Do You Know How to Bind a Quilt?

Our applique shapes are all secured and look awesome with the Dazzle threads couched along the edge. I've never used this technique before but now that I see how easy and effective it is, I think I'll be using it again in the near future!! So now we just need to finish the table runner off with some nice binding. Do you know how to bind a quilt?

Trimming your table runner

With the arrangement of leaves that I used, I decided to trim my table runner to 11" x 25" but you may decide that yours should be either bigger or smaller – just do what you think looks best. Use your rotary cutter, mat and ruler to trim and square it up.

Trimming the excess backing and batting

Making our binding

If you are making your table runner the same size as mine and using a fat quarter of fabric for your binding, then cut four strips that are 2½" wide along the longest side of the fat quarter. If you're using yardage then cut 2 strips 2½" x WOF.

 

Cutting the binding strips

Sew these strips together using a mitred join. See the photo below if you aren't sure how to do this.

Joining the binding strips with a mitred join

Trim off the excess fabric from the back and then iron the seams open. 

The mitred join and the pieces cut from the back

Sewing on the binding

Press the long binding strip in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. Sew binding to the front of the table runner, aligning the raw edges of the binding with the raw edges of the cover.  Fold the binding to the back of the table runner and pin in place.

Sewing the binding to the front of the quilt

Pinning the binding to the back of the quilt

Why not try out a new stitch?

If you like to hand sew your bindings to the back of your quilts, then get out your needle and thread and put a good movie on the TV. But if you are in a hurry or you don’t like to do hand work, then I’m going to show you how to use a decorative stitch to finish sewing your binding.

I bet your sewing machine has lots of stitches that you’ve never used before – well here's your chance! Since the table runner has leaves on it, I decided to use the decorative leaf stitch on my machine. By using a wide decorative stitch you are sure that you catch the back of the binding all of the way around. When you're sewing on the binding, center your stitching in the ditch between the cover front and the front of the binding so that some of the stitching is done on the quilt top and some is done on the binding.

For more decorative stitching ideas see our earlier post this month.

Using the leaf stitch to sew on the binding

Here is our finished project!

The leaf stitch finished off the binding perfectly but took FOREVER to sew. The more complex the design, the longer it will take the machine to stitch it – so glad I wasn’t binding a bed quilt!!

The finished tablerunner

As you can see from this photo, using the Deco-Bob thread in the bobbin was great for this project! Even the back of the areas that were appliqued do not have a large amount of thread build up. It looks tidy and nicely finished.

The back of the quilt with the Deco-Bob thread

Moving on to Christmas…

Now that my fall project is done and you know how to bind a quilt, I should start thinking about Christmas. Maybe I'll use my stitch-out sample to make one of the zippered pouches that Elaine showed us how to make on her QUILTsocial blog posts last month.

It would probably make a lovely Christmas present for someone!! Hopefully you'll have your binding done soon and be able to display your finished project in your home or wrap it up for someone for Christmas!

Hip, hip hooray - it’s applique day!!

Now that we have our table runners all quilted, it's time to prepare our applique shapes so that we can try out our new couching skills!! First thing we need to do is trace the leaf shape below onto the paper side of your fusible web three times. Leave about ½" between each of the shapes.

Trimming and ironing your applique shapes

Cut apart your three fusible web leaf shapes (leaving about ¼" around the shape) and iron them to the back of the three fabrics you chose for your leaves.

Wonder under shape ironed to back of leaf fabric

Once the shapes are cool, cut out the shapes along the drawn lines and peel off the paper backing.

Cutting the applique shapes

Arrange and stitch

Lay your fabric leaf shapes onto your quilted table runner and move them around until you like the arrangement. Iron them in place, following the fusible web’s manufacturer’s directions.

Placing the applique shapes on the quilt top

Getting ready to stitch 

Now that your shapes are secured, you need to decide which threads you will use to stitch them down. Instead of using a blanket stitch on the edges, we are going to couch some Dazzle threads along each raw edge to secure and embellish the leaf applique. For my first green leaf I decided to do two threads of green Dazzle couched with the black and white variegated Mirage thread. I’ve still got the Deco-Bob in the bobbin. I tied the two green threads together with a knot and then laid them along the edge of the leaf. Like with the stitch-outs I held all of the thread ends (Mirage, Dazzle and Deco-Bob) in my left hand while I used a short straight stitch to secure the beginning of my stitching. Now we are going to zig zag over the Dazzle thread along the edge of the applique until we get to a point.

Placing the threads on the edge of the applique shape

Let’s get right to the point

If your machine has a needle down position, make sure that you are using it. When you get to the tip of the leaf, put your needle down on the edge of the appliqué shape, raise your foot and turn your table runner around on the bed of the machine. Have the Dazzle thread go around the BACK of the needle and put your foot back down again. Start stitching and the point of your appliqué shape should still look nice and sharp. Do this on all of the points of the leaf.

Turning the corners - Dazzle thread is wrapped around the BACK of the needle

How to end your stitching

As you approach the spot when you started your couching stitches, pull the knotted end of the Dazzle threads to the side and keep stitching until you have just covered the stitches at the beginning. 

Stitching the end of the couched threads

Use a short straight stitch to go forwards and back a couple times to secure the thread ends and them removed the table runner from the machine. Using small, sharp scissors trim away the excess threads from the top and back of the table runner. Repeat this same process to secure the other two appliqué shapes.

Clipping the thread ends

Closeup of the joined ends

Our next steps

Tomorrow we will finish up our table runner by trimming and binding, but for today just step back and enjoy your machine applique successes!

Quilting a Fall Table Runner

I know, since it's already October, that I should be thinking of Christmas projects, but with this view from my quilting studio window as my inspiration today, I just have to make a fall themed quilting project! But I promise that it's going to be a quick and easy project that we’ll be able to finish this week. Next week I’ll start thinking Christmas!!

View from my studio window

Let’s plan our project!

When I'm planning a design I usually lay out everything that I want to use for my sewing project and then look at it from different angles to see if everything works together. Fibre artist Lucy Garvin from WonderFil, told me that she loves to use their Mirage threads with batik fabrics, so I pulled some of them out of my stash. It looks like I'll be able to use that rust colored Mirage thread after all!!

Selecting fabrics and threads for our project

Materials List

Here's what you'll need if you want to make your own fall table runner:

• Batik for top – 13" x 26"
• Batting – 15" x 28"
• Backing – 16" x 29"
• Batik fabrics for leaves – 3 different colors - 6" x 11" each
• HeatnBond - 11" x 18"
• Binding – one fat quarter

Assembling your quilting project

For this project we'll machine quilt first and appliqué second! So, the first to do is to layer the quilt sandwich with the backing, batting and top fabric. Use your favorite method to baste the quilt sandwich – I love to use 505™ Spray on small projects like this one. For more instructions on layering your quilt check out my blog post from June.

Getting ready for machine quilting

Once the quilt sandwich is secured together, use a mechanical pencil and one of the Omnigrid ruler to draw a diagonal line across the center of the quilt top.

Marking quilting lines on the quilt top

Check your tension

Put the Mirage thread on the top of the machine and then Deco-Bob in the bobbin. I LOVE using bobbin thread when I'm machine quilting because the bobbin thread doesn’t have to be refilled for a long time compared to using a heavier thread. Check your tension on a tester quilt sandwich before starting to quilt the table runner. Adjust the top tension until the bobbin thread only shows on the back and the top thread only shows on the top. I talk more about this in my blog post from June.

Walking foot vs free motion quilting

For this type of quilting I recommend using a walking foot. If you want to do another type of quilting design, by all means put on a free motion quilting foot, but for quilting straight lines it's much easier to use a walking foot. Start at one end of the drawn line and quilt all along it until you reach the other side of the table runner. If you have a spacing device to attach to your sewing machine, attach it and set it for approximately 2 inches. If you don’t have one of these devices then use the ruler and pencil to draw parallel lines across the quilt top.

Closeup of machine quilting with Mirage thread

Keep on quilting

Tomorrow we prepare our applique shapes and try out our decorative couching stitches. Until then, keep stitching along all of those lines until the entire top of the table runner is machine quilted.

Quilting lines on the quilt top

WEEKLY GIVEAWAY! WonderFil Specialty Threads - Mirage & Deco-Bob

Enter our free giveaway contest this week for your chance to win Mirage and Deco-Bob threads from WonderFil Specialty Threads!

Contest ends Tuesday November 4th at 9AM. Go to the entry form below and get your entries in now!

Congratulations to Trish J, winner of last week's draw for free Soft & Toasty™ batting!

WonderFil Specialty Threads - Mirage & Deco-Bob

Mirage: 30 wt multi-color rayon, random dyed with unusual contrasting tones. Ideal for quilting, decorative stitches, embroidery and thread painting. Available in 40 colors in 874yd (800m) spools and 3000yd (2743m) cones. Use in: sewing machines, quilting machines, embroidery machines, sergers, handwork, crafts.

Deco-Bob: 80wt – 2ply cottonized polyester bobbin thread available in 36 decorator colors. Creates high definition for any quilt stitch; enhances delicacy of all sewing & embroidery projects. Available in 2000m spools, 6000m cones, and in prewound bobbins! Applications: As a bobbin thread for machine embroidery, quilting, piecing, micro embroidery, all purpose sewing including buttonholes, and as a top and bottom thread for quilting.

Click here to watch video tutorials on Mirage. Click here for more information on DecoBob.

Stitch-outs with WonderFil threads

Razzle and Dazzle from WonderFil Threads

As you can see, I still haven’t solved my unraveling problem! But it probably doesn’t help that I have been toting my Razzle and Dazzle threads around in a zip lock bag so that I could have them handy for my hand stitching!  A friend of mine has suggested a solution – I just have to get into my local quilt shop to see if they have the product she has told me about. If I have any luck I’ll let you know! 

A tangled mess of Razzle and Dazzle

Picking thread combinations

Once I got my rat’s nest all tidied up I was ready to get to work. I figured the best way to pick threads would be to lay my new Mirage threads beside the Razzle and Dazzle threads that I have and see which combinations look like they would work best. The rust colored thread doesn’t look like it will work with any of the other threads, but maybe I will try it on my stitch-outs.

Picking threads to match the Mirage

Let’s get ready to stitch

To do my stitch-outs I picked a white tone-on-tone fabric, but I think any fabric without a lot of pattern and contrast would work fine – you just want to be able to see how the threads look together without any distraction from the background fabric. I decided to try couching single threads first with the black and white Mirage thread. I set my machine to a short straight stitch and put on my open-toe embroidery foot. I set a mug on the table in front of the right side of my sewing machine and put my Razzle thread inside to keep it from rolling away. I filled one of my bobbins with the Deco-Bob thread and put it in the bobbin casing. I started at the edge of the fabric, placing the Razzle thread under the foot and holding the ends of ALL three threads in my left hand as I started stitching. I did a small straight stitch back and forth to hold everything in place and then set the machine to a narrow zig zag. I stitched along the Razzle thread, making sure that the zig zag stitch passed over the thread each time the machine stitched.

Holding all of the threads at the back

Couching multiples threads with the zig zag stitch

Tension tips

The Deco-Bob thread worked great in the bobbin. I had to adjust the tension a tiny bit, just to make sure that the bobbin thread wouldn’t show up on the top of the fabric. The correct tension for this type of stitching is a little different than for machine quilting, as it is OK for the top thread to show a small amount at the back. Since the Deco-Bob thread is very fine there was little added bulk on the back of the fabric which is especially important when you are doing decorative stitching.

The back of the fabric showing correct tension

WonderFil threads steal the show

I tried different single threads first and then worked my way up to 2, 3 and 4 couched threads at a time, changing the combination of colours as I went. When I was using more than one thread, I tied them all together with a knot at the end so that they were easier to manage. I also placed all of the threads that I was using at the time in the mug in front of the right side of my sewing machine.

Knotting the ends of the Dazzle threads from WonderFil

A mug full of Dazzle threads from WonderFil

My open-toe foot worked fine, but I did need to pay close attention to the threads that were being couched – especially when I got into 3 and 4 strands at a time. A couching foot would do that work for you, so if you have a couching foot be sure to use it! When I added more threads I increased to width of the zig zag stitch and then also tried out some of my decorative stitches. The Dazzle threads have a nice metallic thread running through them and I decided that I liked them the best when couched with the Mirage thread. 

Closeup of the decorative stitching on 4 strands of Dazzle

My stitch-out samples

Keep on stitching

My stitch-out sample is getting more and more full, but I think I will try out a few more colour combinations before I decide what type of project to make in order to use this new technique. Have fun experimenting with your couching foot and tomorrow we’ll keep playing with our Mirage, Deco-Bob and Dazzle WonderFil threads!

Learning about Mirage and Deco-Bob WonderFil threads

The WonderFil threads have arrived

This week on QUILTsocial I’ll be blogging about more WonderFil threads – this time it’s Mirage and Deco-Bob!.My “mystery box” arrived last week, but I didn’t have a chance to check them out until today.

WonderFil threads have arrived

This time WonderFil sent four colours of the Mirage thread and one neutral coloured spool of Deco-Bob. It’s always so fun to get these little packages in the mail. Once I see the threads, my head starts to whirl thinking of possible projects to make with them.

Mirage and Deco-Bob threads from WonderFil

What does the website say about Mirage and Deco-Bob?

Mirage is a 30 wt multi-color rayon which is random dyed with unusual contrasting tones. It's ideal for quilting, decorative stitches, embroidery and thread painting and comes in 40 different colors. The Deco-Bob thread is 80 wt cottonized polyester. The website says that Deco-Bob creates high definition for any quilt stitch. It's great as a bobbin thread for machine embroidery, top & bottom thread for quilting, quilt construction, all purpose sewing including button holes, digitized lace designs, and excellent for hidden stitching.

Mirage Ideal for quilting, decorative stitches, embroidery and thread painting. Available in 40 colors in 874yd (800m) spools and 3000yd (2743m) cones.

Deco-Bob Available in 36 colors in 2187yd (2000m) spools and 6500yd (6000m) cones. Use in: sewing machines, embroidery machines, quilting machines, sergers, handwork **DecoBob comes in Prewound Bobbins**

Couching – now there’s something I want to try!

The WonderFil website has a number of videos that show ways of using their threads. One of the videos caught my eye – check out these videos on couching with single or multiple threads:

Mirage - Couching with Single Strand - YouTube

How to couch with Mirage: 30 wt multicolored rayon Website: www.wonderfil.net Facebook: www.facebook.com/wonderfil Twitter: @wonderfilthread

via: www.youtube.com

Mirage - Couching with Multiple Strands - YouTube

How to couch with Mirage: 30 wt multicolored rayon Website: www.wonderfil.net Facebook: www.facebook.com/wonderfil Twitter: @wonderfilthread

via: www.youtube.com

Since I already have the Dazzle threads that I used in my blog posts back in July,  I decided that I’m going to give it a try. But, the question is: “do I have the right foot for my sewing machine????”

The mysteries of sewing machine feet

So, I found the book that came with my sewing machine and went through all of the feet that I have to see if any were made for couching threads. The only one I found was one that I bought second hand from a friend. In order to get it to fit on the machine I had to take apart the shaft of the machine – yes, I’m one of those people who unadvisedly take apart their sewing machine – and 45 minutes later discovered that those second hand feet do not fit my machine! So, I’m going to try using an open toe embroidery foot. Here's a neat video showing how to use the Husqvarna Viking couching foot – what an awesome way to embellish!!

Husqvarna Viking Couching foot - Embellish with yarn - YouTube

Husqvarna Viking came out with this wonderful Couching foot . See for yourself. The yarn used is Spangled yarn by Inspira.

via: www.youtube.com

My plan for this week for using my new WonderFil threads

Well, now that I’ve found a foot to use, hopefully you have either, a couching foot or an open toe embroidery foot and want to work along with me. Tomorrow we try some stitch-outs using different combinations of threads and then for the rest of the week we'll work on a project featuring embellishments with Mirage and Deco-Bob WonderFil threads. Stay tuned!

Sewing The Trick Or Treat Bag Together

Yesterday was a big day with the addition of two applique designs to the bag and creating a box bottom on both the inner and outer bags. With all that done we can now get down to the business of sewing the trick or treat bag together so it can be ready to hold the loot on Halloween. 

Making the Handles

First though the handles need to be made. Cut two pieces 4 ½″ x 18″ from the same fabric as what the inner bag is made of. This will make a short handle about 9 inches high. A longer handle can be made by cutting the pieces longer. 

I decided to add a piece of fusible fleece to the inside of the handles just to make them a bit sturdier and easier to hold on to. I cut the fusible fleece smaller than the handle pieces so that the fleece wouldn't get caught in the seam allowance. Cut two pieces 3 ½″ x 17″. Fuse to the wrong side of the handle pieces following the manufacturer's directions.

A piece of low loft batting can be used in place of the fusible fleece and glued in place with 505 spray adhesive. 

To make the handles fold the pieces in half with wrong sides together and sew down the length of the piece. Turn the tube right side out. Press the piece flat with the seam allowance at one side. Then top stitch ⅜″ from each edge of the handle. I used a single straight stitch but the Pfaff Ambition 1.0 does have a topstitch stitch (#2) which is a nice thick stitch that would stand out really well.

Handles complete with topstitching

Attaching the Handles to the Bag

Pin the handles to the right side of the inner lining bag which at this point is still wrong side out. Place an end of each handle an equal distance from the sides of the bag to center the handle on the bag. Stitch in place with a ⅛″ seam allowance. 

 

Pin handles to inner bag

Sewing the Two Bags Together

Place the outer bag, which is now right side out inside the inner bag - right sides will be facing each other and the handles will be between the two bags. Pin the top edges of the bags together matching up the side seams. I use the long flower headed quilting pins for this as they are easy to grab and remove as I'm sewing the two bags together.

Remove the tool box from the machine so that the free arm is usable. The free arm is the part of the machine that houses the bobbin case and allows round objects to be sewn easily such as bag openings, sleeves into arm holes and so on.

Tool box removed to reveal free arm

Slide the end of the bag over the free arm and stitch the bags together with a ⅜″ seam allowance. The one thing the Ambition does not have is an alarm for when the bobbin runs out and I was happily sewing away to the end when I suddenly realized my pieces were not sewn together. But it does have an alarm to let me know that I need to put the presser foot down before I can start sewing which has come in very handy.

As I was sewing today I did find that I had issues with the top thread being pulled out of the needle and found that I had to have about a 4 inch tail of thread behind the presser foot which I held onto with my thumb. Sometimes I would forget to have the long tail and then I would be re-threading the machine - practice makes perfect they say. 

Sewing bags together

Pull the quilted bag through the opening in the bottom of the inner bag. If you forgot to leave the opening then you will have to do some ripping...

Quilted bag being pulled through opening

When the bag is pulled through, the whole unit will look like a big long tube with handles in the middle.

The two bags make a tube

Sew up the opening in the bottom of the inner bag and push it down into the quilted bag. Press the top edge flat. You may wish to do a topstitch around the top of the bag. 

The Completed Trick or Treat Bag

Pumpkin Side

The pumpkin side of the bag

Ghost Side

The ghost side of the bag

Sewing the trick or treat bag together is complete and ready for the 31st. That's it for me this month I'll see you next month to make some quick and easy Christmas pieces. 

Happy Quilting

 

Applique Designs For The Trick Or Treat Bag

Now that the trick or treat back is all quilted with a simple but effective cross hatching design it's time to move onto the next step - applique designs for the trick or treat bag. At the end of yesterday's post I asked for your input on which design I should use for the applique - a ghost or pumpkin. I decided to go with both because there's a back and a front to the back and no law saying I can't use two designs on the same bag.

Creating the Applique Designs 

I used a cookie cutter as the basis of my design and traced it onto a piece of paper. Since it was only a couple of inches high I enlarged the design on my printer to the size I wanted. I didn't want a round pumpkin but rather more of an oblong stretched circle to fill up the bag panel. With the shape decided on I drew in some facial features - eyes, nose and mouth.

Pumpkin design

Trace the individual pieces onto fusible web. I traced from the wrong side of the paper as I wanted my pumpkin to look like it did on the paper so I needed to reverse all the pieces. Placing the template on a window works great to trace the pieces as the light shines through and highlights the lines - this doesn't work so well in the dark. A light box comes in very handy when it's dark outside.

Gather up some fabrics suitable for a pumpkin and ghost. Fuse the pieces to the fabrics, cut out the pieces on the line and fuse the design to the quilted bag panels. Make sure to cover the work with a Teflon sheet or piece of parchment paper to collect any unwanted glue.

Ghost pieces fused in place

Stitching the Applique

For the pumpkin I used the blanket stitch or pin stitch (#39) as it's called in the Pfaff Ambition 1.0 manual. This sewing machine comes complete with 136 stitches ranging from simple sewing stitches to elaborate decorative stitches. That's a lot of choices but I stuck with one of my favorites. I increased the stitch width and length to 3.0 so it would show up more. Changing stitch sizes on this machine is easy with the push button arrow buttons beside the display screen.

The needle down position is a must for me when doing applique. When I stop in mid-stitching I'm able to maintain my position and it also makes pivoting around curves so much easier. One quick press of a button and the needle is permanently in the needle down position until you say otherwise or turn off the machine. It couldn't be easier.

I didn't quite get the look I wanted with the teeth and that's because I put the black piece on top of the orange. Next time I would cut the shape out of the orange pumpkin and place a black piece of fabric in behind with the stitching on the orange fabric. Kind of a reverse applique and it would give it the depth needed to look like toothy grin with a black hallow behind the teeth.

Blanket or pin stitch on applique pieces

For the ghost I used the pin stitch for most of it but then did the BOO in stitch #94 which I have fallen in love with. It's the uneven zigzag satin stitch. Perfect way to make the BOO scary looking. I went around the outside edge of the letters twice to make the stitching bolder.

The letters I found in the font list of Word - I just looked for one that had a Halloween kind of look and made it large and added a squiggly edge to the letters which you can see in the previous image of the ghost but when I used the zigzag stitch I lost that squiggly edge. Oh well, but the jagged edge of the stitching looks just as good.

Once again the stitching was done with the 100% cotton Tutti variegated thread from WonderFil.

 

Stitching complete on ghost

Adding a Box Bottom to the Bag

Now that the applique is in place it's time to add a box bottom to the bags. The box bottom will give the bag shape and dimension. I don't know about you but the first time I had to make a box bottom on a bag I struggled to understand what it was I was suppose to do. Now, I made so many on my Santa Sacs that I can practically make them in the dark. 

Step by step I'll walk you through making the box bottom - it really isn't that difficult. I'll be using the inner bag for the photos.

Step 1

First of all sew the outer bag panels together with right sides together leaving the top open. I use a ⅜″ seam when sewing the bag together. The batting doesn't get caught in the seam at all. Also sew the inner bag panels right sides together but leave an opening at the bottom of the bag to be able to pull the outer back through - about 6 inches long. I tend to mark the opening with 2 pins so I know that I have to top there and not get carried away and sew the complete bottom closed. It's a good visual aid.

Mark opening at bottom of bag with 2 pins

Step 2

Once the bag is sewn together then take a bottom corner and pull the side and bottom of the bag into a triangle meeting up the two seams. This is the trickiest part of the whole process and the one I always had problems with. The bag will have a very strange shape to it.

 

Bottom seam meeting with a side seam

Step 3

Once the seams are pinned together lay flat on the table and measure 2 ¼″ down the seam from the corner. Draw a line across the bag with a marking pen. I use the Chaco Liner. Stitch down this line doing a secure stitch at each end. The Ambition has a one touch button for a stay stitch - perfect for this step.

Draw line 2 ¼″ from corner

Step 4

Trim the seam to ⅜″ which will get rid of the triangle and create the square edged box bottom. 

Trim seam ⅜″ from stitch line

Step 5

Repeat on other corner of bag. 

Box bottom completed

Repeat steps 1 - 5 for the quilted bag.

The box bottom is made and it has great dimension and form with the quilted bag.

Now that wasn't too bad, was it?

Box bottom complete on quilted bag

The applique designs for the trick or treat bag are done!

Tomorrow brings us to the end of my week at QUILTsocial and we will be sewing the trick or treat bag together so it's all ready to use on Halloween.

Happy Quilting