QUILTsocial Issue 14

A drawer full of various colors of thread
Having a fast sewing machine like the
Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC makes
this job a whole lot easier and faster.
Not only the speed but the penetration
power of the Designer EPIC makes quick
work of stitching that binding in place. I
had barely started and I was DONE!
I wanted to say something about thread
color. Don’t drive yourself crazy to find a
thread that exactly matches your fabrics.
I have a drawer of mostly small spools of
thread that have collected over the years.
Most likely because I was topstitching
something or I just liked the color.
Who knows how one collects this stuff.
Anyway, all the colored spools of thread
are in one spot. When I need to choose
the thread for the backing or the binding,
I open up this drawer and I find the BEST
match, not the EXACT match. I’m much
more likely to have a BEST match than I
am to have an EXACT match. I certainly
don’t have time to run to the store each
time I need a bit of thread to bind a quilt.
As an example, here’s the color of thread
that I used for the bobbin in the final
step of the attaching the binding. That
is nowhere near an exact match to that
backing, but when you run a single
strand across the backing, the thread
pretty much disappears.
Thread used for the bobbin when sewing the
binding to the quilt – it’s not an exact match
6 steps
to add
lettering to
your quilt
sashings
Step 1 - Choose the sashing
While it’s important to choose the right
color of fabric for the sashing, it’s even
more important if you’re adding lettering.
I like my lettering to be legible, but I don’t
want the words to dominate the quilt.
Here’s my stack of blocks that I’m
working with. There are 111 blocks in
total and I’m including all the blocks
in one large quilt. The blocks are all
different with various colors on the outer
edges of the blocks. I need to find one
fabric that’ll work with all the blocks.
I went through my stash and found four
possible fabrics to use for the sashing.
I eliminated the one on the left. It’s a
very busy print and the wording won’t
show up at all. The two colors in the
print are working nicely together and if
I were to add something else, it would
be too much.
I eliminated the burgundy one as well.
Why? The pattern is very spread out
and my sashings will finish at 1” x 6”. The
pattern in the sashing will vary too much
and the words won’t show up as well
as they could. Let’s not forget that the
sashing is to provide a framework for
the blocks. The burgundy fabric will not
provide a cohesive look.
That leaves me with the gold and
the green. Both of which are fairly
monochromatic. Let’s audition each with
the blocks and see what happens.
Quilt blocks that will be sashed and made into
a quilt.
38 QUILTsocial | issue 14