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Friday, June 22, 2018

New Free Cross Stitch Design: Sugar 'Burst'

Free New  Cross Stitch design, Sugar Burst, available now for you to download and share with other crafters.
Click on the following link to go to the file Sugar Burst
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/koalaquiltnsew/files
If you wish to have a photo turned into a cross stitch design click on the following link.
http://koalaquiltnsew.com.au/shop/cross-stitch-pattern/


Patchwork Sampler Quilts: Where to Start

A Patchwork Sampler Quilt tends to be the starting quilt for many newbie quilters. It introduces one to a variety of basic quilting techniques while at the same time producing an array of different blocks which can be sewn into a quilt, cushions or a table runner.

Here we will look at some of the equipment you may need to commence your patchwork journey. There are some basic equipment needs that are musts while others you can add to as you progress.

1/ Sewing Machine: A basic sewing machine is all on needs if you decide to machine sew your quilts. The major requirement of your machine is that it does straight stitch. It would also be helpful when you come to quilt your quilt that the machine can accommodate a walking foot or alternatively can drop the feed dogs and utilize a darning foot. Staring off a universal medium range needle is utilized in the sewing machine.

2/ Thread: Many quilters prefer to use a good quality cotton thread in the sewing machine and for the hand quilting process. Thou a good quality polyester-cotton thread can also be utilized. The colour of the thread used is important, try to match the thread color to the fabric color. If using a variety of colored fabrics match the darkest color fabric with your thread.

3/Pins: These will assist in holding the various pieces of fabric together until machine sewn. It is fine to use smaller, fine pins for this process and the longer Quilting pins when pinning the 3 layers, quilt top & wadding & backing, together.

4/Rotary Cutters: Rotary Cutters make cutting your fabric, especially when cutting multiple layers, a lot easier and very accurate. There are a variety of cutters on the market and it really is a case of trying the different ones available i.e if possible try out your fellow patch workers, cutters before buying a expensive one. Besides a wide range of styles there is also a variety of sizes, 45mm is the most utilized size. When using a rotary cutter a Quilters Ruler should always be utilized as well. The depth of the quilters ruler ensures the rotary cutter is less likely to stray and cut fingers.

5/ Cutting Mats: These mats are specially designed to be used with the rotary cutter. They are often referred to as self healing in that if marked by the rotary cutter the mark will disappear. Don’t use other types of cutting tools on this mat as they will permanently mark these mats. Also never leave your mat in a hot car as once these mats buckle it can never be reversed thus rendering the mat useless. A good sized cutting mat to start off with is 23in x 17in.

6/Quilters Rulers: A quilters ruler is made of, usually, clear acrylic. This allows the user to see the fabric to be cut clearly and thus cut straight lines every time. As there are many diff sized rulers available a good size to start with is 14in x 4 1/2in. The markings on the ruler should include 1/4in markings and 45 and 60 degree angle markings.

6/ Scissors: A good pair of fabric cutting with sharp points and another pair for cutting paper.

7/Fabric: Many quilters utilize 100% cotton for their projects due to its softness, tightness of weave thus not a fabric that distorts its shape easily and the straightness of the grain due to its tighter weave.

Preparation Of Fabric: Many quilters prefer to pre wash their fabric prior to use as this pre shrinks the fabric and rids the fabric of any loose dye.

Selecting Fabric: When choosing fabric for a sampler quilt l tend to choose my main fabric first. The main fabric is usually a busy print. From this fabric l will identify approx 3 colors within the design and choose fabrics of a less busy nature of those 3 colors. These three colors/fabrics become your support colours. The final fabric to choose is your background color, this color is pale, of one tone or a tone on tone. This fabric recedes into the background when viewing the completed quilt.

Fabric Amounts: This is a rough estimate only for a lap quilt i.e. 12 blocks, 12inchs x 12 inches. Main Fabric and Background Fabric each 1 1/2 yards or 140cms, Support Fabrics x 4, 4 fat quarters.

In the next couple posts we will look at the construction of  some blocks that make up a Quilt Sampler.

www.koalaquiltnsew.com.au


Friday, June 15, 2018

Creating Fabric Postcards

Today l sat for a few hours and made some fabric cards, see pics in the file section.They were such an easy project to complete and a great way to use up some special scraps of fabric. These scraps of fabric were from fabrics l had bought in London at a Craft expo held at the Alexandra Palace in 2007 and some Laura Ashley piecs l had bought in London. First l ironed my backing fabric onto a very heavy vilene, then arranged my pieces of fabric ontop of the backing fabric. Then over this top layer l placed a piece of netting or sheer chiffon and with a contrasting thread free motioned machined over the piece of work. The next step involved cutting the piece to a postcard size and ironing onto the back a piece of calico. The calico adhered to the backing as l had pre ironed some Vliseofix to it. The hot iron ensured the Calico fabric with the Vliesofix layer would adhere to the back of the postcard.

The final step involves running a close wide satin stitch around the edge of the card.
Now you have a card that can be sent thru the mail or kept as a memento of a special time.

To view products available online click the following link
www.koalaquiltnsew.com.au