Tying or turkey tracks? And other baby quilt questions
01-01-2016, 06:24 AM
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Tying or turkey tracks? And other baby quilt questions
I'm planning to throw together a quick baby quilt for a friend, which means tying it in some form, as I'm a hand-quilter and that takes too long. I've done this once before, when I made a very quick and easy quilt by using a single piece of fabric for the top as well as the back, picking a Valori Wells flannel in a lovely large-scale pattern so that it wasn't boring, embroidering the baby's name on the back, and using the backing for binding. I think I embroidered the name in the evening and did the rest of the quilt the next day. This time I'll do some basic piecing, say a sort of big block log cabin (square in the middle, then build a few 4" or 4.5" borders around it), something that I can do over a week with a few hours here and there. I'm eyeing up some delightful Michael Miller fabrics with an animal theme. There's a giraffe print, which I suspect will make my friend smirk as she's six feet tall, and she often refers to the forthcoming baby as her Grandfoal, so I should try to find a horse print that will coordinate, perhaps this one, or this zebra print if I want to stretch a point. (Also she refers to the sprog in question as her Grandspawn, but I'm not sure there's really a commercial fabric that could convey that.) *pause to grumble about how many child-oriented fabrics make heavy use of white - how is that a practical colour for a baby quilt?!*
First question: I really fancy doing something with this large Oasis Border print. Normally I make my baby quilts 36" x 52", and allow an extra 4" all the way around for the backing. This allows me to use standard width fabric for the backing. I'm not sure if I'd lose a lot of the print that way, and whether it would look odd to use it as binding, since one side has a different pattern. Of course, do I need to have the whole 4" extra, since I won't be needing space for my quilting frame? Maybe 38" x 50", which is better for the pattern I'm planning too? And do you reckon that's the best way around for this sort of border print? Although now I am looking at how much cutting and sewing my "basic" quilt would require, I'm tempted to do a single piece of a print with a varied large scale design for the front instead.
Main question: I've seen discussions here of using a fly stitch instead of tying, also known as turkey tracks. I do like the look of it, I've never been that keen on the loose ends look of tied quilts. But the great thing about tying a quilt is that I can skip basting, because it's pretty much the same action as you take when basting and replaces that stage. Right now, my basting technique is to put a white vinyl tablecloth over my nice big 33" x 55" table (guess how I killed my last dining table), layer the quilt, clamp it down around the edges with binder clips, and thread baste over that section using herringbone basting. This is enough for the length of the quilt (for the backing and batting at least, the top doesn't get clipped at the ends) but not quite enough for the width, so I do it in two stages. The quilt is taut this way, so you don't have the flexibility you get when quilting with a quilt hoop. That's fine for the way you tie a quilt, but would it work for turkey tracks? How long a needle do you need, and is it harder to manipulate than the type of embroidery needle (size 8, I think) I generally use for basting? Do you end up having to do the stitches fairly close together, thus defeating part of the time-saving aspect of tying a quilt?
First question: I really fancy doing something with this large Oasis Border print. Normally I make my baby quilts 36" x 52", and allow an extra 4" all the way around for the backing. This allows me to use standard width fabric for the backing. I'm not sure if I'd lose a lot of the print that way, and whether it would look odd to use it as binding, since one side has a different pattern. Of course, do I need to have the whole 4" extra, since I won't be needing space for my quilting frame? Maybe 38" x 50", which is better for the pattern I'm planning too? And do you reckon that's the best way around for this sort of border print? Although now I am looking at how much cutting and sewing my "basic" quilt would require, I'm tempted to do a single piece of a print with a varied large scale design for the front instead.
Main question: I've seen discussions here of using a fly stitch instead of tying, also known as turkey tracks. I do like the look of it, I've never been that keen on the loose ends look of tied quilts. But the great thing about tying a quilt is that I can skip basting, because it's pretty much the same action as you take when basting and replaces that stage. Right now, my basting technique is to put a white vinyl tablecloth over my nice big 33" x 55" table (guess how I killed my last dining table), layer the quilt, clamp it down around the edges with binder clips, and thread baste over that section using herringbone basting. This is enough for the length of the quilt (for the backing and batting at least, the top doesn't get clipped at the ends) but not quite enough for the width, so I do it in two stages. The quilt is taut this way, so you don't have the flexibility you get when quilting with a quilt hoop. That's fine for the way you tie a quilt, but would it work for turkey tracks? How long a needle do you need, and is it harder to manipulate than the type of embroidery needle (size 8, I think) I generally use for basting? Do you end up having to do the stitches fairly close together, thus defeating part of the time-saving aspect of tying a quilt?
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