Sewing diagonal stripes onto a muslin backing?

We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out
that what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so
well into real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black
patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch
stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut
and sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or
baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three
layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the
backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64
x 76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the
muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her
seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing
onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns
everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away
from it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and
when I get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the
muslin - square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes.
That should give us some references for whether things are stretching
or we're just getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way?
Or should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a
backing? Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the
stripes to the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each
other until finished, and then sew again over each seam to the
muslin. But "the book" said different, and it was written by someone
who obviously knows much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is
there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we
doing something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around
it by hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through
the machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!!
Ed

I don't see why the plan wouldn't work. You're probably going to have to
act like the bank robbers in an old movie and yell, " Nobody Move!".
What if you starch that muslin? I mean really, really starch it - stiff
as glass.
Can you ease up the pressure so the feed dogs aren't stretching the
muslin? The Bernina sm has a neat little dial on the left hand side; don't
know if all machines give you that option.
And use pins, Ed (and wife). Lots and lots. More than that.
That sounds like quite a smashing quilt. We would love to see it.
Polly

"Ed from AZ"
We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out
that what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so
well into real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black
patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch
stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut
and sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or
baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three
layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the
backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64
x 76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the
muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her
seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing
onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns
everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away
from it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and
when I get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the
muslin - square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes.
That should give us some references for whether things are stretching
or we're just getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way?
Or should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a
backing? Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the
stripes to the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each
other until finished, and then sew again over each seam to the
muslin. But "the book" said different, and it was written by someone
who obviously knows much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is
there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we
doing something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around
it by hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through
the machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!!
Ed

Hmmmm - this does sound like an adventure! Does "some book" recommend
using a large piece of fabric for the backing? This sounds similar to
the concept of string piecing, but I think it's generally done with
smaller, block-size pieces.

Unless I'm missing something here (and I could be!), I don't know why
you would need the backing. Since all the strips are cut and sewn
on-grain and all are the same widths, I think I'd try just sewing them
together without the backing.

If you still want to use the muslin backing, though, you might try using
a walking foot as you attach the strips to it. Another thought is to
figure out a way to cut the muslin and re-sew it (similar to piecing
backing) so that the straight of grain is on a diagonal. I'm sure
there's a way to do that, but I can't wrap my brain around it right now!


Louise in Iowa
http://community.webshots.com/user/louiseiniowa
nieland1390 at mchsi dot com

On 3/7/2011 8:58 AM, Ed from AZ wrote:
We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out
that what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so
well into real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black
patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch
stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut
and sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or
baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three
layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the
backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64
x 76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the
muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her
seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing
onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns
everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away
from it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and
when I get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the
muslin - square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes.
That should give us some references for whether things are stretching
or we're just getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way?
Or should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a
backing? Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the
stripes to the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each
other until finished, and then sew again over each seam to the
muslin. But "the book" said different, and it was written by someone
who obviously knows much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is
there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we
doing something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around
it by hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through
the machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!!
Ed

Oh, what an intriguing puzzle!

First thoughts:
If the stripes are cut with the grain, at least you are half way
'saved'!
I would say abandon the muslin - it seems to me to be serving no purpose
except causing difficulty.
I would normally have said use paper instead of muslin, but that would
be a very large piece of paper! and very difficult to handle.
No, if those stripes are on straight grain, I would forget backing
altogether. I would sew them together in pairs, then fours, then eight
(or whatever). Sewing two, then adding one at a time, and accumulating
width is rarely the safest way to go - with strips or squares.
Before you add the border, I suggest you do a large stitch basting right
round the edges - or you will again be sewing straight onto bias.

Hope something there helps g
..
In message
, Ed
from AZ writes
We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out
that what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so
well into real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black
patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch
stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut
and sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or
baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three
layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the
backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64
x 76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the
muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her
seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing
onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns
everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away
from it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and
when I get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the
muslin - square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes.
That should give us some references for whether things are stretching
or we're just getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way?
Or should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a
backing? Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the
stripes to the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each
other until finished, and then sew again over each seam to the
muslin. But "the book" said different, and it was written by someone
who obviously knows much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is
there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we
doing something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around
it by hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through
the machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!!
Ed

--
Best Regards
Pat on the Green

On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:58:34 -0800, Ed from AZ wrote:

We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out that
what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so well into
real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black
patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch
stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut and
sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or
baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three
layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the
backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64 x
76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the
muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her
seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing
onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns
everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away from
it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and when I
get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the muslin -
square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes. That should
give us some references for whether things are stretching or we're just
getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way? Or
should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a backing?
Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the stripes to
the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each other until
finished, and then sew again over each seam to the muslin. But "the
book" said different, and it was written by someone who obviously knows
much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is
there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we doing
something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around it by
hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through the
machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!!
Ed

I am afraid I don't quite get the point of sewing the stripes together
and then sewing them to the muslin. I think I would either abandon the
muslin entirely, or draw it out on the muslin and sew it as for
foundation piecing.

You definitely want the muslin true to grain, well squared, and starched
to within an inch of it's life. Especially working with a large piece.
On a large piece it would be very easy to just get things misaligned,
especially working bare with no guide marks.

Basting it down by hand would indeed eliminate much of the problem, at
least it would for me.
I have been sewing clothes for so long that I seldom have trouble with
bias seams. It's just a matter of practice. Threads like this make me
sit and think about what I do and what in particular I do that helps
avoid trouble.

NightMist

--
I'm raising a developmentally disabled child. What's your superpower?

To which book are you referencing?

Bev in TX

On 3/7/11 8:58 AM, Ed from AZ wrote:
We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out
that what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so
well into real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black
patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch
stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut
and sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or
baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three
layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the
backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64
x 76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the
muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her
seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing
onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns
everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away
from it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and
when I get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the
muslin - square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes.
That should give us some references for whether things are stretching
or we're just getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way?
Or should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a
backing? Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the
stripes to the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each
other until finished, and then sew again over each seam to the
muslin. But "the book" said different, and it was written by someone
who obviously knows much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is
there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we
doing something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around
it by hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through
the machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!!
Ed

Starch. Not the wimpy kind in a fancy-schmancy spray can but the kind
you mix yourself and can make really strong. Then, make sure your
foundation is very, very straight and square. Once you've done that,
toss it and just stitch your strips together, measure the diagonal
space and cut. Okay, if you are trying to keep the foundation for some
reason, do the starch and straight cutting thing, then get a walking
foot. I can't see why the diagonal stitching would be a problem unless
you're letting the fabric go all catty-jawumpused. A walking foot will
help.

Sunny
(what are you trying to accomplish?)

Which book?
The only reason I can imagine why you would need the muslin might be
to give yourself a guide for offsetting the ends of the strips so you
end up with a rectangle shape of diagonal stripes. But you could
surely figure that out by yourself: ditch the muslin. Orconsider using
a thin batting instead (no bias issues).

If you really want the muslin for some reason (is it the actual back
of the quilt that will be visible?), you might consider cutting your
strips on the bias. then the grains wouldn't be fighting. But this is
maybe not the simplest choice.

Either way, it sounds like you need a walking foot. And maybe some
practice on a small sample piece until you get the effect you want.
Roberta in D

On Mon, 7 Mar 2011 06:58:34 -0800 (PST), Ed from AZ
wrote:

We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out
that what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so
well into real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black
patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch
stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut
and sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or
baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three
layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the
backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64
x 76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the
muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her
seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing
onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns
everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away
from it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and
when I get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the
muslin - square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes.
That should give us some references for whether things are stretching
or we're just getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way?
Or should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a
backing? Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the
stripes to the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each
other until finished, and then sew again over each seam to the
muslin. But "the book" said different, and it was written by someone
who obviously knows much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is
there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we
doing something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around
it by hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through
the machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!!
Ed

Thanks to all who chimed in.

"That book" was probably one of the many from our library; finding it
again might be a chore in itself. My wife might know off the top of
her head; I'll check.

I'm going to outline the stripes on the muslin. That way, we'll have
a "jigsaw puzzle" guide. Rather, SHE will have a guide - she's the
creative genius; I'm just the guy who can draw straight lines and keep
the machine running. 8)

The starch idea is good. I'll pass that along - I think it'll really
help.

We thought about the walking foot, but wondered it it would be more
trouble than just basting a bit or taking it slow and easy. Then
again, with a good power seam ripper, there's not a whole lot of fatal
mistakes in this craft!

Ed

PS - As I'm wrestling this piece of fabric across two table tops, I'm
envisioning a frame that would allow you to put something this large
on and draw a pattern on it, mark edges, and other planning type
things. Do they make such a frame? Or is that what walls are for?

If it were me, I'd ditch the concept of the muslin as stabilizer.

Since these stripes are the whole quilt, I'd do it QAYG (quilt as you
go). That makes much more sense to me.
Sort of like Judith Larzelere does, but with much wider fabrics.
Someone else - I can't remember the name - does Bargello quilts the
same way as QAYG.

The batting/backing will supply the stability you need, plus you can
always mark your lines on the batting as well so you can maintain the
correct straight line/angle you want.
And then your quilt is done.

Sounds like a pattern from a very, very old quilting book, when the
fabric wasn't as well made as it today.