Layering of the rails quilt has begun. A big enough area of the work table has been cleared to spread out the backing, which to my delight only overlaps the width of the side by side tables by a few inches. Batting proves to be cut to fit edge to edge of table width and matching the side edges of the backing, which by the way I thought I'd have to piece for it to be wide enough. But it is 44 inches wide and the quilt top 42-1/2 so about an inch extra on each side. I usually allow more than that so I can turn the backing over the batting to the front and give myself something to hold on to as I quilt. But not having to piece the backing . . . priceless at this point. I gave the top a good steam press and removed a lot of stray threads from the back before smoothing it over the batting. Everything just fits.
I follow Angela Walters and watch most of her free videos on free motion quilting designs and a recent dot-to-dot series design caught my eye as one I could use on this quilt. I used one of my EQ mockups to play with different directions I could place those arrow-like motifs, finally settling on the one sketched out on the block in the second row. You might be able to see some arrows on the lines if you click for the larger picture. I worked out where to start so that the entire block can be quilted continuously, including along the sashing on all sides.
But I know I can't trust myself to free-motion quilt straight lines with any accuracy so as I started to pin, I started to think of how I might mark the lines and avoid any difficulty in removing markings. I remembered the technique of making creases in the fabric with a hera marker and thought this might be the way to go. I used to have two hera markers that were freebies, but I couldn't locate either one. No worries, any pointed thing will do and the tool I use to help close up pins has a short straight edge on one end not unlike a hera marker. So I gave it a go before too many pins got in my way. I found it surprisingly slow as I made the marks on two blocks, noting that sometimes a line didn't show depending on which way the light was hitting the lines. Add to this, as I moved to the second block, the sashing confused me into placing the starting point of the first line in the wrong place. Not sure I have the patience for this. It occurred to me that laying down masking tape as I go will be quicker and leave no marks. If I did ruler work, this would be the perfect place for it. But since I don't, I think I will abandon the hera marking and opt for masking tape as a guide.
What's your go-to method(s) for marking quilts?
4 comments:
When I do straight line quilting on small pieces I use blue painters tape. It sticks, but then it comes up easily leaving no residue. It's tedious moving it line-by-line & I don't do anything larger than a table runner with that method. I know my limitations so everything else goes to a professional! Jan in WY
The masking tape that I normally use for this sort of thing is about a half inch wide and comes up easily but not before you want it to. I recently bought a roll of the blue painter's tape even though the roll of "delicate" painter's tape I'd bought ages ago was not used up, but I'd finally had it with it. It was too delicate to stick well enough to fabric or even paper when I used it to hold the watercolor paper squares in place for that mixed media challenge. Hoping the blue tape will be the "just right" between the "too sticky" and "not sticky enough" for Goldilocks. Since there are only 4 lines per quarter of my squares, I don't think it will be a problem but I may find that it becomes tedious like you have found it Jan, but hopefully not as tedious as this hera marking is!
Sometimes I lightly mark with chalk, but mostly I try to do quilting that requires no marking because I hate the tediousness. Quilting is definitely not my strong point!
I know what you mean Sherrie, and I've been experimenting with a lot of that overall no-mark free-motion quilting the last few years. I have one of those wheeled chalk markers that has red chalk in it, makes tiny dots on the fabric and is generally really quick to use, perhaps perfect for this, but I have had a few instances of that red not brushing off and didn't want to chance it. My other chalk or chalk-like pencil markers are white and wouldn't show on that background fabric. The usual conundrum. :-)
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