Escape Hatch Finish Q&A

Dear Mrs. Mel,
You don't know me but I am an ardent admirer of your work and of the other
artists you have introduced me to via your blog. I hope you have time to
answer a few questions about the escape hatch finish- you did a great job with the text and pictures but my old brain can't completely wrap itself around the process.
Here goes:
1. Is it possible to fuse a finished top directly to the Hobbs ( a piece of whole cloth with pieces fused and/or appliqued to it) 2. Do I lay the top on the batting and press the top (use a pressing cloth perhaps?)- or will this fuse the batting to my ironing board??? Or is the batting only fusible on one side?

Dear Kitty,
I don't use fusible batting. All the fabrics in my quilt top are fused before I use them, so when the top is finished it is still all fused underneath. I have assembled all my pieces onto the release paper from the Wonder-Under and peeled them off as they were fused into the composition.
If I were fusing my design onto whole cloth then I would have to fuse the backside of that whole cloth top before I tried to fuse it to the batting.
Iron the batting, position the top onto the batting (fusible side down of course) and fuse away!

3. After top is fused to batting, do I lay right sides of top and backing together and sew ALL 4 sides? And then turn right side out throughthe escape hatch(hence the name)?

Yes. At this point it is just like sewing a pillow. Don't forget to add that strip of Wonder-Under where the rod pocket will be later. And cut through it before sewing. It is much easier to turn it right side out if there is an opening started through the strip of W-U.

And what seam allowance?

Whatever seems necessary to your piece. I use a scant 1/4".

And do I need to poke the corners (never seems to work for me) before pressing?


It makes a much nicer edge if you do the poking as you press. I have taken two or three tiny stitches at an angle as I round the corner and I trim the corners to nearly a point and then trim off the tip. Try to eliminate bulk at the points if you can. Press carefully and the results will make it easier to quilt the piece later.


I saw Bodacious Bloomers at a local show today- done by a local artist.
(Cincinnati Nature Center).
Thank you so much for your time.
Kitty

It's OK with me if people show their finished work from my classes. I just wouldn't want them to use classwork in competitions.

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This week I am preparing for my last jobs of the year. On Saturday 11/5, I will be flying to SFO and there I will be met by Maryanne Paveglio, who will house me for the night and then in the morning we will drive to Art Quilt Tahoe. I will teach at AQT and then return with Maryanne to teach at the Peninsula Quilters Guild in San Francisco.

I am about as excited as a gal can be. I have been looking forward to this trip all year and can't believe my good luck that I get to be in two of the most beautiful places in the world for my job.
And the best part is that the weather will be cool enough that I can wear my newly finished sweaters including this vest...

O Yeah. It's all about the clothes. The yarn is almost all from Caryl Fallert's birthday gift to me last year. (name dropper!) I will be a big showoff at AQT wearing it and thanking her for the foray into colors that have heretofore never appeared in my closet.
Now I am deeply enamored of rusts, loden greens, golds and plum.
(I reduced the size of this photo hoping to reduce the size of the derriere in the photo.)

So this week I am dyeing, washing and ironing fabric for two gigs and shipping ahead and all sorts of not-very-interesting-to-blog stuff. Somewhere in there I will also be quilting the Tulip Party quilt (finally) , being interviewed for a magazine article and getting a haircut and doing laundry.
So to keep on task, I am meeting the girlfriends for a luncheon party at Frieda's today. First we will pick up Laura at the airport and hear all the Houston gossip (I hope) and then go on to Frieda's where we will have the premiere of her newly remodeled bathroom.
Will the festivities never end?