably acts as a regulator for your speed and movement as you do notice the stitching in the corner of your eye.

I shall try this out when I am quilting my baby quilt and use thread that is a bit more visible...either that or I might have to look at putting in better lighting around my sewing area.

Also solved my issue around the bamboo batting. I used a size 70/10 needle which I usually use for Cotton batting (why have I not done this before!) and the stitches turned out much better without fiddling too much with the tension dial. I have a Pfaff machine (Expression series) and the machine just seems to like it better for thinner type of batting.

Well, I will miss the next Quilt Along as we are moving house on the 23rd of this month and we will be offline for at least a week or two. I have decided that this is the ideal time to give my machine for a well deserved service...that way I don't have to worry about the machine during the move. By the time the machine will be ready, we will hopefully have the house halfway set up; the family, cat and dog will have settled in and life can return back to normal. 

Until next time
Karin

10 comments:

  1. Wow,this looks really really nice.I think you have mastered stippling!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Wouldn't say mastered but good enough.

      Delete
  2. Beautiful work! You are right about the contrast acting as a stitch regulator. My stitching white on white was not very good - of course, I was constantly trying to see my stitches. Have a good move and we'll catch up with you later. ~Jeanne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Did great yourself. Hopefully won't be offline for too long. I am really enjoying this Quilt Along.

      Delete
  3. Hi Karin,
    das sieht wirklich super gut aus!
    Ich wünsche euch einen möglichst stressfreien Umzug.
    Gute Idee die Nähmaschine bei der Gelegenheit
    zur Wartung zu geben ☺
    LG
    Bente

    ReplyDelete
  4. Absolutely gorgeous work!!! Amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your stippling is gorgeous,karin. I think I agree with you about the visbility -I noticed that my stitching improved when my dark thread went onto a light background -it felt as if I was drawing with the thread,I was much more conscious of the line I was forming, and my shapes improved.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome Karin! I'm so glad you're joining the contrasting camp! It certainly makes for a much easier job quilting because you can SEE where you're going and where you've been.

    We'll miss you for the next few weeks!

    Leah

    ReplyDelete

Hi...thanks for stopping by and commenting. Very much appreciated! I will endeavour to answer all comments via email. Please check that you are not a no-reply blogger as there is no way of responding to you (other than by reply on the blog). If you need help with this issue, please head for Tutorials for a link on how to fix this issue.

Popular Posts