Piecing!

Oliver has been helping me with some piecing lately.  I am making a small wall quilt to showcase my new collection of digitized designs and decided it was long overdue to figure out how to piece on my Bernina 730.  I honestly do not want to switch between machines, but I always feared the wide feed dogs.

While rummaging through my machine's feet in my sewing drawer, looking to see if perchance I did have a #37 foot somewhere for this machine, I discovered the #57 foot, below.  It seems to be the #37 foot with this cool little guide on the right to keep everything going straight and even through the process.

I put it on the machine, cut some triangles and squares from muslin, put in some lovely YLI Soft Touch thread for piecing and my trusty #60 Sharp needle and WOW!  It was amazing, the fabric was controlled from beginning to end of each piece, the seam was perfection.  Yowza!

The stitch length I used was 1.8 for a fine thread and for piecing.  It is nice and secure for a lighter weight thread, but I can still insert the tip of my seam ripper in a stitch if I have to un-sew.

I  may buy a #37 foot for those times when I don't want the extra guide that the #57 has.  All you have to do with the #57 foot is make sure the raw edges hit the guide on the right.  I also look at the 1/4" line on the throat plate, and keep an eye on the fabrics as the emerge behind the foot to keep everything straight and even. 

The seam from beginning to end was straight and even.  When I did triangles the seam stayed perfect right to the tips.  Later I  tried it for sewing a pieced row to a solid border strip and the results were perfect, triangles all lined up with no tips nipped off, and it fed smoothly through the machine with no problems. 

I am thrilled to know I can piece and quilt on the same machine!  All because of this great little foot.  It reminds me of discovering the #24 open toe foot for quilting; I was delighted when I could quilt so much better, just because of the foot I was using.

I love sewing on my 730 because of the smoothness of the rotary hook, the great thread delivery with no glitches, the fabulous sound and perfect stitch/tension of this machine.  Those birds' nests of thread when beginning a line of stitching don't happen as often on my 730, although I do try and remember to hang onto the loose threads when beginning and that helps a lot with any machine.

There is a single hole, or "straight stitch" throat plate on the machine when I quilt and when I piece.  It really helps keep problems from happening, and keeps the stitch quality the best. 

My machine has a security feature so if you do have this throat plate on instead of the zig-zag plate, and you enter that info in the machine (easy!), it will not do a zig-zag stitch or any stitch with width, and break the needle.  The machine does not run if you try a wide stitch with this throat plate.

Check your machine's owner's manual to see if you have this feature, and an available foot for piecing, and a straight-stitch throat plate option.  With new electronics on all brands of machines you might be surprised to find things you didn't know you had, always a good thing.

In the past I would stick a red label on my machine to remind myself that I had this throat plate on, but sometimes I forgot and tried a stitch and oops, broke a needle.  Love the security feature on this machine.  No more problems.  If you do not have this, then by all means do something to remind yourself that this throat plate is on, and zig-zags are not allowed.

Years ago I discovered that if I used a smaller stitch length and finer thread my piecing looked so much nicer.  Thread did not show in seams, and pieced patchwork came out  much closer to the desired "finished" dimensions. 

I press well with a spritz of starch, press the seam before I open it or press allowances to one side.  If I am pressing to the side, I set the seam with heat, then press from the top, very gently so as not to distort.  Then I add the spritz of starch and hold the iron on the seam without moving it, so the starch is pressed in and dries. 

Some of my favorite threads for piecing are, from left, Superior MasterPiece cotton, YLI Soft Touch cotton (Oliver is eating it), small cone of brown Aurifil #50 2-ply cotton and large large cone of the same in all-purpose tan, and in front, brown Mettler #60 2-ply cotton. 

I try to use a neutral like tan, ecru, grey, but I recall with the fabrics in my quilt "Shadows of Umbria," below, I used Aurifil #50 in a dusty purple and it was by far the best option for a "no show" thread in the seams.  It melted into every color I was using, perfect, plus I had a huge cone of it as a gift in my teacher's bag of treats from Harriet Hargrave.

If my piecing goes well, I will then proceed to tracing a zillion designs on this little wall quilt and then begin quilting it, my favorite part. 

Those of you who know my methods from classes know that before I put needle in quilt I will play on some leftover bits of the fabrics layered with the batt and backing in the actual quilt.  I use this to pick out thread color, warm up on my motifs, check thread tension, see how it works and feels.  I will try some thread colors out of my comfort zone to "see" what they look like, I will get the feel of the quilt and be ready to hit the real one and do a great job.

Keep quilting!  Your work gets better every day.

Diane

Starch

I've been using starch for my piecing and quilting for years, and I make my own. The only drawback is the lack of preservatives, so it's necessary to build a new batch every week or 10 days if you refrigerate it, and dump out what remains.

Why do I like starch? What is the recipe I use?

When I started piecing quilts ages ago I realized that fabric has a life of its own. It stretches, it frays, it distorts during any piecing or quilting process.

Because I wash or rinse thoroughly every quilted piece when it is finished I knew it was ok to add starch for the process, as it would be removed when the quilt was completed. If you don't wash the quilt when done, you probably don't want to add starch or wash-out markers or anything that should not be left in the quilt for long periods.

However, my biggest issues were getting long border strips to stay the same measurement before cutting, after piecing, after pressing, and starch was the key.

I wash, dry and press all fabrics with a light misting of my starch mixture before measuring and cutting for the project, not long-term storage.

Sometimes I add a mist of starch for piecing as I progress, but most times a gentle mist of water is enough to re-activate any starch in the fabrics.

For a block like log cabin I really add quite a bit of starch so those logs don't stretch and distort as I piece them around the center square. I don't do foundation piecing, so control of the fabric is key.

I also like to wash and dry the backing fabric for a quilt, and then press it with a misting of starch to stabilize it, to help prevent it from puckering and pleating, and to help it slide easily on the machine bed. Starch makes a huge difference for successful machine quilting in a home machine.

For small triangles, e.g. in a feathered star block, starch really helps in keeping them stable and even. I do starch before cutting them, and always be careful pressing damp fabrics as they can distort in a blink of an eye.

Even if you starch pieced parts of the quilt heaviliy or repeatedly, as you quilt the fabric softens and is easy to deal with in the sewing machine.

What is my recipe? Remember, you can adjust the amount of starch added to water to get exactly the consistency you need for any given job.

I like to begin with a thicker concentration, then dilute it as I go along in the piecing. Or start with what I recommend and check out how it works for you, then make a thicker batch or dilute this one until it is "just right," like Goldilocks.

If you have made sauces or gravies, Jello,  the technique is the same.

I begin with a scant teaspoon of Argo cornstarch (or whatever brand you have, but the kind of cornstarch for cooking, not laundry), dissolved well in a few tablespoons of cold water, in a heat proof 2-cup measuring pitcher.

Add boiling water to the 1-cup line, stir mixture until it turns transluscent.

Then add cold water to the 2-cup line.

Pour into a fine-mist pump sprayer. I get mine from the beauty section at the drugstore and the mist is very fine, not drippy or gloppy.

Label it so you don't think it is water.

Shake it every time you spray.

If you spritz the fabric and press carefully parallel to the selvages of the fabric it will give it a wonderful body. Don't push and pull on the fabric with the iron; be gentle, let the weight and heat of the iron do the work for you.

If white flakes develop as you press, you have too much starch or the mix is too concentrated. Either use less, or dilute the mixture.

Lasts a week or so as there are no preservatives, no chemicals, no nothing that harms us or the environment, and it’s practically free, except for the spray bottle! Don't starch fabrics for storage as I have heard it will attract critters such as centipedes, and mice. Use sparingly at first. You want the quilt to feel soft and be able to gather it up in your hands for quilting.

Hope you enjoy the starch, and if you come from the "no ironing" generation it will be a delightful surprise.

There are new commercial formulations of starch on the market, so give those a try too until you find what works best for you.

Keep quilting! Your work gets better every day.
Diane