Good Morning, Confident Quilters! (YOU will be soon!)
Today we are starting The Inbox Jaunt’s first ever
MYSTERY FREE MOTION QUILT-A-LONG.
(To my knowledge this is a first in quilting history…LOL!)
Every week we will have a short assignment—less than thirty minutes.
The end result will be a surprise…
I can tell you this:
- The project is a small wall hanging.
- There is no piecing or appliqué (whole cloth)—just free motion quilting.
- There will be prizes in the end…(Sign up for FLICKR now!)
- EVERYONE can do this.
- If this goes well, we will do it again…
There are several lessons built into this project. My hope is that YOU will have more confidence in the entire quilting process by following along.
Of course, there will be a special emphasis on free motion quilting.
We will learn a little about:
- Design
- Quilt Preparation
- Marking/Marking Tools
- Thread
- Binding
- Personalizing
- Free Motion Quilting
- And much more…
It’s going to be fun and it’s going to help me accomplish my #1 goal for 2015:
Getting YOU to Free Motion Quilt with Confidence!
So let’s get started:
TODAY’S ASSIGNMENT:
Choose your fabrics:
You will need two fat quarters (18 x 22 inches) of solid
The top fabric:
A medium to light fabric in a color you LOVE—no leftover scraps….no muslin…no white… You must choose a color that inspires you right now!
The backing fabric
A light or medium light solid. White is okay here, but any light color will work. Again, choose something you like…not the dregs of your stash…(Which begs the question…why do you keep those fabrics…but I digress…)
As you know, I love Robert Kaufman Kona solids. I buy them at my local quilt shop whenever I can (We must support our quilt stores!) or From Hancocks of Paducah.
Choose and wash your batting:
If you’re not sure if you should wash your batting, you might like this blog post by the amazing quilter, Sue Garman. Sue pre-washes all her batting. Scroll down the post for step by step photos of how she washes and dries her batting. Sue claims that ALL battings shrink–despite what the label says–and I have to agree.
NOTE–I don’t usually wash my batting, but I think I am going to try a few samples with and without washing…If YOU have time, add this to your assignment this week.
Light weight battings like Warm and Natural cotton work well for wall hangings, but use what you have…(For an more on battings read HERE.)
This might be a chance to try a new batting like bamboo, silk, or wool. (Wool might be too puffy for this project so if you want to try it-pull the layers apart and use 1/2 layer. (Read more about separating wool.)
Cut the batting
Cut the batting two inches larger than your fabric. Batting is cut larger than the top fabric to allow for shift and the shrinkage that occurs with quilting. (Note-if we were stitching a very large quilt, we would cut the batting eight to ten inches larger than our quilt top. We would cut our backing fabric larger as well.)
Iron the fabrics and batting
Iron the fabrics with a little spray starch. It’s important to begin with a wrinkle free quilt. Once the quilt is quilted, the wrinkles will never come out! Also, If you are not using a Supreme Slider on your sewing machine bed, the starch on the batting will help the quilt slide better.
The Quilt Sandwich
Baste the layers of the quilt together. Because this is a small quilt, you have a few choices:
- Pin Baste
- Spray Baste
- Iron Baste (see Hurry Up Recipe for a Quilt Sandwich)
NOTE-We will be marking our quilts next week so you may prefer to wait to layer the quilts sandwich.
The Practice Sandwich
Each week we will be practicing techniques, motifs and threads on a scrap sandwich. If you have time this week, create several practice sandwiches to have on hand. The practice sandwiches must have THE SAME batting, and similar fabrics.
That’s it!
If you have any extra time…DOODLE…always, DOODLE!
Be Confident!
and START TODAY!
Signed,
Agatha Christennedy
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin, tweet with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
