Help with Appilque Please..
I have done a little appliqué and I mean little.. So I am a beginner for sure. I have 50 plates sewn for my Dresden plate quilt..After thinking about trying to appliqué all of them on a backing without making blocks I decided to do them on 14.5 blocks.
I thought that would be easy doing a blanket stitch all around each plate, how hard could that be! Well I am finding out that I am not very good at doing a blanket stitch. The problem I am having is trying to figure out were the stitch is going to end up when I turn to go around the points. I can be going along pretty good and then when I turn to go the other way, the stitching ends up in background..Also were is the straight stitch suppose to be, on the edge of the blade or right up to the edge of the blade on the background fabric.
The black thread is pretty but it shows up all my mistakes. So all of this will be ripped out.. I tried the invisible thread but my machine does not like it and would break the thread all the time. Also is invisible thread strong and good after many washings..I never use this kind of thread before. Maybe I need to go to JoAnns and see what kind they have and maybe a different kind would work in my machine..just a thought..
I did starch the background fabric really good and the plate too so it is real flat and all lays down good.Then I got some school glue in the sticks and used that to hold everything in place. I haven't decided on what the center color will be but was thinking of all different color fabric as this is so scrappy...Also could I just do a straight stitch all around the blades, maybe in white thread, do you think that would look ok..
I am running by the seat of my pants on this quilt..trying to lean how to do things as I go along, I have watched a lot of videos and everything looked pretty easy, till I tried to do it..Then it was a rude awakening for me..So if any one could give me a little advice on what to do with this quilt, that would be great.
Any color thread will show up as there are so many different colors of blades. So what color thread would you use. Straight stitch or Blanket stitch? I think I will go have a cup of coffee and a biscuit before I go totally crazy.. Thanks so much..