Monday, June 13, 2005

From the Great White North of Yellowknife NW Territory, Canada

Hi Melody
I read how you do your fused bindings on your little pieces. Very
cool. When I look at your most recent larger pieces there seems to be
no binding on the work. So I guess the question is: How are you
finishing your larger pieces?
All Bound Up

Dear Ms. Up,

I don't like binding and binding she don't like me. I am not too fond of borders either, but that is another story.
You may have heard the rumor that I fuse everything. Mon Dieu it is true. Sometimes (often) my quilts have a certain laissez faire, a je ne sais quoi, unsquareness that I want to keep, so that is one good reason to make pillowcasing my choice for finishing my quilts.
I fuse the quilt top onto batting, Hobbs Heirloom Cotton 80/20 (Mr. Hobbs, free batting here please!) or Fairfield Cotton Classic, and then I cut a piece of backing fabric tout exactamente the same size and shape as the quilt top+batting. I may or may not do some hand stitching on the top and batting before I add the backing fabric, but the next step is to fuse a 3" wide strip of Wonder-Under to the inside top near the edge of the backing fabric. The spot is where the rod pocket for hanging will eventually go. I will then cut through the center of that strip and the fabric it is fused to, with a sharp pair of paper scissors. This is my Escape Hatch.
The rest of the proceedure is so simple. I sew by machine, all around the perimeter, enclosing the sandwich and turn it right side out through the Escape Hatch. I carefully iron out my corners and edges and then and only then do I remove the paper backing from the Wonder-Under. I overlap the cut edges slightly and fuse them down to the back of the quilt.
Pictures and further explanations can be found in the link on the sidebar, The Escape Hatch Finish.
Thanks for your question.
Melody

3 comments:

  1. I'm loving this Q & A stuff, Melody. I have to say that I never want to use anything but the ESCAPE HATCH method on my work ever again. It's EASY (lending itself to my sloth-like nature), and it gives me that wonky borderless look that compliments my ever-so particular sense of design. It's been the most used skill I've learned from you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for these clear instructions, Mrs Mel. I hate binding too and I'm going to try this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much for the Q&A. You are so generous...That's what makes you one of the best. I'm going to give the "hatch" a try too!

    ReplyDelete

Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com