help with finishing

As regards fabrics running I believe your MIL broke the golden rule by
not washing her fabric prior to cutting and stitching! It was told
to me as the Golden Rule when I took a quilting course.

That's why she was so upset -- she did wash it, a couple of times, and
it still bled afterward. Not too noticeable on the front, but on the
back, which was on off-white fabric, you can definitely see the dye
marks. She was extremely irate, especially since this was a quilt for
her son and new wife, which would theoretically become an heirloom piece.

You did not say either, whether this was worked in wool (crewel
embroidery) or floss. If wool, you need to stretch it first before
you do anything with it.

Floss

Barbara H. J.

"Barbara Hass" wrote in message
...

Some time back, I posted about a UFO (seascape picture) that I had
decided was finished enough to call done (the center of the project, the
only part I'd completed, is a stand-alone image). A number of people
posted some great ideas, and I have decided I'd like to make / have made
a pillow, using the stitching as a center image. I was thinking a
strip-quilt type of pillow front with a solid back.

Barbara,

The image is rectangular, not square. How is this normally dealt with?

As someone else pointed out there is no rule stating that pillow/cushions
must be square. However, if you're going to buy a commercial pillo-form for
the centre, many of them *are* square.
I made a rectangular piece of stitchery into a square (16 or 18") pillow for
my GD, using cotton as the "frame". It's on my picturetrail site:
www.picturetrail.com/slostitcher .
As you can see the top and bottom parts of the frame are slightly wider than
the sides.
Basically what I did was decide how much of the linen I wanted to show
around the central picture. Then I worked out the size of fabric strips to
use, remembering to add seam allowances! The blue and purple wrap around to
form the back and overlap by, IIRC, about three inches (maybe four)

Also, the image is stitched on linen (not the best quality). Does
this need a backing fabric or something?
You could probably decide this by laying the finished piece over something
white and seeing how much shows through. If you decided you do need
something behind it quilter's muslin is cheap and comes in white!

HTH,
emerald

"emerald" wrote in message
. ..

"Barbara Hass" wrote in message
...

Some time back, I posted about a UFO (seascape picture) that I had
decided was finished enough to call done (the center of the project, the
only part I'd completed, is a stand-alone image). A number of people
posted some great ideas, and I have decided I'd like to make / have made
a pillow, using the stitching as a center image. I was thinking a
strip-quilt type of pillow front with a solid back.

Barbara,

The image is rectangular, not square. How is this normally dealt with?

As someone else pointed out there is no rule stating that pillow/cushions
must be square. However, if you're going to buy a commercial pillo-form
for
the centre, many of them *are* square.
I made a rectangular piece of stitchery into a square (16 or 18") pillow
for
my GD, using cotton as the "frame". It's on my picturetrail site:
www.picturetrail.com/slostitcher .
As you can see the top and bottom parts of the frame are slightly wider
than
the sides.
Basically what I did was decide how much of the linen I wanted to show
around the central picture. Then I worked out the size of fabric strips to
use, remembering to add seam allowances! The blue and purple wrap around
to
form the back and overlap by, IIRC, about three inches (maybe four)

Also, the image is stitched on linen (not the best quality). Does
this need a backing fabric or something?
You could probably decide this by laying the finished piece over something
white and seeing how much shows through. If you decided you do need
something behind it quilter's muslin is cheap and comes in white!

HTH,
emerald

I made a pillow from a piece I did for my aunt not too long ago. I used a
store-bought foam pillow form. I machine stitched the cross-stitch piece to
some fabric that I had in my stash. I didn't get real exact on my corners
and seams. I think that added to the home-made, country effect.
You can see it on my webpage. It is the third item from the top of the page.
http://www.vvm.com/~jhunt/silver_needle.htm
aeromom

Barbara Hass writes:
The image is rectangular, not square. How is this normally dealt with?
Also, the image is stitched on linen (not the best quality). Does
this need a backing fabric or something? Help! I asked my MIL,

I'd probably start by sewing a backing fabric on the linen. It will
give the strip fabric something to be sew to. Are you going to use a
standard pillow form or just stuffing? If you use stuffing, you'll
want a fabric behind the piece to prevent fluffies from coming out.
You might want to make a pillow cover that can be removed instead of a
permanent pillow. Your local library probably has a few sewing books
that tell you to make a pillow.

(though she had it out with JoAnn's as the fabric bled all over and,

Prewash your fabric. I know quilters often don't because they want to
keep the sizing in, but my theory is you want to know if it will run
or shrink before you use it.

If you're trying to avoid any finishing work, take a look at the
pre-made pillows done by Pine Mountain Designs.

-sew