Creating Special Blocks
 

I am making a "big girl" quilt for my 13 yr old granddaughter. She is very active in dance, taking 4 classes and also being a teacher's assistant in 2 others to help pay for her classes.
She is also athletic and has fallen in love with volleyball.

I took photos of her feet in her dance shoes, then cut her feet away and just used the shoes to make a block for each type of dance, jazz, ballet, tap and hip hop. I also created a volleyball block for the quilt.
I am very pleased with all of them except the ballet slippers not showing up so well on their fabric.

I will either use black thread to outline them, which concerns me because my stitching skills are not that good yet. Or change the background fabric.

Would any of you suggest using fray check on the edges even with the iron on backing I used? If I did that, I would feel safe to do a straight line stitch around the shoes and could do a better job of that then I could with the zigzag. I used a shiny fabric for the pink and beige shoes and it is ravelly.

Those are so neat! I have a great granddaughter almost 13 who does the very same things...dancing classes and assisting, also the volleyball. She is the one pictured in my avatar (when she was three!).

I would change the background fabric to a smaller print ( if it's not too late). I think the large print in that block throws things off. It is the only block with a large print.
I never use fray check on appliqués unless it's a wall hanging that won't be used or laundered. Fray check makes a very stiff hard edge, very difficult to sew through. You could use decorative threads to highlight features on the shoes which would add definition to the blocks. It's going to be a very sweet quilt. :)

That's a very creative quilt! She's going to love it. If it were my decision, I'd change the background fabric for the ballet shoes; they kind of get "lost" on the large print that is also the same value as the shoes. Not sure what to suggest, but light colored tone-on-tone.

Don't use fray check, it gets very stiff, you don't want that on your quilt!!!

As a dance teacher, specifically tap dancing, I think this is awesome!!

I don't mind the background fabric. I would be brave and satin stitch (machine, of course) around the ballet shoes with a thread with some shine to it - a polyester embroidery if you don't use rayon. If you stabilize the underside with tissue paper, which will tear away, it will work. Practice on a scrap. I think my go to width for satin stitch on my vintage Elna is 2.5 with the length about .5 A blanket stitch, if your machine has one, might be easier but for the shiny fraying fabrics, I'd want the satin stitch. Blanket stitch the black shoes in black.

Love your creative idea for the shoes. Personally I like the more tone-on-tone background of the two vs. the prints, but that IMHO. This is going to be precious.

What a lucky granddaughter.

oh my, this will be so cute when finished

Use FRAY BLOCK not fray check. Fray Block stays soft. I use it on all my raw edge applique with good success.

Thank you, I had not heard of this one. I will definitely get some of that.