QAWM: Make Something Small

When we fuse a small work it helps to start with an idea of the finished size. Then the pieces we use will be to scale.
1. Cut your batting to size, for example 13x15" OR 14"
square, or whatever you like. Just keep it small.
I am using a Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly batting,  (not Warm and Natural or White and Natural, both of which will curl up when fused).

Use the release paper from the Wonder-Under, and draw the finished size on the paper with a pencil. We will assemble the top on the paper, and after it is completed it will then be fused onto the batting.
The reason we have drawn the size on the paper is to help place the pieces within the space. This is especially helpful when cutting the background pieces.
 






The tools used are rotary cutter, sharp scissors and a sliver of soap which is used to mark the front of the fabric, and the mark disappears with pressing.

If you are beginning with large pieces of fabric it is often daunting to cut into them, so I suggest cutting off a three inch piece from each color. You may still have to cut into the large pieces but you will have some small pieces to cut into details.
I am using chunks of leftovers and some are already missing large parts, but no matter, I just put another piece in the missing space and it looks like I layered it over a full piece.
But the deceptive truth is that everything that is on top is covering an empty space.


The turquoise piece on the left shows that missing part. I used the sliver of soap to outline the part covered with the orange piece, and then I trimmed away the turquoise piece. It fits under the orange now with only a small bit connecting the two.
I am not suggesting any of the dimensions of these pieces, as you will be making those choices yourself. Just keep it simple and it will all work out just fine. Really.
I keep adding more chunks of fabric, building up the composition.
Nothing is fused down YET. I am still arranging and judging how it looks. This is where the 'designing' comes in. I am just looking for a pleasing arrangement, with colors that look good together.

There will be some trimming and neatening of edges before I do the fusing. Keep in mind that all of these fabrics are fused and cut without paper on the back.
Nothing has been measured or is perfectly square.
Let go of perfection for this project.

The composition is nearing completion, and I am adding the larger chunks to fill in the background spaces. It really helps me to know where the outer edges are, so I can work in the fabric were it fits. Some gaps occured and that provided 'design choices' such as that horizontal turquoise piece on the right.

I have begun adding thin lines on top and underneath the pieces to ground the composition. I really dislike floating objects. The shapes need to relate to each other and the outside edges as well. At this point I have LIGHTLY fused all the pieces to each other, and onto the paper. I use a tweezer to lift some edges to insert the thin line pieces under the top layer.
The finished top, fused onto the batting and trimmed to size.
I've added a few more lines, some dots and triangles and stopped myself from overdoing it. I will rely on the machine quilting to add the right finish.
IF I were going to do any hand stitching, now is the time to do it. I would stitch through the top and batting with either embroidery floss or perle cotton size 8 or 12. Then later after the backing is sewn on, the machine quilting will be done.
Tomorrow, the backing will be pillowcased and the quilting will begin.

Keep in mind that trimming each piece of fabric  before the final fusing helps keep the look of the design neat and clean.

The Day Before QAWM 2012

Several of you have asked for more info on Quilt Along with Melody 2012. Like, what are the rules?
There are no rules. Anyone can participate, make their own version of what I am making or just watch. The idea is to make new work, use up our fabric stash, and try new methods.
I will be doing some small fused art quilts and then later in the month I will do a bed quilt using the Quilt As You Go method, as I learned it from Marianne at The Quilting Edge.
I am setting up a Flickr group so you can post your finished tops, quilts or blocks. I will post the url on the blog.

So starting tomorrow February 1st, look for the first lesson on making a small art quilt, from start to finish. In the meantime, here's a refresher on the process of making the quilt above, here.

Fusing 101

This post first appeared in 2005, but I feel it is good to have a refresher since we are close to February 1st and the start of Quilt Along with Melody.
Hi Melody,


I have a burning question about the fusing on your Matchstick pieces.


I've done a bit of fused applique but I've always stitched the pieces down to stop them peeling off the quilt later. I find the stitching causes unsightly fraying though.


Am I right in my assumption that you just fuse with no sewing? If so, do you use a special, extra strong fusible? I imagine it would require particular care when packing to send to shows etc.


Cheers
Claire

Dear Claire,
I use only regular Wonder-Under as my fusible. I only use hand dyed fabrics and that is why I am able to leave my edges free of stitching. Commercial fabrics have a factory applied coating like Perma-Press or Wash and Wear, or some such name, which acts like Teflon to the fusible. It peels up eventually or sooner. Hand dyed fabric (cotton or silk) has no such factory finish so the fine fibers of the fabric are open to receive the fusible web and will remain fused until you try to scrape them off with your fingernails. Please do not test this on my quilts! heehee.

I have had very good success over the 10 to 12 years that I have been making fused designs. Years ago when I showed my art quilt group Matchstick Moons, I notiiced that a few slivershad lifted and when I got home I re-fused them with a pressing cloth and hot iron. I did rush out without that final pressing since I was just then finished applying the 10 zillionth matchstick.



One more thing. I apply the Wonder-Under with a hot dry iron, ironing as though I were just trying to smooth out the wrinkles on a piece of fabric. Then I let the paper/fabric cool and then I peel off the paper. This is the big secret. I NEVER CUT THE FABRIC WITH THE PAPER STILL ATTACHED. I use very sharp scissors or rotary cutters to cut my designs. I feel that I am drawing my shapes with the cutting.
That way I needn't peel the paper off which causes fraying. The paper is saved and is referred to below as release paper.

I am not against fraying. Fraying distinguishes fabric from paper. If your fabric frays then make it really fray and make that a part of your artistic statement.

Commercial fabrics can be fused, but need to be either quilted down or edge stitched in order to safely remain attached.

I also am aware that some hand dyed fabric such as heavier cottons or cottons with different weaves such as jaquards or twills will fray considerably even if I am very careful with my cuts. I love the look of sateen, but find that the twill weave is quite frayable. So I use silk instead, which give a good sheen and shows off the quilting nicely.
Since I fuse my fabrics together without using a base fabric, the trick is to use the release paper as a construction base. Using two fused fabrics, overlapping the edges just enough, say 1/8th inch, will produce a 'seam'. The release paper is reusable over and over again, until it gets dry and crackly. Then I will resort to using the teflon pressing sheets.

When the quilt top is complete I will fuse it directly to the batting. I only use Hobbs Heirloom Cotton 80/20 (Mr. Hobbs, this is a plug. How about sending me some free batting?) because it has a very smooth and nice finish and won't show on the top, especially with the fused silk.

I don't recommend using this method with Warm and Natural or White and Natural or other batts that have a noticeable texture. Disaster will result.

1. Cut the fusible to the width of your fabric.

2. Iron the fusible with a hot dry iron, moving the iron as though you were just ironing out the wrinkles.

3. Trim off the fabric selvedges or any fabric that isn't covered by the fusible web, unless you want to go back and patch that part later.

4. Pay close attention to fusing the corners, as they are the place one first peels off the paper. If the fusible isn't sticking to the fabric, then iron it again.

5. Bubbles may appear on the right side of the fabric but will disappear when they are fused after the paper is removed. Sometimes spots may be left, missing some of the fusible. Just patch the spot with another small piece of Wonder-Under. Make sure to cover the area being patched with the release paper so that nothing gets on your iron!

For more Q&A on Fusing see this post, http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2005/12/qa.html.

Quilt Along with Melody Q&A

Hi Melody:
   
    I am writing with some questions about the QAWM starting February 1st - I'm sure the answers are somewhere in your blog but I've not been able to find them, so apologies for asking to repeat.

O, no apologies needed, as I was waiting until the last minute, January 31, to post the plans, which are very sketchy plans so far...

A little preamble: This will be the third year of Quilt Along With Melody, and originally it was an effort on my part to use up the quilt fabric I have in my stash, and then maybe get others to come along for the ride and destash some too. I picked a simple block and variations and asked people to respond with their emails or blogsites and I posted those on the sidebar. The second year I got smarter and made a Flickr site where FO could be posted and I provided a link. It still exists at http://www.flickr.com/groups/qawm2011/pool/ where you can see people did their own projects and that seemed to work.
But this year will be different. I plan to do
1. Small art quilts
2. Quilt as you go bed/napquilts.

    How long does it run?
All of February.
    How much should one plan on doing every day, or is there a space of days over which to do work?
O it's not nearly that structured. I plan to do some demos/tutorials and post those and if you want to do them that day or the following weekend, that's just fine. Or next month, or whenever.
    How does the whole thing work anyway:  via your blog or website or    email? or some other way?
It'll all be here on the blog.
    And how much does it cost?
Nothing, it's free to you and your friends. However you might want to spend a bit on solids for the art quilts, and Wonder-Under 805 too.
    Maybe I'll finally use some of the threads that I purchased from Artfabrik so long ago...........
It could happen.
    Many thanks!
If you don't have a lot of solids in your stash I have suggested Joann's Country Classics http://www.joann.com/country-classic-cotton-solids-assorted-colors/prd10005/ and you will only want 1/2 yards.

Early Works

Way back in the late '80's, early 90's, I belonged to a small juried-in quilt group made up of Chicagoland art quilters. This included Caryl Fallert, Ann Fahl, Judy Walters, Jane Sassaman, Ellen Anne Eddy, and a few others whose names I have forgotten...duh.
I was a newbie and full of awe at being in the same room with these luminaries. I wanted to be one of them, art-wise and was hoping to impress them eventually. I worked in a factory full-time and only had the weekends to quilt. (and I sewed all day at the factory!) but, I had ideas. One of them was to make a logo for myself and my business cards that was a representation of my other art, painting, and of my new art of quilting. I made a 2" square painting of a very loose nine-patch and this black and white quilt was designed based on that. It's called Nonchalant Nine Patch. But I am getting ahead of the story. I had to make this design, so I did a 12" mockup, using Wonder-under and made a totebag as a start. I brought it to the meeting and discussed my desire to make a real quilt out of it with Caryl Fallert, while shivering in my boots. The only way I could figure I could do it was with fusing, but I was afraid that was CHEATING. (Imagine that...) I really couldn't imagine turning under all those wiggly edges and hand appliqueing them! Caryl thought fusing was the answer too, and gave me the nod. Seriously. What a relief. If it was OK with her, I was good to go. I had no idea this would be the start of all of my serious work.



Also at that time, I was trying to dye fabric with Rit and just couldn't get the vibrant colors that I saw in Caryl's and Judy Walters' quilts, which were dyed with Procion dyes. I was afraid of them because I read health warnings etc, and really, I had no place to dye anything in the house in which we lived. But Caryl told me what dyes I needed to use and what fabric to buy and shortly thereafter we moved to a house where I did have a laundry room and a sink and so I began to dye my own fabrics. This quilt, Emergence, is my first work using all my hand dyed fabrics, all of them in one quilt! It is pieced on a tearaway foundation and then cut into smaller squares and reassembled.
++++
So I am telling you this stuff because years later, I can see that giving permission and giving information can lead to something much bigger than it might have seemed at the moment.
Since we are going to be doing Quilt Along With Melody starting February 1st, I thought I would begin with fusing a small art quilt. This means that if you want to learn to do this, you'll need to fuse your fabrics ahead of time.
Normally I would insist on using only hand dyeds (not batiks either) but that may be too much to ask for beginners. So as suggested earlier, get some solids together in wide range of colors* and fuse half yard lengths. Please use only regular Wonder-under** and fuse, cool, peel. In fact, to be smart, fuse everything and then later peel off the paper, and try to keep the paper intact. We'll use the paper as our construction site.
Try not to be afraid. I'll be right there with you.

*Suggested colors? Red, orange,yellow-orange, yellow, lime, kelly green, aqua, turquoise, bright blue, light and deep purple, magenta, fuchsia, hot pink.
**A better deal for Wonder-Under can be had if you have a 40 or 50% off coupon from Joann's.

Fixing the Droop

I got to wear my new sweater yesterday to knitting and by the time I got home the neckline had stretched way wide. It was almost falling off the shoulders. So I decided to crochet a chain and weave it between the ribbing and voila! a new look and a great fix. Yay knitting!
It's humbling to take one's picture mid diet, but we must have the before pics, mustn't we? Here's my knitting and Jazzercise pal Deidra, wearing my fuzzy pink poncho. Now that's my diet goal, to be as slim as she.


Off to Jazzercise now, to get the butt in gear.

Fitting the Knit

One of the things I love about knitting is that I keep learning new things, even after all these years. When I decided to alter the raglan sweater pattern to fit my 'curves' I searched for help on Ravelry. I found a recipe for raglan shaping that made it all become clear to me. It involves math!
Simple math.
If your gauge is 4 stitches per inch, and your widest measurement is 40, then the largest number of stitches you will have on your needles is 4x40=160. Wow. That means that I can measure the hip for knitting bottom up or the neckline for knitting top down and know how many stitches to cast on.
For this sweater, I knit top down, and cast on as follows: The neck needed to be lower than crewneck, so I decided on 21 inches. 21x4=84. Simple!

Then after the ribbing I needed to divide my stitches for the body of the sweater. This is where the new knowledge sets in...For a raglan, one takes the number of stitches and divides by 3.
1/3 goes for the back, 1/3 goes to the front and 1/6 for each sleeve. Or in my case,starting at 84 stitches already on the needles for the neck ribbing, I counted  28 for the front and 28 for the back and 14 for each sleeve. When I begin increasing, I will make 8 new stitches at the dividing markers every other row until I reach the magic number 160, that is: 80 for the front and 80 for the back. (I am not counting the sleeve stitches, which get put on waste yarn and knit later.) That's when I know that I have the number of stitches needed for the body. No measuring needed, or trying on either. Sigh. That makes it so much less stressful to knit, knowing it is going to fit. So, if I wanted a looser fit, I might add an inch worth of stitches or 4 to give me some breathing room. Or if I were young and less busty I might stop short of 160 to make a tighter fit, to emphasize my good points, heh heh. But those days are long gone.


Here's another thing I learned, late in the game. Quality yarn produces a quality garment. It does the work for me. This yarn is merino and silk from Filatura di Crosa, and it has a tight twist, making it very springy and bouyant. It looks like a machine knit it. ha!
++++++
Diet Update.
I am still not hungry. I don't miss the sweets, fats or the wine. But it is still early in the game. On the other hand, I have gone down one bra size and one pants size, which is the #1 goal. I have lots of clothes that used to fit and when I had to hike up my jeans several times yesterday I figured it was time to get out the old jeans, packed away under the bed, and try on a pair. This took courage. But I was happy to easily zip them up and now I suddenly have 7 pairs of wearable jeans. Woowoo! But not to get complacent, as these are still three sizes bigger than my target weight. But still...
My other goal is to be more flexible and Jazzercise is helping me there. I touched my toes yesterday!

Quilt Music

Don Freund's Quilt Horizon, commissioned by Robert and Sara LeBien for the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, is the composer's response to a brilliant and deeply engaging quilt by Melody Johnson displayed in the LeBien's home. Complete program notes at http://db.tt/6WQua4q


I had nothing to blog today, since I have been non-stop knitting, but this morning I got an email notifying me of this video. Now that's somethin' that doesn't happen everyday.

A Knit Along

My pals Judy, Sharon and I are going to make this sweater in a knit-along. Notice the slim figure on this model. Not exactly my shape, eh? But the pattern is a fun and simple style and will be quick to make.

The pattern calls for chunky yarn and we spent several hours searching for some to order and ended up with about 2 choices that fit the bill.
But, I found some in my stash at home which could work, maybe... I would have to alter the raglan shaping a bit to  adjust the fit. Since I was doing that I decided to change the neckline like this:

Only not continue the rib as far and no cables. This is Baby Cocktails' Irish Coffee.
And I am not sure yet if I have enough to make it this long and so I will probably be changing the length of the body, and perhaps the sleeves. This makes the sweater come out completely different from the plan, but if I am to make it fit me, that's what has to happen.

Here's my start. Filatura di Crosa Empire, merino and silk. Yummy to knit. Size 10 needles.

++++++++

While I was looking through my photo files I came across this picture of a rejected quilt design. This fused top never got made, in fact, it got disassembled. But now I look at it and wish I had made the quilt! So when we get to February and start Quilting Along With me, I think I will add this design to the mix.  What was I thinking when I rejected it? Who knows, but now I love it.  Here's the associated blog post from last March.

Missing pictures...

Some or all of these pictures may be missing from today's post. Sorry...