Advice requested before starting new project
 

After completing my "Dragon and the Princess" wall hanging which some of you may have seen, I have been working on some quilts and little wall hangings, but another large, ornate wall hanging has been calling to me.
I think I found it.
I came across a beautiful sculpture the other day. The original sculpture is done in tiles, with grout between. I'll just be doing it in fabric with satin stitching between.
What could go wrong? :D
My first question is, I plan to cut each piece out of assorted fabrics, fuse them to a foundation then satin stitch a thin line between all the seams. After that is done, I'll sandwich it and FMQ in the open areas.
If I am using a foundation fabric (cotton), will I still need to use a stabilizer so I don't get tunneling? And should I use a wash away stabilizer?

Does anyone see any glaring problems with this plan?

I was going to put up a picture of the art work that I am going to be working from, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to?



Watson

Don't you just love it when a project talks to you? I had one yell at me once. It was kind of annoying, lol.

As long as the satin stitch covers both edges, you should be fine with the plan. The tunneling (or pulling) occurs when there is a difference in thickness, which you won't have except for the outer edge. When I run into that, I make sure that I put the entire satin stitch along the edge of the applique.

Don't know much about the wash-away stabilizer. One alternative for using regular iron-on interfacing is to draw the shape on the interfacing and then CUT OUT the center portion, only leaving a 1/4-1/2" wide piece that actually gets fused. If you do that, you really wouldn't need any stabilizer at all AND you would not have any stiffness from the interfacing, except for the bit along the edge.

Hope this helps.

You might want to decrease your upper tension a bit if your satin stitch is wide. It's perfectly acceptable to see some top thread on the under side of a zig zag or satin stitch and it helps prevent the tunneling or puckering that a wider stitch can cause.

Cari

Maybe do a bit of a practice piece before starting on the "real" project to see how your plan works?

I find I get better results with a stabilizer and my current fav is Ricky Tims Stable Stuff. You don't have to remove it and it softens after washing. However it is easy to remove and tears away with no problem.

I'd say try a sample and see. I'm doing a crazy quilt with all machine stitched fancy stitches. It's on a foundation, and I've not had any problem not using other stabilizer underneath. The wider your satin stitch, the more likely you'll need stablizer.


One thing I learned from doing a stained glass looking project - overlap the pieces. I had cut to butt them up, and ended up with areas I had to go over, as I didn't catch both pieces of fabric. But that is another reason to do a test, you figure out what isn't going to work! BTW - I almost never go off directions so I have to learn the hard way.

I would forget about the wash-away stabilizer (although I do keep the scraps and soften in water, then paint on my fabric to use again when dry). I just use copy paper instead. Perhaps if you starch your fabrics well, and loosen the tension you may not need stabilizer at all, depending on how wide you have the satin stitch. The softer the fabric, the worse the tunnelling.

So, with all this in mind, I am going to do a practice run using un-washed fabric that I have starched and using a background fabric that matches the "grout" satin stitch colour. The satin stitch will be quite narrow, so I may get away without a stabilizer. The reason I'd like to do without the stabilizer is that the pieces are small and it would be quite a job to use tear away stabilizer or to have to cut it away from the inside of each and I'm concerned if I left it in place it might cause problems when I go to FMQ it down the road.

Decisions, decisions...
Watson

I'm going to suggest that you wait until you have layered the quilt to do the satin stitch. The batting should act as a stabilizer. Obviously this works better with a fairly thin and dense batting such as warm and natural or a polyester of the same weight.