Project Advice Needed

As if I don't have enough projects going, I'm going to start another one.

I have the pattern Over the River, which someone else here has completed,
which is pieced blocks and embroidered panels. The panels are to be double
layers of fine quality broadcloth or something of a solid color. I will be
using a cream color, not quite white. All of the embroidery will be in
green as I plan on making the blocks in darker greens.

Now, these double layers are to both be sewed through so the floss doesn't
show through, or at least show less. The pattern simply talks about
"holding" the layers together while you sew. I'm planning on using a light
weight wonder-under of some sort to more or less permanently bond them
together. For my sanity this would be much better.

What brand and weight would you recommend? I want something that will hold
well and permanently, but still be easy to sew through. Give some body, but
not too stiff.

Let the comments begin.

In the meantime I pulled the Hawaiian block off the shelf and am working on
finishing hand quilting it.

Steven
Alaska

Just using two layers of fabric will mean you need to make sure you
*always* have a very sharp embroidery needle. Adding a layer of some
sort of fusible bond means everything will be ***MUCH*** more difficult
to stitch through. Also, that stuff is sneaky. You will *think* you
have everything bonded together properly but if it's not done precisely,
you can get little tiny puckers in the fabrics. It can also start to
look sort of wrinkly after a few washings, too.
Why do you want the bond to be permanent? Once the fabric have been
stitched, it won't matter a whole lot. I'm a professional seamstress --
do a lot of Home Dec. stuff -- and have had to stitch through layers of
fabric that have been bonded together. Even with the lightest weight
fusible web, it's no easy task.
I would recommend that you use the basting spray that is available
and join your two strips of fabric that way. If you are still leery
that the fabrics will be a problem, baste them together down the sides
and between the stitched motifs. Be sure to USE AN EMBROIDERY HOOP or
Q-SNAPS, etc!!! Once your needlework is finished, give it a wash and
then use it in your quilt assembly. I would probably leave the edge
basting in as this would help reduce the possibility that the fabric
would begin to fray.
Good luck and make sure to post photos. Let us know what you
finally decide to use, OK?

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary



On 9/16/2011 10:40 PM, Steven Cook wrote:
As if I don't have enough projects going, I'm going to start another one.

I have the pattern Over the River, which someone else here has completed,
which is pieced blocks and embroidered panels. The panels are to be double
layers of fine quality broadcloth or something of a solid color. I will be
using a cream color, not quite white. All of the embroidery will be in
green as I plan on making the blocks in darker greens.

Now, these double layers are to both be sewed through so the floss doesn't
show through, or at least show less. The pattern simply talks about
"holding" the layers together while you sew. I'm planning on using a light
weight wonder-under of some sort to more or less permanently bond them
together. For my sanity this would be much better.

What brand and weight would you recommend? I want something that will hold
well and permanently, but still be easy to sew through. Give some body, but
not too stiff.

Let the comments begin.

In the meantime I pulled the Hawaiian block off the shelf and am working on
finishing hand quilting it.

Steven
Alaska

I vote " No ".
How's that for helpful and supportive?
Assuming that this Over the River project is not going to be something a
baby leaks spinach on and uses for a Bat Man cape.
Steven, if the quilt can hope for a long and cherished life, I would not
use anything that could potentially eventually do harm. Certainly not any
chemicals that could do unspeakable damage in the long run. That would
include fusing and stiffening stuff of any recipe. Well. Maybe heavy starch
if you promised to launder quite thoroughly.
I've seen magnificient christening gowns that had just a wee bit of
fusible interfacing in the collars and yokes. In less than 10 years the
@#$! stuff had discolored and simply ruined the treasures. What a tragedy.
There's Kona and Kona Bay and just now I don't know which one - but one
of them makes a terrific cotton that is grand for embroidery. And, perhaps,
you might learn to do heaps of stopping and starting so there's nearly no
'traveling' of your floss from place to place. It is quite possible to
embroider so that the underside is as good-looking as the front.
I feel perfectly safe. It is much too far from Alaska to the Swamp for
you to come shoot this messenger. Polly

Yes, I need to get much less stingy about using needles and change them way
more often. I don't know why I use them until they drive me batty.

I also never thought about the possibility of tiny puckers and sneaky
movement. I guess that I was thinking permanent since I don't want puckers
later on, but nothing is ever permanent is it? I was also wondering about
the added difficulty of stitching through all of this.

I still use a hoop for embroidery but I do use Q-Snaps for hand quilting. I
love both and each for different things. In fact I just had to buy new
Q-Snaps since the cover pieces split on me. Also, thanks for reminding me
to baste the edges. I sometimes forget this and rue the day.

Steven
Alaska


"Tia Mary" wrote in message
...
Just using two layers of fabric will mean you need to make sure you
*always* have a very sharp embroidery needle. Adding a layer of some sort
of fusible bond means everything will be ***MUCH*** more difficult to
stitch through. Also, that stuff is sneaky. You will *think* you have
everything bonded together properly but if it's not done precisely, you
can get little tiny puckers in the fabrics. It can also start to look
sort of wrinkly after a few washings, too.
Why do you want the bond to be permanent? Once the fabric have been
stitched, it won't matter a whole lot. I'm a professional seamstress --
do a lot of Home Dec. stuff -- and have had to stitch through layers of
fabric that have been bonded together. Even with the lightest weight
fusible web, it's no easy task.
I would recommend that you use the basting spray that is available and
join your two strips of fabric that way. If you are still leery that the
fabrics will be a problem, baste them together down the sides and between
the stitched motifs. Be sure to USE AN EMBROIDERY HOOP or Q-SNAPS, etc!!!
Once your needlework is finished, give it a wash and then use it in your
quilt assembly. I would probably leave the edge basting in as this would
help reduce the possibility that the fabric would begin to fray.
Good luck and make sure to post photos. Let us know what you finally
decide to use, OK?

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary



On 9/16/2011 10:40 PM, Steven Cook wrote:
As if I don't have enough projects going, I'm going to start another one.

I have the pattern Over the River, which someone else here has completed,
which is pieced blocks and embroidered panels. The panels are to be
double
layers of fine quality broadcloth or something of a solid color. I will
be
using a cream color, not quite white. All of the embroidery will be in
green as I plan on making the blocks in darker greens.

Now, these double layers are to both be sewed through so the floss
doesn't
show through, or at least show less. The pattern simply talks about
"holding" the layers together while you sew. I'm planning on using a
light
weight wonder-under of some sort to more or less permanently bond them
together. For my sanity this would be much better.

What brand and weight would you recommend? I want something that will
hold
well and permanently, but still be easy to sew through. Give some body,
but
not too stiff.

Let the comments begin.

In the meantime I pulled the Hawaiian block off the shelf and am working
on
finishing hand quilting it.

Steven
Alaska

I'm with Polly :-)

I know many of the embroidery designers right now are big into a layer
of fabric and a layer of fusible but that stuff ALL turns yellow over
time.

I'm working on Over the River right now and let me say that there's a
lot of embroidery. I'm hoping this quilt is good looking for a really
long time and I'm not doing anything to speed it's demise.

Yes, two layers of cotton is common and a little basting around the
edges will hold things just fine - you are using a hoop to hold
everything snug as you work, right?

Me, I just use the single cotton layer and don't do much "traveling".
The panel with the most drawing is finished and I'm working on the
second. It looks just fine to me.

marcella



In article ,
"Polly Esther" wrote:

I vote " No ".
How's that for helpful and supportive?
Assuming that this Over the River project is not going to be something a
baby leaks spinach on and uses for a Bat Man cape.
Steven, if the quilt can hope for a long and cherished life, I would not
use anything that could potentially eventually do harm. Certainly not any
chemicals that could do unspeakable damage in the long run. That would
include fusing and stiffening stuff of any recipe. Well. Maybe heavy starch
if you promised to launder quite thoroughly.
I've seen magnificient christening gowns that had just a wee bit of
fusible interfacing in the collars and yokes. In less than 10 years the
@#$! stuff had discolored and simply ruined the treasures. What a tragedy.
There's Kona and Kona Bay and just now I don't know which one - but one
of them makes a terrific cotton that is grand for embroidery. And, perhaps,
you might learn to do heaps of stopping and starting so there's nearly no
'traveling' of your floss from place to place. It is quite possible to
embroider so that the underside is as good-looking as the front.
I feel perfectly safe. It is much too far from Alaska to the Swamp for
you to come shoot this messenger. Polly

Always can count on you Polly for a direct and definite answer. No beating
around the bush with you which is just fine. No, it's not too far from
Alaska to the swamp, after all you know who can see Russia from her house,
(bad me), but I wouldn't be coming to shoot you. Just bringing chocolate.

After reading the previous postings and warnings, and your experience, I'm
leaning against using anything now, and having forgotten about the love Kona
fabrics, I can probably just go with one layer by using that. That would be
so much easier. Maybe just a little starch, but maybe not.

And I don't "travel" when I embroider. Grandma, when I was in grade school,
and Mom later on, both taught me to stop and start and weave the ends in. A
lot more work but it looks so much better. My underside will never be as
good as the top, but it's better than other methods. If you want to see
absolutely gorgeous embroidery, you should look at my sisters. She must
have more than a dozen stitches to the inch. Incredible, even, smooth.
Really something.

Steven
Alaska


"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
I vote " No ".
How's that for helpful and supportive?
Assuming that this Over the River project is not going to be something
a baby leaks spinach on and uses for a Bat Man cape.
Steven, if the quilt can hope for a long and cherished life, I would
not use anything that could potentially eventually do harm. Certainly not
any chemicals that could do unspeakable damage in the long run. That
would include fusing and stiffening stuff of any recipe. Well. Maybe
heavy starch if you promised to launder quite thoroughly.
I've seen magnificient christening gowns that had just a wee bit of
fusible interfacing in the collars and yokes. In less than 10 years the
@#$! stuff had discolored and simply ruined the treasures. What a
tragedy.
There's Kona and Kona Bay and just now I don't know which one - but one
of them makes a terrific cotton that is grand for embroidery. And,
perhaps, you might learn to do heaps of stopping and starting so there's
nearly no 'traveling' of your floss from place to place. It is quite
possible to embroider so that the underside is as good-looking as the
front.
I feel perfectly safe. It is much too far from Alaska to the Swamp for
you to come shoot this messenger. Polly

One of the local shops here had some beautiful samples with hand embroidery.
I
was told that the gal that did them worked with a layer of cotton batting on
the
underside so the stitches from the top looked cleaner. The shop is gone but
I
wish I had taken one of her classes. I wonder about preshrinking and
keeping
all the layers flat. That could be a big part of the total effort it seems.
If you
do clean embroidery you shouldn't need to do a lot of hiding though. Those
panels
for that quilt are an ambitious project. I admire anyone that can get
through them
all! Joan did the first one I remember. Where is she off hiding?
Taria


"Steven Cook" wrote in message
mmunications...

Always can count on you Polly for a direct and definite answer. No beating
around the bush with you which is just fine. No, it's not too far from
Alaska to the swamp, after all you know who can see Russia from her house,
(bad me), but I wouldn't be coming to shoot you. Just bringing chocolate.

After reading the previous postings and warnings, and your experience, I'm
leaning against using anything now, and having forgotten about the love Kona
fabrics, I can probably just go with one layer by using that. That would be
so much easier. Maybe just a little starch, but maybe not.

And I don't "travel" when I embroider. Grandma, when I was in grade school,
and Mom later on, both taught me to stop and start and weave the ends in. A
lot more work but it looks so much better. My underside will never be as
good as the top, but it's better than other methods. If you want to see
absolutely gorgeous embroidery, you should look at my sisters. She must
have more than a dozen stitches to the inch. Incredible, even, smooth.
Really something.

Steven
Alaska

Since I sounded so doomful, maybe I need to explain. Mr. Esther's
grandmother gently saved baby garments from my goodness, so long ago. The
brown spots disappeared when I carefully washed them. Disappeared into
nothingness. Gone. The places were eaten away I'm thinking probably from
the acid in the boxes she used.
Since then I've read a bit from quilt collectors and museums about the
'unknown' potential of only God knows what damage fusibles can eventually
cause.
The quilts I make have no probable longevity. I hope. I want them to
be chewed on and leaked on and used to dry the muddy paws of Bruno. An
embroidery of Over the River is a different matter. I just wanted it to
have a lifespan of more than 2 years. Might take you that long to get it
created. Thank you for asking for advice and the rest of you all for being
so kind when I came off as such naysayer. Polly

Steven, I do love your attitude to embroidery! You probably don't need
me to remind you, but if you use 2 strands, it's easy to cut a single
strand twice as long. Fold in half, thread the cut ends through the
needle. Then slip the thread through the loop at the end as you make
your first stitch- no knot.
Roberta in D

On Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:49:49 -0800, "Steven Cook"
wrote:

Always can count on you Polly for a direct and definite answer. No beating
around the bush with you which is just fine. No, it's not too far from
Alaska to the swamp, after all you know who can see Russia from her house,
(bad me), but I wouldn't be coming to shoot you. Just bringing chocolate.

After reading the previous postings and warnings, and your experience, I'm
leaning against using anything now, and having forgotten about the love Kona
fabrics, I can probably just go with one layer by using that. That would be
so much easier. Maybe just a little starch, but maybe not.

And I don't "travel" when I embroider. Grandma, when I was in grade school,
and Mom later on, both taught me to stop and start and weave the ends in. A
lot more work but it looks so much better. My underside will never be as
good as the top, but it's better than other methods. If you want to see
absolutely gorgeous embroidery, you should look at my sisters. She must
have more than a dozen stitches to the inch. Incredible, even, smooth.
Really something.

Steven
Alaska


"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
I vote " No ".
How's that for helpful and supportive?
Assuming that this Over the River project is not going to be something
a baby leaks spinach on and uses for a Bat Man cape.
Steven, if the quilt can hope for a long and cherished life, I would
not use anything that could potentially eventually do harm. Certainly not
any chemicals that could do unspeakable damage in the long run. That
would include fusing and stiffening stuff of any recipe. Well. Maybe
heavy starch if you promised to launder quite thoroughly.
I've seen magnificient christening gowns that had just a wee bit of
fusible interfacing in the collars and yokes. In less than 10 years the
@#$! stuff had discolored and simply ruined the treasures. What a
tragedy.
There's Kona and Kona Bay and just now I don't know which one - but one
of them makes a terrific cotton that is grand for embroidery. And,
perhaps, you might learn to do heaps of stopping and starting so there's
nearly no 'traveling' of your floss from place to place. It is quite
possible to embroider so that the underside is as good-looking as the
front.
I feel perfectly safe. It is much too far from Alaska to the Swamp for
you to come shoot this messenger. Polly

Yes Taria, it does seem like an ambitious project. I seem to get into to
those kind of things against my better judgment. On top of it, Bert
lovingly teases me about them and then what does he do? He goes and orders
two more patterns for me for Christmas last year. He's enabling me but in a
good way I think.

Steven
Alaska


"Taria" wrote in message
...
One of the local shops here had some beautiful samples with hand
embroidery. I
was told that the gal that did them worked with a layer of cotton batting
on the
underside so the stitches from the top looked cleaner. The shop is gone
but I
wish I had taken one of her classes. I wonder about preshrinking and
keeping
all the layers flat. That could be a big part of the total effort it
seems. If you
do clean embroidery you shouldn't need to do a lot of hiding though.
Those panels
for that quilt are an ambitious project. I admire anyone that can get
through them
all! Joan did the first one I remember. Where is she off hiding?
Taria


"Steven Cook" wrote in message
mmunications...

Always can count on you Polly for a direct and definite answer. No
beating
around the bush with you which is just fine. No, it's not too far from
Alaska to the swamp, after all you know who can see Russia from her house,
(bad me), but I wouldn't be coming to shoot you. Just bringing chocolate.

After reading the previous postings and warnings, and your experience, I'm
leaning against using anything now, and having forgotten about the love
Kona
fabrics, I can probably just go with one layer by using that. That would
be
so much easier. Maybe just a little starch, but maybe not.

And I don't "travel" when I embroider. Grandma, when I was in grade
school,
and Mom later on, both taught me to stop and start and weave the ends in.
A
lot more work but it looks so much better. My underside will never be as
good as the top, but it's better than other methods. If you want to see
absolutely gorgeous embroidery, you should look at my sisters. She must
have more than a dozen stitches to the inch. Incredible, even, smooth.
Really something.

Steven
Alaska