I ripped the fabric! I am about to cry!!
 

OMG. The seam ripper got away from me and tore the background fabric!!!

I'm using a blanket stitch to applique this star onto the background fabric. Something went wonky and I had to rip out a couple inches.

What am I going to do?? I don't have any more fabric. I'm almost done with the applique. I planned on doing an outline of the star for the quilting. Do you think I could adhere the top to the batting with batting spray and stitch it and it will be okay? I'm so sick over this!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...1218112017.jpg

I don't know what the rest of the design of your quilt is, and from the picture I can't really tell how much of the black fabric is ripped. I have a quilting friend who seems to have this problem from time to time. She has gotten to be an expert at mending by adding an applique right over the rip. She commonly uses stars, but her most creative was a lightning bolt that started a few inches from the edge of the quilt and wrapped around to the back side. It added a very nice design touch and did the job!

Good luck with your challenge!

Dayle

ouch...good luck..I would try using a fusible behind that tear with some dark fabric..then hope the quilting will camoflouge it enough!

Can you make a bigger star to applique? Hard to tell from the pic.

Ditto. Remove the current applique and put another, larger one in its place to cover the rip.

The star is huge and cannot be moved. I cut some of the dark camo fabric and used basting spray to attach it to the back of the quilt and hold the fabric in place as I finish the blanket stitching around the star. He has some patches I might be able to use if they don't look odd. Otherwise, I'm going to have to quilt it into place and hope for the best. I can't believe I let this happen.

This will give you an idea of the size of the star:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...1126111350.jpg

I feel your pain {{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}} sounds like you came up with a good plan - will keep my fingers crossed for you that it works :)

Random patches will add interest. Good luck.

When I cut the background fabric I used fabric glue on the back side and let it dry before I did anything else. It held the fabric together when it was quilted later.

Sending one cup of empathy, one cup of sympathy and a small pinch of cussin' your way.

I was watching a video of a pro quilter who won alot of awards internationally, she was from England, and she said that when that happens just put fusable web under neath the tear fuse it in place
and when you quilt it insure you quilt over it and no one will notice. She said once done and quilted it was not noticable, even by the judges.
Good luck

This is one of the reasons I absolutely never use a seam ripper. They're almost always dull. Just like with a dull knife, it's easier to slip and make a mistake or cut yourself with something dull than something good and sharp.

One possible solution is to applique something related to your quilt over the bad spot. If that would look out of place, then applique a few more, scattered over your quilt.

Me too! I have ripped too many fabrics using a seam ripper. Now I use the curved spring-handled snips, also know as surgical scissors. I also found another way to use the seam rippers to help keep from ripping the fabric, is to use the ball part underneath and the pointy part on the outside. But, the best way is to not use them at all. Put some fusible interfacing inside or fusible web so it will adhere to your batting. After you get it quilted it won't show.

You have been given good advice already. I hope it works out for you. It is very frustrating to have to deal with sitituations like this. The little bit of fuse under the material seems like a good idea with the quilting to keep it in place. Good luck.

Good luck!

Is it possible to undo the whole star and move it over the torn spot? This is the only quick solution that
I could come up with.

I've used fusible interfacing behind tears, then stitched across the tear. I feel your pain. This only seems to happen when you have no more of the fabric you've damaged.

This is just what I would do, also. I hope you get the result you hope for!

It is going to make a gorgeous quilt. I feel you will be able to camouflage it and make it work. Good luck.

Welcome to the ripper club! I don't know how many times this has happened to me. You'll figure something out. Fusible works pretty good and more applique over the hole sounds off and maybe even some fancy stitching. good luck!

I think this is a great idea,I would however stabilize the rip maybe put some fray check on it before adding anything and try to stitch it closed so it is not going to ravel or get any bigger.

I would take tiny little stitches and mend the rip with matching thread. When you are done, it shouldn't be noticible. Don't spray it - that will leave it stiff. Just mend your boo-boo and finish you applique.

Because of some problem I also cut some of the dark camouflage fabric, and coated with a spray, attach it to the back of the quilt and fabric held in place, because I finished blanket stitching around the star. He had some patches, I might be able to use, if they do not look odd. Otherwise, I will quilt in place, and hope for the best. I can not believe I let that happen.

I ran into the same problem and asked for advice on this board. Someone suggested Stitch Witchery. It's fusible tape. I folded what was left of the fabric under, and ironed it on. I think (hope) it will hold after the quilting.

I think it will work! So sorry you had to go through this. It always seems to happen when there is no more fabric.

I mended a tear in a dark blue fabric once by carefully bringing the edges together with fusible mending tape. There was still a noticeable line in the fabric where the 2 edges met, so I took a dark blue magic marker and carefully dabbed at the the mended site and the tear completely disappeared!!!

Sounds like you came up with a good plan! Let us know how it works out.

can you move the star over at all? you must cover that area with something if not.

If you have just a small piece of the background fabric, spray baste it and nestle it under the rip so that it adheres to the top piece - don't do trimming.Just make sure that the edges of the rip lie flatly along side each other. Once you have quilted it no one will ever know unless you point it out (believe me).

Crossing my fingers and toes for you, the plan sounds like it will work.