Wednesday 11 April 2012

Quilt Along #13

The little wholecloth quilt is finished.


That looks nice and straight, doesn't it? Well, that is not exactly how it turned out. I did soak it and let it dry on the line for a while...when it was almost dry, but still moist enough to be stretched I taped it to the floor...this worked well and it came out dead straight.

I then tried Leah's method of attaching the binding by machine. Used a leftover binding that I had, trimming it to 2".  Initially I was going to use a more fancy stitch , however got a bit lazy and just used a zig-zag stitch. This was difficult ...at first I pinned two sides but found that did not work that well for me. The pins were in the way and I did not seem to hit the line underneath. I then moved along without pins, using my trusted 'unpicking tool' to hold the binding in place. This was extraordinarily slow, but worked. Went around the whole thing in a painstakingly slow fashion, surprised that the mitred corners worked without a hitch.






The problem occurred afterwards...not sure why, but my edges were like tidal waves...I sprayed the piece with water and stretched it out again and it looks a bit straighter but it really wants to be wavy.
Not exactly sure what went wrong but something sure did...never mind, next piece will be better. Possible causes:
- usually I stitch my edges down about 1/8" from the raw edge just to secure the piece...maybe it needed this for stability.
- could the zig-zag stitch be too tight?
- did iron the binding over before attaching it and ..oops!...forgot that I was dealing with polyester batting...may have singed it in at least one spot...hm...that would not account for the wavy binding all around though.
- maybe I need to attach the binding a bit tighter all around. Had a similar problem not so long ago with a quilt that was fairly heavily quilted.

Overall, I did enjoy this immensely and would not mind trying another one.

Questions:
- bit confused about the blocking...do you always do the blocking before the binding?
- wavy binding...what could have gone wrong?

Until next time

Karin      

15 comments:

  1. Karin - have you seen this tutorial: http://sewfunquilts-sewmeow.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/my-easy-peasy-machine-binding-tutorial.html
    I used it for a couple of my small quilts lately and it works really well. I can't follow the final instruction for the joining of the two ends but I worked it out for myself and it works really well. Although you do have to sew twice around the binding.
    Your quilt looks lovely and I love the idea of taping it to the floor to square it up.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks...will have a look at it. Mind you, I think I will stick with attaching the binding from the front and sewing it on by hand. Doing it by machine was quite hard.

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  2. I love your binding! It gives a pop of color tho the white. My binding got a little wavy too. Read my blog to see what I did to fix it. Did you use biased binding, or straight grain? I used biased.

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  3. Beautiful! Is the binding the same fabric you have on the back?

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    Replies
    1. Hi...no, the back is also white fabric. This was a leftover binding that I had lying around from another quilt, so it was already stitched together and ironed.

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  4. I don't know what happened, I posted a comment earlier. Oh well, here goes again. I love your white whole cloth! And the binding is perfect! It pops! You did an awesome job!!!

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  5. Hi...saw your other comment over the email and also commented on your post re the wavy edges. Re your question...no, I use binding cut straight across the width of fabric. Never have done bias binding before...seemed too much work and normally this works really well for me.

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  6. The binding really sets off your quilt. The whole thing looks awesome! I wish I knew the answers to your questions - I'm not much help today. ~Jeanne

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    Replies
    1. Thank you...yes, love that stripey fabric and had some leftover binding from it.

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  7. Karin, I had this problem before with binding. I think your binding might have been little bit shot of width. And pulling it to meet the stitched line from back sometimes causes the waviness. That's the reason I usually use 2.5inches binding strips especially when I use straight grain fabric strips.

    Like Danielle said, the bias binding is more forgiving when you stretch to the desired size than the straight grain binding.

    By the way, your quilt looks great!

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    Replies
    1. Yes thanks...I also normally use 2.5 " binding, but given the small size of the quilt thought a smaller one would look better. You are probably right with the bias binding

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  8. Really nice quilt and beautiful finished binding!

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  9. Your stiching looks so good, and I love your binding. Hugs Jofrid

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  10. Hallo Karin, sieht ja toll aus, so mit dem bunten Rand. Ich glaub das mach ich auch!
    Ich muss jetzt für meinen nur noch einen Stoff finden der zum Nähgarn passt.
    Was machst du mit deinem Teil? Hängt es an der Wand oder nutzt du es als kleine Mitteldecke?
    Liebe Grüße
    Doris

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  11. Hallo Doris...habe mich noch nicht entschieden was ich damit mache. Wir sind neulich gerade umgezogen und sind immer noch am aufraeumen...ich denke das ich das wohl als eine kleine Mitteldecke benutze. Ich habe mir vorgenommen, dieses noch mal zu machen und ein kleines Kissen daraus zu naehen. Alles eine Frage der Zeit...ich habe immer zu viele Ideen.

    Liebe Gruesse
    Karin

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