Hidden Threads

I’m trying to slowly amass a reference resource for quilting information as well as offer up some funny stories . . .hopefully funny, anyway. It’s great to have access to sites with hundreds of block patterns, but eventually you are going to need to cut some fabric, and after you sew the blocks together, you’re going to have to assemble them.

In keeping with this theme of providing fast and helpful information, I’ve included  a short table of what you can expect to get from a fat quarter of fabric. This information was part of a hand written slip of paper that fell out of a used book that I bought years ago. A forum posting I saw recently reminded me of it.

I hope this comes in handy.

Do you have a really great quilting area to work in? Is your home graced with a studio where you can work undisturbed? For most of us, the answer to both questions is no. We work on the dining room table, or anywhere we can balance a pile of fabric and some spools of thread.

I’m always interested in the sewing rooms of other quilters. If I had the chance, I’d snoop in their closets to see how they organize their fabric scraps, peek in their drawers to discover if their threads get as tangled as mine do, and look at their rulers to see if they organize them or just let them spread out, cheek-by-jowl, across whatever level surface they’re sewing on.

The following links will take you to some sites where you can see where others are calling home when it comes to their needlecraft. Some of them will show you how the other half lives, while others are glimpses of just plain folks and their beloved quilting clutter.

My Ducks are in a Row

Sewing Rooms

More Sewing Rooms

Quilt Room

After I started quilting, I began to notice quilts . . . everywhere. There was one in the reading room of my local library, in the showroom of the local bedding store, in my favorite episode of Friends, and there is a quilt in at least one of every five movies I watch. Sometimes they are hanging on walls, or draped over the backs of couches. Sometimes they are tablecloths, or parts of decorative window treatments.

After the revelation that the old adage is true: Once you recognize something or learn a new word, you’ll discover it all over the place, I started to pay closer attention. These placements aren’t random. The quilts are creating a homey atmosphere, a kind of shorthand for, “Welcome home” or “This is a nice place to sit a spell”. Quilts are part of our collective consciousness, I guess, and they stand for something pretty nice, warm and solid. I feel proud to be a part of this traditional American art form and what it represents – home, hearth, care giving, making due, prevailing over adversity.

I have a couple of thimbles and some old needles in a little leather pouch that belonged to my grandmother.  I have very few things that belonged to her, so they are important me. It gives me a little frisson of wonder to think of us both, separated by so many years, sharing and enjoying the same pastime, putting needle to fabric.

My productivity drops quite a bit during the summer months. I’d like to say it’s because of all the barbecues and cross-country trips, but I think it’s actually because of the heat and humidity. Here in the Midwest, I have a hard time thinking about quilt assembly when the humidity is hovering at 80 percent and the temperature is hot enough to make it hurt to walk on the deck barefooted.

This doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about quilts. Oh no, my mind is busily at work plotting my quilting strategies. Just as soon as there’s that first scent of autumn in the air and a drop in temperature, out comes the fabric. Until then, I’ll just have to be happy fondling the occasional fat quarter and writing in my blog.

Need some quick calculations for corner-setting triangles?  The table below should help you sort it out.  If it doesn’t list your block size, use this formula to calculate the size square you should cut. Divide the finished block size by 1.414 and then add .875.

Remember, you will be making one cut, separating the square into two triangle pieces.  The outer two sides won’t be on the bias, but the seam you will be sewing is, so be careful.  I like to starch my fabric first.  This is just a suggestion, of course.

The first time I worked with corner-setting triangles, I used a plaid homespun.  I would not suggest a plaid or stripe for a beginner.

My poor plaid distorted, creating a  wave effect.  It’s funny now, but it wasn’t then.

If you are interested in a quick and easy way to see if you’d like fabric painting, I have a story to tell you:

About two years ago, I decided that I wanted to see if I could paint fabric.  I’m not an artist, so I didn’t want to make a big investment.  Let’s face it, quilting isn’t a cheap hobby, and I had the idea that if I wanted to spend money, I wanted it to be on fabric that I knew was beautiful, not on my fumbling attempts at making something presentable.

I read somewhere, I’d tell you where, but I can’t remember . . . I read that you can use inexpensive acrylic paints (the stuff in the little bottles you find at the craft store) to paint fabric, and I thought that might be a good place to start.  This was in the fall, and within a couple of weeks I found a sale at a major crafts store that had craft paint on sale three bottles for a dollar.  I bought a few dollars worth of paint, a couple of brushes, some sponges, and one stamp (a cat’s paw print).

Now, I needed some fabric.  I wanted ready to dye fabric, some quality muslin, but couldn’t find any around, so I started looking for sales on 200 thread count sheets that were 100% cotton.  When I found a sale, I bought a couple of white flat sheets.

Now, we move on to the fun part.  And it WAS fun.  First, I washed the sheets to remove any sizing and cut them into fat quarter sized pieces.  I thought these would be easier to handle.  I then set-up my painting area and covered it with a big trash bag to catch the spills.  I squirted some paint onto a paper plate, and kept my brushes in a plastic cup that I’d filled with water.

After that, it was just experimentation.  I added a little water to my brush, filled up on paint and started in.  When I wanted to completely color the fabric, which was most of the time, I increased the amount of water.

After I became a little more sophisticated, I started using sponges, stamps, and gel medium to keep my designs from running.

Mostly, it was just pure fun; I didn’t waste much fabric, and sewing the denser fabric pieces hasn’t caused me any problems as long as I use Sharp needles.

I let my painted pieces dry on a wooden drying rack that I place in the tub on top of another trash bag.  Once dry, I let them set for a few days and then washed them, alone, in warm water.  They don’t bleed much.

My painted fabric pieces are color-fast and looked darn good, if I do say so myself.  I started the entire project for under $20.00, and now do it a couple of times a year.

My favorite painting process involves blending colors, and I have created blends that have come in handy, for applique in particular.  I have moved on to other painting methods, but my acrylic craft paint phase was fun and the color on the all of the fabrics that I’ve used has stood up to multiple washings just fine.

This is a great way to spend a fine spring or fall day when you have a couple of hours to spare.  Give it a try.

Ever been confused by the math involved in determining the size of side setting triangles?  I sure have.  These are the quarter square triangle cuts that are usually used to fill in along the edges of quilts that are set on point.

I hope the table below helps to sort it all out for you.   The first column shows the finished size of the quilt blocks you are using, i.e. a 6 1/2 inch block finishes at 6 inches.  The second column shows the size of the square you should cut.

After cutting the square, make two additional cuts, one along each diagonal, like a big X.  This will leave you with four side setting triangles.  Have an odd sized block?  Here is the formula:  multiply the size of the finished block by 1.414.  Take that sum and add 1 1/4 (1.25)  inches for the seam allowances involved.  That’s it.

I admit it, I hate to prewash fabric. . . because of the ironing! I look at a project or projects, make a pile of likely fabrics, and there they sit, waiting to be separated and washed. I’ve told you a little about my organizing strategies, about combining projects to make the process less of a chore, but eventually it’s just me, the ironing board, and the iron. . . .oh, and a mountain of fabric.

Why does it all have to end up so wrinkled? No matter how hard I try. Why do the edges have to fray, tangle, and make demented spider webs of wadded thread that only a pair of scissors can fix? (No, I don’t plan on going over all of my fabric with pinking shears before I wash it.)

I have to admit that I enjoy pulling the fabric out of the dryer (Yes, I use the dryer). I even like putting it in the washer on the gentle cycle.

But the ironing! Yikes.

It’s sweaty, thankless work. I don’t mind ironing blocks, or even ironing blocks in progress. I don’t mind ironing quilt tops. It’s as if my brain rebels at taking perfectly flat and nicely folded fabric and disturbing it. It seems unnatural.

Prewashing is usually an important step. I know that!

Why isn’t cotton fabric preshrunk? I’m not pointing the finger at anyone; it’s just a thought.

When I first started quilting, I was afraid of color. I tried to stay with pre-designed fabric groups, thinking that was the safest thing to do.

As I look back on it, I think that I must have developed my color-sense in a pretty typical way. Out of necessity, I moved from coordinated fabrics to picking my own. I sometimes had scraps that I wanted to use, or needed a contrasting fabric that a designer’s line just didn’t have.

I did my homework, being careful to use good contrast, studying the color wheel. One thing I discovered, though, was that I sometimes disagreed about contrast. Sometimes I wanted more harmony in my quilts. I wanted the patterns to almost melt together in some spots, resurfacing in others.

I think my perception of what’s “right” about color has more to do with current fashion than I used to. It makes me feel freer. . .I think.

After you have explored all of the standard layouts, you still aren’t done with this block! I said that it was versatile and dramatic, but I didn’t say that it could look charming, even old fashioned.

Small Circle Drunkard’s Path Block

If you reduce the size of the quarter-circle piece in the block, you can create small spheres by combining four blocks together. A reduced block size, around four inches, looks really cute with small circles throughout. This design works well with vintage and specialty fabrics. It makes a great Christmas quilt too.

I have some templates available from my Drunkard’s Path Page. Take a look in the side bar near the bottom of the page. Happy Sewing.