Today's Quilter - UK (2020-01)

TECHNICALTIP

Trytousedarker

shadesofgreenfor

thehollyandlighter

shadesfortheivyto

dierentiate them.

Notes
QReadpatterninfullbeforestarting.
QPressallfabricwellbeforestarting.
QAlltemplatesaredrawnbackwards.
QDashedlinesontemplates denote
wherepiecesoverlap.
QWOF= widthof fabric.
QRS= rightside.
QWS= wrongside.
QRST= rightsidestogether.
QWST = wrong sides together.

andtoensurethatyourmachine

is threadedproperlyandyour

stitchtensionis correct.Use

thesamethreadinthetopand

bottomofyourmachine for

smootherstitches.

QWhenstitchingaroundshapes,as

a generalrule,don’tusea thread

thesamecolourorlighterthan

thefabricyouarestitching(you

willjustseetheneedleholes).

Victoriarecommendsusingdark

brownordarkgreythreadfor

mostprojectsasit standsout but

doesn’t look too harsh.

Therearetwooptionsfor

stitchingthisproject:

1

Usea walkingfootwiththefeed

dogsupanda reducedstraight

stitchlength,thensimplystitch

aroundtheshapes.Youwillgeta

uniformstitchlengthbutduetothe

size of the project, you will need to

keepliftingthefootandrotating

thework– thiswillstop your fabric

from distorting.

2

Useanopentoefree-motionfoot

withthefeeddogsdown.Make

surethefootis justlightlyresting

onyourworkratherthanintheair

orpressingdownhard.Asthefeed

dogsaredown,youcanmovethe

fabricinanydirectionto‘draw’(the

needlewillstitchonthespotuntil

youmovethefabric).Youwillneed

toestablisha balancebetweenthe

speedofyoursewingmachineand

how quickly you move the fabric.

QWhenquilting,it is important

thatyourstitchlengthis even

andcurvedlinesaresmooth,but

lesssowithrawedgeappliqué.

If youlikea ‘sketchy’finish,orif

yourlinesarea littlewobbly,go

around the shape twice and it will

lookgreat!Don’tworryif some

stitchesarelongandothersare

short– it alladdstotheeect.

QStitchasclosetotheedgeof

thefabricshapeaspossible

withoutgoingontothebacking

fabric.If yourstitchingis too

farfromtheedgeofthefabric,

peelbackandtrimoexcess.If

youareunhappywithanareaof

stitching,justunpickthatsection

andtrimothreadsclosetoyour

workandre-sew,going over the

cutendstosecure.

QIf yourprojectis goingtoget

a lotofwearandtear,Victoria

recommendstyingothethreads

at thebackofthework.If it is for

more‘decorative’purposes,make

a fewstitches,trimthetopthread

oclosetothefrontofthework,

stitchbackoverthisendonceyou

havesewnaroundtheshape,then

just trim it o close to the fabric.

Fig 1B Fig 1C Fig 1D