Return to Provence

 

 

"Return to Provence" ~ Diane Gaudynski 2013

 

The entire quilt, above, is 14 3/4" square, quilted with YLI #100 silk thread on gold silk dupioni, Pellon Legacy wool batt.  The designs are based on my miniature quilt, A Visit to Provence.  Below is a detail so you can see scale:

 

 

Although the motifs are small, it was fun to quilt.  The backgrounds were time consuming as always, but in miniature even more so.  However, I like the finished result and will let you know when this available for bidding for the AAQI Celebrity Invitational Auction this fall.

 

Because I hadn't quilted much in over a year, just some samples, I didn't know if the ease and fluidity of it would be there, or would I struggle and make errors.  I think if you have machine quilted for a long enough time so that you don't have to think about it as you quilt, so that it is a natural process for you, it will be part of muscle memory and the slightest nudge to your brain will wake all that up and you will be back quilting as you were before. 

 

If you are a beginner and stop for long periods, you will probably have to do some re-learning and practice to get back to where you were.  It's something that is different for everyone, some seem so natural at it right away, and some struggle and practice but eventually master free motion.  Know yourself, what works for you. 

 

I highly recommend working on real quilts right away, not practicing forever.  I did that, never worried I'd ruin a quilt, planned each one to use techniques I could do and tried at least one new thing in each so I could build my skills and the variety of quilting techniques I could do on each top.

 

One invaluable tool for me has always been layering a prototype, and quilting on that first.  The same fabrics/batt/backing as in the real quilt in a big enough sample so I can really warm up and get the feel of the quilt, choose thread colors, practice a few motifs before I switch to the real quilt.

 

Below is my prototype that I knew was sorely needed for this new piece.  I began by doing a few freehand feathers that would be the size for the outer wreath, getting those familiar and smooth, with several shades of thread so I could see what looked best to me. 

 

 

The first quilting I did is right at the bottom, and I used chartreuse thread.  It looks fine, but......to me it looks like the blue marker I used for parts of the marked areas didn't wash out completely and stained the thread.  No matter how I looked at it that's how it appeared in my eyes, and I wondered if others would think, whoa, she used gold thread and the marker didn't come out!

 

The other objection to the chartreuse thread was these feathers have backtracking, two lines of stitching right on top of one another, and the green was so much more noticeable in these areas when compared to the next bit of sample feathers I quilted in matching gold silk thread.

 

Because I wanted this quilt to be classic, I decided to use the gold thread.

Then I experimented with gold Sparkle thread, a blend of fine gold metallic and gold #100 silk.  I liked it but it was fraying.  I used a larger needle, a #80 Jersey ball point, and all was well.  I liked it with one row of echo, then Sparkle, then back to silk.  Of course I tried out many variations of this! 

 

Later I tried some colored pencils and shaded the quilting a bit, but decided in the end I liked it without better.  Again, more classic.  You can see a bit of the shading on the rabbit in the prototype.

 

All this left me forgetting to be tense about my quilting; in fact, I didn't even think about it.  I was focused on the color of thread, how the machine was working, everything else except my quilting.  Because of this I believe I was so relaxed that my quilting was as good as it has ever been.  Compared to some I did for the original quilt in '03 on that prototype, it is better quilting. 

 

That made me feel so optimistic and relaxed, I started on the real quilt, knowing I would use the prototype space to do a few clamshells, try out the other backgrounds and motifs before doing them on this miniature.

 

The backing of the quilt is cotton, a Moda fabric from the Wuthering Heights collection, in a dusty teal floral.  I used gold silk thread in the bobbin as well so the shadowing of the gold on teal makes for a very pretty quilt back, below.

 

 

 

While I was quilting I noticed the fan was blowing the silk thread out of the first vital guide, right before the tension discs.  I attached a small pin, below, and threaded that to keep it in line.  Worked perfectly, plus I was cool with the breeze gently fanning my face.

 

 

Soon I'll post some tips for quilting that I think are something to keep in mind.  The biggest tip?  Keep quilting....your work gets better every day!

Diane

 

 

Things I learned in Class

Oliver helped me unpack from my trip, and has grown since I was away!  I think his fur is getting a little longer too, oh no....  We were so enjoying the very short crewcut style he had at first. 

He has spent this week following me around, first in love and astonishment that I came back home, then in glee and joy, and now he is doing sneak attacks and flying out of nowhere to land on me.  Usually he likes to attack a knee or ankle, but occasionally he lands on my head.  I have a few needle holes in me from these attacks, scars of an ecstatic young cat.  He naps when he can take no more excitement.

What did we learn in our class last week?  Many things, some new to me, some the old familiar discoveries made by students as we progressed through a variety of free motion skills.

One woman said the best thing she learned was to have the quilt move freely, and that was accomplished with a Supreme Slider from Pat LaPierre at http://www.freemotionslider.com/

This tool is invaluable for smooth quilting and even stitches, but be sure and tape even the self-stick ones to the bed of your machine, with at least one piece of tape to the machine itself, not the surround.  Plexi surrounds tend to move in class and then the Slider moves, and you are quilting through it along with the quilt.  Not good for needles.  Or the Slider.

Lower the feed dogs when you use a Slider.  The repeat movement if they are "up" can create a dome around the opening that can be permanent and ruin the Slider.

Another thing that is so important is how the thread is positioned on the machine for the best possible delivery, stitch, tension, no breaking needles or thread. 

Larger cones or spools need to be horizontal so the tension is accurate.  Another good option is a cone thread holder.  One student had one, but not the spindle for the thread cone.  The result?  More problems than one could imagine.  As soon as we had one with a spindle and it was set up properly, perfect stitches.

Many times the thread winds around the little end caps that hold a spool on the horizontal spindle.  My advice?  I never use the end caps and I have never had the thread fall off the spindle.  There is no chance of the thread winding around and getting caught, causing tight tension or broken thread or needles or everything. 

I fixed many thread pathway "issues" and then quilting can progress smoothly.  If you have to stop constantly with problems your quilting will suffer.  Being able to have confidence in your machine and the setup for quilting lets you quilt with freedom and you will improve dramatically.

Thread color was such a big quagmire of indecision.  The only way you will know what looks right on the fabric you are quilting is to try quilting with the thread on a small swatch/sandwich first.  The days of putting a spool of thread on the quilt and saying YES!  are over.  Since I began using fine #100 silk for quilting, all preconceived ideas of color went out the window as I began to explore what worked.

Yesterday I quilted some samples of a new design for a handout and used bright fuschia silk thread on deep brown/purply/mottled fabric and it looked great.  Brown or purple or eggplant also looked fabulous if you want this design to be background and recede around a focal point.  Your thread color choices determine what happens to the visuals in a quilt. 

I also discoverd that most people do have one "better" side for feathers, and it is usually the left side.  Some could do the right side of a vine better than the left, but this was not common.  Work until both sides look acceptable, then quilt the same thing horizontally, at an angle, upside down, to increase your skills.

Batting does make a difference.  Not only in ease of learning a design, but in the final result.  We used wool batting for the extra pouf and dimension, and also were able to flatten backgrounds with more dense quilting. 

Leaving areas of puff showcases your designs and draw the eye, creating great visual dimension.  Do not quilt the life out of your quilt. 

Stencils can work for you!  Many who used them had delightful results, a beautiful design and their own freehand work surrounding it or complementing it.  The gingko stencil was particularly lovely. 

Thread tension changed with the pilot. Many times the way a person moves hands changes the proper tension to bad tension, tight threads.  When I quilted at the machine, changing no settings, the right hand movement and stitch length let the tension setting work, do the job, and create lovely stitching.

Larger erratic stitches made for too-tight tension, and diminished any puff in the design.  The correct stitch length for the thread type resulted in perfect tension.  It also needed tweaking for the type of design.  Long soft curves might work at a tension of #3, whereas close small frothy bubbles (in photo below) needed a tension of #2 for the stitches to be perfect.

Remember to reset tension on electronic machines each time you power up.

Smooth, even hand movements are key.  That is one thing I can't help you do.  You have to acquire the mental discipline to keep hands moving smoothly and evenly to achieve those beautiful stitches and smooth designs. 

If you have to lift hands to move them to another area of the quilt, stop the machine, move them, take a brief break for your eyes by looking up and re-focusing, and then begin again with the needle up.  Try to avoid"walking" your hands over the surface of the quilt as you run the machine.  Many do not realize this is a bad habit until I point it out.

Try and quilt a bit every day.  By the end of our 5-day class improvement was amazing and noticeable. 

Yesterday I quilted for the first time in a week, and it felt wonderful.  I also discovered Oliver can now sit on the back shelf of my sewing cabinet and stare at the moving needle and the quilt and become totally mesmerized, almost in a trance. 

Obviously he has never seen this before and is entranced with it.  He has quickly discovered sitting on quilts, sleeping on quilts, sleeping under quilts, attacking quilts, but now he likes to see them being quilted.

Keep quilting  - your work gets better every day!

Diane

Oliver helping me unpack. 

This and That

The leaves, above, are printed on a sheer crinkly fabric that I placed on black so the design would show more clearly. I like it. It is an old blouse I never wear, and while I was packing it up for a donation box I loved the great leaves.

I am always noticing quilting motifs in everything, and with some tweaking this one would be great. Now, to sit at my machine and play with this a bit. It might make it, or it might end up on the cutting room floor.

I've had so many emails about silk thread and how to make it work in various machines. Usually it's wise to lower the top tension a bit, maybe a lot, and use a fine cotton in the bobbin and it will work very well. Do a small adjustment at a time, maybe half a stop, so if it is set at 4, go to 3 1/2 and quilt a bit and see what it looks like. Sometimes it needs to go much lower, depending on the machine. Always check the back stitches and the tension there too.

In my last class we had two machines that had very loose bobbin tension. If I held the bobbin case up by the thread it fell. It should feel like it is going to fall to the floor but doesn't. We adjusted the bobbin tension, a bit at a time, until it felt right, then tried it in the machine. Success! Perfect stitch.

There was one that was incredibly tight, and we loosened it and it worked perfectly afterwards.

If you have "fear of bobbin tension" syndrome, and are concerned about adjusting it yourself, take it in for a little field trip to your dealer if possible and have them show you, check it, get the right information.

I have used #100 silk thread by YLI on several models of Berninas and they all take it a bit differently, but in the end, perfectly. In my last teaching trip to Phat Quarters in Galena, IL I used a new Bernina 730 and it worked absolutely perfectly at the default upper tension setting with silk in the bobbin as well. Once you get the hang of how your machine and your thread get along you will know exactly what to do, and have great success, and great confidence.

And don't forget your technician at your dealer. They see it all, know so much, and have a direct link to the mother ship.

Exciting news! I finally twisted Ann Fahl's arm and she has begun a blog. Ann is an accomplished award-winning machine quilter and art quilter who will have many thoughts and tips to share with you. I love her advice about color in her first post, and agree totally. I know I will enjoy reading her blog with my morning coffee. Her blog is http://www.annfahl.blogspot.com/

Let's welcome her to the blogosphere!

Keep quilting, your work gets better every day!
Diane

Silk Thread on Bernina 830

Note:  Updated info I've received tells me that Bernina dealers/technicians are trained and  can help your 830 handle fine threads like #100 silk.  The newer machines have been updated as well.  If you have any issues at all, contact your technician. 

Machine quilting with YLI #100 silk thread is beautiful, exquisite. Sometimes though we have to adjust the machine to get the best result, and all machines get along with this thread a bit differently. Recently I heard from Mercy, one of my advanced students, at http://tropicalapplique.blogspot.com/ that she is the proud new owner of a Bernina 830, and has been trying to quilt with silk that was so successful in her other Berninas, as it is in all of mine (200, 730, and new 630).

After having problems, bad tension mostly, she and her technician and folks at the mother ship Bernina discovered some tips that will help you with this thread if you have this new machine. These tips might help you even if you have a different brand electronic machine with sensors.

Mercy wrote:

"First tip - the machine is soooo smart and the thread is soooo thin that for the most part it thinks there is no thread in the machine. Well, the machine is programmed to NOT sew if it is not threaded. If you reset the machine to allow it to sew without thread, then you lose all the other features like low bobbin warning, etc.

To resolve this, hold the thread tightly with your right hand as it leaves the spool and then thread the machine with your left hand. The little extra pressure is all you need for the thread to register on the sensors. Once registered, it will be fine until you need to rethread the machine.

Second tip - for silk and decorative threads it is critical to keep the machine well oiled. I usually clean and oil my 440 whenever I refill the bobbin thread. However, this machine's bobbin has a much larger capacity - more than double - and the silk is so thin you can sew for quite awhile before you run out of bobbin thread. You must stop and force yourself to do maintenance based on sewing TIME even if you do not need to replenish bobbin thread.

Third tip - the tension has to be PERFECT. If it is just a LITTLE bit off then the top will loop or eyelash just a bit every 5th or 6th stitch. If it is off by any more than just a little bit then the bobbin thread does not come up at all and the top thread breaks."

Thanks so much Mercy! I think this advice might work too with this machine and YLI Wonder Monofilament thread.

It is terrific when quilters send me vital information like this so I can share it here, and you can discover yourself what works best in your own machine and situation, and of course, always contact your dealer if you have problems or need advice. If any of you have more information, please share via the Comments.

Susan sent me the comment that there is a special/extra guide behine/under the white device that comes out to thread the machine. It's supposed to be used for fine or slippery threads to help the threading process. Bernina technicians know about this guide.

I agree about the maintenance based on time, rather than only when the bobbin thread runs out. I clean and oil the hook and bobbin area every day I quilt right at the beginning of my session. If I quilt steadily for 3 hours, I do it again.

Silk thread leaves a bit of a waxy debris in your machine so it is vital to clean it, and a bit of oil is also good. Check the top thread pathway as well, and swab out any sticky linty stuff that remains.

Run the machine, with no thread in it, quite slowly at first and perhaps more gunk will surface and you can swab that out gently with a cotton swab. Finally, run a clean dry swab over the metal parts in the bobbin/hook area to get any leftover oil, thread the machine, run it slowly and quilt with it on a sample to work out any leftover oil. I love this time as this is when I play and come up with exciting new ideas for designs.

Be very light handed and careful when cleaning/oiling your machine. Follow your technician's advice and check your owner's manual. My Berninas hum, and keep humming, and I take great care of them so that they do.

Keep quilting! It works out the oil.....and keeps your quilting zen going strong.
Diane

Sparkle Spirals

Spirals with Sparkle, YLI #100 silk plus metallic = Sparkle thread. It gives a soft shine, little twinkles of light. Nice for upcoming holiday quilting.

The design, above, is on muslin and was done with a #80 Top Stitch needle and worked perfectly in my Benina 730, tension on top set at 2.50. The thread was ecru with gold metallic. Stitch length an estimated 1.6. Of course in free motion you make your own stitch length.

I wanted to give you a better sample than the one from the post yesterday, so here it is. I ended up playing at my machine all afternoon, and have some lovely new samples for classes.

Keep quilting, your work gets better every day!
Diane

Sparkle

Sparkle! This is a new thread from YLI that combines my fave #100 silk thread with a strand of metallic, giving subtle specks of bling in your quilting. I like it so much better than metallic and it is a great new tool to add to your arsenal for that place in your quilting that just "needs something special."

I used it with my usual Microtex Sharp needle, a bit larger, a #70, but if it frays try a needle made for metallic thread. I also loosened my top tension a bit more than with plain #100 silk, and used YLI #100 silk thread in the bobbin. I had no problems at all quilting with it, just went a bit slower than I usually do on a speedy design like "Bouncing Bananas." It's fun watching something sort of boring turn into glamour right before your eyes.

Later I tried a #80 Topstitch needle and it worked better, no fraying at all. The thread fed through the machine easily and perfectly.

I mentioned it in my new listing of Tips on my web site http://www.dianegaudynski.net/ today, so thought I would add more here. I haven't used this thread in a quilt yet but yes, even I, who never ever adds sparkly anything to my quilts, might consider this thread here and there. It comes in a variety of tones, cool silvery ones, and warm golden ones to a deep taupe with gold I used on the green fabric in the sample. Mud with Bling!! Hurray!

Try some quilting today in between "the other stuff" you have to do....experiment!

Keep quilting,
Diane

Back to basics

I was unpacking my quilts from my recent trip to NQA in Columbus, OH, and spread out an old basket quilt on my cutting table so it could relax a bit before I rolled it up and stored it once again. But then, as the sunbeams warmed this rather dull quilt and the richness of the quilting showed so beautifully, I re-discovered its beauty in its very simple, basic quilting. I also appreciated the vintage style fabrics that nowadays seem to be out of fashion in quilt shows and shop displays. Funky, bold and bright gets center stage most of the time, but I still think there is a place for the classics.

So no apologies from me - I still love quilts that remind me of ones made hundreds of years ago. I think the pioneer women especially, with limited supplies and the necessity of making warm bed covers out of what might have seemed like "thin air," were true pioneers in the art quilt movement. They used what they had and made some amazing compositions that still command our respect and admiration. One little piece of Turkey red placed well in the top turned a dull array of shirtings into a visual delight.

My little basket quilt was a sample I pieced together out of blocks made to demo the piecing techniques for it. When asked to appear on Simply Quilts about 10 years ago, I used it to layer and mark and show how you would do this for machine quilting a top. When I returned home, it seemed like a wise idea to go right ahead and quilt it.

I used #100 YLI silk thread, mostly neutral shades, as that is all I had at the time when I was just beginning to venture into using opaque colored threads for the quilting. I discovered that most of the colors in the quilt could easily be quilted using the neutrals and look just fine. The old idea of color matching exactly the thread to the fabric that hung on in my mind from my days of sewing garments sort of went out the window.

This thread sort of "morphed" into whatever color fabric I used. Dark brown thread on deep red print fabric looked like deep red thread, taupe thread on chartreuse fabric looked like green, not taupe anymore at all. It was a big surprise to me, as you could still see the stitches, but the thread was a chameleon.

It took me more years of using this thread to realize its full potential, and now it is the extra touch I use to give my quilts depth, highlights, dimension. I still avoid using very dark fine thread on lighter fabrics as the machine stitch does not look wonderful nor does your quilting if you do this. Stitching over a line of quilting to get to the next area is not obvious, as you can see in the rosette in the corner square, below.

This basket quilt has simple quilting throughout, but has a complex border design that creates a lovely frame. The sashing and inner borders don't have background quilting, just basic cables or pumpkin seed designs. The basket has clamshells and continuous curves, and my favorite part was the straight parallel lines of backgrounds, exactly as a hand quilter would have done in the 1800's. This basic style is what made the quilt look vintage, even though done on my modern sewing machine. Stippling, or any of my new backgrounds, done around the baskets would have been just fine, but definitely have taken away from the mood of vintage. One basic old fashioned design,straight parallel lines, did so much for this quilt.

The lines were done free motion and I didn't mark them. I learned to look ahead of the needle and aim ahead, use a speed where I could stay in control yet fast enough for smoothness. Sometimes in larger areas it's a good idea to mark a "plumb line" or horizon line so there is something to keep you going straight. I did not use the edge of my foot as a guide, instead, I visualized the "puff" I was creating between the lines, and that was much easier for me and made everything fall into place so much better.

And the most important thing is to quilt the lines on the bias just as the old hand-quilted ones were done. There will be the least amount of distortion, "snow plowing," or pushing fabric along and causing a pleat when you arrive at a ditch or previously stitched line if you quilt a straight line on the bias. Yes, I did stitch in the ditch first, and around each basket. Everything stayed perfectly in place, there was no excess at all, and each basket background was more even and better than the last.

It's also a wise idea to do all one sort of quilting at a time - in this case, I quilted around each basket, then within each basket with the designs there, and finally all the backgrounds, one after the other, with a tiny break or mental "re-boot" time in between each one. This worked to increase my skill with the built-in repetition.

If you have some old tops pieced up that maybe don't interest you anymore, take one out, mark some basic designs on it, and quilt it up. Use some of your newer freehand designs as well to add to the complexity of your quilting, some un-marked feathers, whatever.

If I were quilting this top now? I'd probably have some echo feathers sprouting around those baskets, or a bird perched above one every now and then, but maybe the old way is still the best for simplicity and holding true to the roots of our quilting heritage.

Or....you could piece up a classic design like this in bright, bold, funky fabrics and quilt it, enjoy it, love the colors you have used and enjoy re-visiting each one as you quilt over it. The thing is, you need to look down at your work and love it. Love the fabrics, the colors, thread, designs you quilt. Then you will do your very best.

The pattern for this basket block and quilt are in my book Guide to Machine Quilting, still available at http://www.americanquilter.com/ or other major booksellers' sites.

Have fun deciding, and keep quilting! Your work gets better every day.

Diane