Thread: Oh what have I done!

I have ordered Judy Niemeyer's Bali Wedding Star pattern. I am hoping to make it as a someday wedding gift for the daughter of our closest friends. Since there is no date I have plenty of time. As soon as it arrives I will begin my search for the perfect fabrics. I plan on using all batiks to help me maintain some of my sanity while working on it.

Any tips and pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Go take a class from a Judy Niemeyer certified instructor. It will be worth it to you in the long run. The bali wedding star is on my bucket list. Good luck.

I suggest purchasing the batik strips that she suggests for this pattern. Then you can add some of your own batiks in. That might be most economical in the long run. Also read read read the pattern. You may want to make a few test blocks before you begin on the quilt, you can always use them for a pillow later. Good Luck!

I would start soon very soon, you never know when couple change their minds and up the wedding date!

Unfortunately the Bali Pop packs that she has are not the colorway I am looking to go. The young lady I would be making this for loves purple. Not sure I want to go all purple though. I love the Bali Pops that will be released in May 2015. Both the Agate and Gemstone.

First thing you need to do is check Judy's website to see if there are any corrections to the pattern. The next thing is to read the rather lengthy directions to try and get a sense of the totality of what you are doing. The biggest plus to her techniques is the sense of order and compartmentalization of pieces through labels and bags to prevent mixing parts. She also gives you cutting templates, which help minimize waste and seeing you are using batiks the further headache on what side of the fabric to use is gone and believe me this is a HUGE plus. The next important thing is to keep track of the sew lines that she designates. When you are using triangular parts or odd shapes and jumble the pieces and forget where to sew...this is where you think you are right, have sewn all the components and discover when you flip over the fabric to iron ...that all of the pieces are sewn wrong. Ripping those super short stitches is not fun! So the more organized that you are in this part...the better it will be accurately sewn. A lot of what she suggests includes chain piecing to move along the process. I would suggest taking the first one of the series you intend to sew, sew it, see that it is correct, orient the fabrics on the remaining parts to match the correctly sewn sample and stack them to sew. Take this first "correct" block, pin or glue stick the next fabric to be added, check to see you have the correct sides ready to sew, the new fabric covers and the pattern fully when flipped and set new "sample" to follow to one side...then sew the "previous" remaining stack. This gives you a sample one step ahead to follow, but don't go racing ahead and delude yourself into thinking that you get it, before you really GET IT and even then... still slavishly follow the pattern. This is like sewing looking into a mirror and unless you can easily transpose/invert things...wrapping your head around this process takes time and patience. I also agree if you can find a certified teacher and can take a quick class, a lot of what I am saying will become more clear, but this can be done on your own. Just stay organized...keep things and edges to be sewn clearly labeled and proceed with caution...and you will keep ripping to a minimum and satisfaction with the end result to a maximum. I also posted a little hint about paper piecing elsewhere this morning...so if you like what I said and it makes sense....you might search for this hint about how to remove the paper etc

My biggest question right now is how many packages of Bali Pops am I going to need to get if I don't go with the ones that Judy has designed.

Krisb....because I had a dumb moment and didn't think of that!! Thanks for the suggestion.