Thursday, April 20, 2006

So Close & Yet So Far

So here is the quilted masterpiece sans binding. Hmmph - while I can live with the overall effect, the quilting does not bear up to close inspection. I have learnt that quilting STRAIGHT and PARALLEL lines over long distances is actually a very tricky thing to do. I tried not to obsess about it in the hope that an illusion of regularity would emerge but some lines of quilting were unpicked and there are holes in the quilt top accordingly :-(

I reinforced the top edge with timtex plus some template plastic in a couple of strategic spots so it had better not flop over. Next time, I would probably leave the template plastic out or choose a different quilting design. The template plastic immediately blunted every needle that came near it and also created unyielding edges that got caught up on the machine, dragging the quilt. Grr!

I was proposing to simply zig zag/overlock the edges (see lower right corner) but cannot create a neat enough finish for my liking so I may revert to a binding. Just have to find my notes from a binding workshop that I did last year before I try to tackle all those inward corners...

3 Comments:

Blogger Diane Perin said...

This looks wonderful, Brenda. And from your photo, the quilting looks very good. Perhaps you know where all the wiggles are so you're missing the overall effect that a stranger to the quilt sees?

April 21, 2006 1:04 am  
Blogger Claudia said...

Hi Brenda
I love this quilt, great job. I know what you mean when it just isn't going right! I tend to growl from time to time! hehehe
Having the edges like you have looks great, butt he finishing off is sooo time consuming like this. But worth it I am sure. keep at it...

April 21, 2006 7:59 am  
Blogger Deb Hardman said...

I think it's beautiful, it looks nicely done, & I'm sure you'll finish the edges perfectly, & you'll be an expert at those inward corners when you're finished. That's how I learned binding, on a piece with about 90 zig & zags on the outer edge!

April 22, 2006 7:03 pm  

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