Originally Posted by
Bee a Quilter
I could use some encouragement. I haven't sewn in a while. I've forgotten whether to sew binding to the front or the back... I'm not there yet though. I'm starting with a small mouse pad. Created a sashiko design on the computer and printed it out... now I need to transfer design to material but haven't gone to walmart to get tracing paper.... or... read that sewing over pattern with unthreaded needle works, then use chalk... would that work with hand quilting??? I'm at a stand still. Not sure I could get the sewing machine to follow the design... maybe just poke pattern with a pin? maybe not. ?
You can do it. It will all come back to you, you’ll see.
Binding: It all depends on how you plan to finish it. I generally sew mine to the front by machine, pull it to the back and stitch it down by hand. Sometimes I sew the binding on the back with the machine, pull it to the front and sew it down with a fancy stitch from my machine. It all depends on the look you want.
Transferring patterns using chalk: The pounce chalk stays on pretty good and needs to be ironed off. I’m not sure if it will withstand all the handling though. When I did Sashiko, I found a template that I liked and traced the pattern with a ceramic pencil.
Some machines won’t run when they don’t have thread in the needle so you would have to test that out. Also, make sure to use at least a 90/14 or 100/12 needle so you get relatively beefy holes. As far as the machine following the pattern, you need to guide the paper slowly and it will work.
Hope that helps.