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When the instructor told us to reserve the border fabric before cutting the rest of the pieces. I botched about three yards of fabric by doing that - I tore off 'too much' and ruined the main design.
Anyone else have 'instructor advice' that you have since learned to ignore?
I had someone once tell me "you won't get good results if you don't use LQS fabric". She was very wrong and I'm glad I ignored her.
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Yes , I have had someone tell me batiks don't run/bleed. I also had them tell me its best to use/cut cross grain , when clearly having stretch would pose a problem later. I have had them even tell me my almost vintage machine will never produce as good results as a newer machine.
I have learned over the years to filter! and yes my 40 years of quilting can be my most valuable asset in assessing what should be filtered.
when receiving advice, filtering is most important whether you are receiving from an instructor or another quilter. i went to a batik block making class at my lqs. this one particular block that was to be cut from these strips we put together was not going to be totally square the way the instructor was trying to cut it. well she cut it before i had time to protest. of course my block is missing two corners. had i had a moment to think it through, i would have found another way to cut out block so that i would not be missing 2 corners that i now have to patch. she was a nice little old lady and the class only cost $5.00 so i went with it but it could have been cut better.
yes filtering is important.
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How does cutting across the grain cause stretch? Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying? On the bias??Originally Posted by Lori S
Bad Spellers of the World
U N T I E
Cross cut or fabric cut from selvedge to selvedge egde has more stretch then cutting paralel to the selvedge edge. It can be problematic when working with long lenghts of strips, such a borders of a single fabric, long skinny block units and many binding issues can come from cross cut fabric.
I do many quilts that have multiple borders, and having a mix in particular .. a skinny narrow cross cut next to a lenghtwise grain border .. the cross cut will never seem to lay quite as flat as the lenghtwise cut. I do have to "mix " my cuts as sometimes it just not as effiecient use of fabric ... but every time there is a noticeable difference in the "mixed" edges . Starch does help in reducing the stretch while working on the project ...
Bias edge or a diagonal cut at an angle across the weave will produce the most stretch.
Batiks because of the tight weave do not stretch nearly as much as regular cottons on the cross cut. Test yourself .. take a piece of fabric and try to stretch pulling on the parallel to the fabric then same fabric pull across .
The cross-grain, such as from width of fabric, contains threads that aren't as strong as the length-wise grain. If you cut parallel to the length-wise edge of the fabric, you will experience less stretch. Judy Martin suggests cutting the long cabin strips length-wise for this very reason.
I hope you have many pleasant hours sewing and creating quilts.
Piecefully yours,
Kay Susan
When someone says "Always.." or "Never...". I think there are different ways of doing almost everything. I ignore the instructors that say "Always press to the dark fabric". I usually press my seams open (gasp!) or away from the quilting design I have planned.
Imagine all the people living life in peace...(John Lennon 1940-1980)
I have seen a lot of people try to teach who are really not up to the task. I always try and logic things out for myself before I jump in to what someone else is telling me to do or how to think. Before taking advice or instructions always look to see if the work of the person giving it stands up to scrutiny.
I've been sewing for about 50 years. I have always kept my iron's cord at the front of my ironing board, but I was told in the class I took earlier this year that I should ALWAYS keep it to the back so I don't trip on the cord. She said the ironed fabric should fall to the back of the ironing board and that way the cord won't wrinkle it again. Well, I haven't tripped over my iron's cord after 50 years, so it probably won't happen now, and she was doing everything just backwards from how I do it. I did as she asked in the class, but it ended there. In fact, my old iron's cord doesn't LIKE being twisted in the opposite direction it's used to being in.
Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks, but only if they want to learn them! Common sense tells me this is a hot iron and I should be cautious around it! (I hope I never have to eat those words, but will be sure to post if that happens.) LOL!
Being skinny isn't easy, so I gave up and opted for being sexy instead. (aunty acid)
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