Whole Cloth quilt - need some input please!
 

Hello to all my fellow quilters ... I'm seeking some guidance!

I'm doing another whole cloth ... a bit differently this time. I've used my machine to embroider 16 circles. They are in blocks of 10x10 ... so the square is 44x44 (that little extra!)

And then in the middle of them, I embroidered another design. You can see it below.

This is done on just the top of the fabric. I've discovered through trial and error that if I do it through all three layers, it is simply too messy in the back. And it makes it so tight, no matter how much I adjust my tension.

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The batting and backing are now layered (yes, I need to baste, etc. so mind the wrinkles LOL) ... I'm trying to come up with ideas of how to join them. I had boxes around the circles with feathers and it just didn't look right. So I ironed them all off.

Some ideas to finish this off would be awesome.

Thanks so much

Marion

With all those circles I would look at straight line & square shapes, like cross-hatching or even celtic or Grecian designs, those that cross over the previous square if you know what I mean
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Cross-hatching would be my preference, but someone will come up with something better.

Can you post closeups of each of the embroidery designs? There might be elements within them that could help us help you. Additionally when you say the embroidery blocks are 10 x 10, I am assuming the actual embroidered circle diameter is much smaller, perhaps only 6"?? How much blank space is between each circle (from bottom of one circle to top of circle just below it and same from say right side of circle to left side of circle that is its neighbor)? How big are the diamond shapes?

You have large circles that are embroidered and in between those it looks like diamonds or squares on point. Some way of joining the two could work: since your embroidery designs line up along the diagonal, maybe you could first join them with diagonal lines. in two directions (creating a large scale grid on point) and then use the grid to help you divide the space in a way that would add texture and allow the embroidered areas to pop above the surface a little. But I wouldn’t do too much in the way of variety of quilting patterns since you want the embroidery to be the focal point

Alternatively, you could echo around all the embroidered areas. Since they are not quilted, echoing around them would flatten the background and let the embroidered areas stand up a bit. And by echoing the embroidered shapes you would be focussing the eye on the intricacy of the embroidery by creating radiating texture around each. Like ripples in water.

Rob

So I did what people suggested, here's some pics to show what I did:

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All sewn together, and then I washed it. Realized that if you don't put soap in the washing machine the colour doesn't come out. Almost had a heart attack LOL

So I washed it twice, then dried it, and now I have a mess:

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And the edges are awful

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So I am wondering ... is this because I should have

a) done from the middle out?
b) made sure there was quilting pretty much everywhere?

When I did the "embroidered" blocks, they were only done on the top. Then I put the batting, the backing and used spray adhesive.

Now it's all puckered, and looks horrible! Another cat quilt?

Any other tips I should know before I attempt this again?

Thanks a bunch

Washing the fabric to pre shrink it before doing the machine embroidery is what I would've done.

Cari

I did pre-wash! And dry, and starch! I starched the front and the back

First off, I think what you decided to do was a really good idea to compliment the embroidery and I don't think it looks awful, I also think you may be able to fix it so the wrinkles aren't so bad.

This looks to me like your batting shrunk considerably. I also think you did not quilt it enough. More dense quilting would have helped tame the shrinkage in the batting and while you would have gotten the crinkly look around the quilting lines they wouldn't have detracted from the pattern, they would have looked more like the crinkling you got around your quilted flowers.

Some things I would have done differently:
Outline quilted all of the embroidered motifs, in fact I would have treated them like applique and tried to get that outline as close as possible to the thread of the embroidery, like SID only there is no ditch. Then I would have done a 1/4 echo around them as well.
Densely quilted the background around the motifs to get them to pop up off the surface of the quilt, for this I would have used a very small meander/stipple, McTavishing or curly-ques
A denser crosshatch, probably a 1/2" grid or at least double the amount you currently have and I would have continued the crosshatch in the pointed bits that are around the flower motif you quilted as well as doing a 1/4" echo in them, just like you did in the crosshatched squares.
I would not have left the border areas unquilted.

What you can try now is to spritz the quilt with a misting bottle to wet it down and try to flatten out the wrinkles as much as possible. Let the quilt dry flat. You may even be able to add all this additional quilting after which will help to camouflage the wrinkles you have around the motifs. You may quilt in a pucker or two but I don't think it would be super noticeable.
To tame that border I would do an alternating width piano key like I did in the background of the border on this quilt. I believe the spacing I used on this quilt was 1/2" then 1/4" then 1/2" again, in the corners I drew a miter line and had the piano key quilting meet on the miter. You can see it in the 3rd picture.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...c-t289353.html

Meow? Meow?

I agree with all the advice Feline Fanatic gave you, but honestly, I don't think it looks horrible at all! If you want to make it a cat quilt, feel free to call me Fluffy.

I suspect it was a cotton batting which shrunk during the laundering, making the top, which was already preshrunk, too large, resulting in the creases. I don't think it looks bad at all. I like crinkly quilts. If you don't want the same result in the future, though, and use a cotton batting, maybe misting it with water and putting it in the dryer before use will preshrink it. (?)

Okay then I agree with feline fanatic then. And it really doesn't look that bad to me, it looks more like an heirloom or an antique quilt now.

Cari

Marion,

I like your quilt and love following your progress on learning new techniques. Perhaps you can add more quilting in between the designs. I've just started looking at these designs. Have you seen these? See how the quilting is closer between designs? Perhaps something here will give you some more tips for your project.

https://inspiration.meaningoflifedes...ng-collection/

Main site if you are interested.

https://meaningoflifedesigns.com/collections/all

Hope you are still having fun with your machine!

If you attempt this again - I would do the embroidery with the batting behind, that should help with the puckering you see in the first pic. Did you use any stabilizer, even a washaway kind? You could also look into quilt-as-you-go, and embroider the designs on separate blocks, then quilt as you sew them together, or not quilt at all, & maybe cover the seams with wide ribbon or lace. I find a looser tension also helps with puckering when embroidering.
I think you have done a great job with your quilting

Will you tell us where the emb. designs came from? A couple look familiar.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement, and thanks felinefanatic for the tips. I will definitely try misting it, and letting it dry and see what I can do from there.

RhondaK ... my learning experiences are a toss up between hilarious and oh good lord what have I done!!!! I'm just hoping my posts helps others to not make the same mistakes!!!!

Gay - I have over 10,000 designs and I haven't a clue where they came from ... I do know they are called persian circles so that might help!

Marion,

Well I just love your attitude! What process did you use for hooping and/or stabilizer(s)?

Batting? What was the process? Did you embroider over batting and background fabric?

I used a strong stabilizer tear away stabilizer from pellon. I only put the batting on after I had done the embroidery. So the batting and the backing was on when I did my free motion quilting.

I did pre-wash, dry the fabric before I did anything. And I starched it like there was no tomorrow LOL

The reason I didn't embroider through all three layers is that I did that before and I found the back of the quilt looked really messy and tight. BUT, I did different designs, so maybe that was the issue.

I think what I might have to do in the future is a test on one of the blocks with the three layers and see how it looks.

Also - feline's tips to quilt as close as possible to the design to make it pop is great ... I am going to try that this weekend.

Right now I'm working on another one in black and purple LOL

You've gotten really good advice here. One thing I would have done differently was to have used the same color thread for all the quilting as the embroidery. By using a different color, you have taken the eye away from your focal point, the embroidered squares. I, also, agree that some type of echo and denser quilting, especially a cross-hatch would enhance your original embroidery designs as opposed to contrasting. BTW....you have done better than I could have done.

Edited to add: I would have used a washaway or soft embroidery stabilizer. Leaving the stabilizer in will give it an artificial stiffness that may never go away. My goal is to have a soft, feels the same all over, quilt. That's one reason I have been reluctant to do much embroidery on mine. Also, a less dense embroidery pattern may be a better choice on the whole cloth. I have mostly seen the denser patterns used in blocks that are sewn together with a sashing, then finished the quilting.

I went back & looked at your pictures and realized the colors were your quilting lines. The final product looks pretty good.

I tool feline fanatic's advice and here's where I am right now ... just have to do the borders

This is not an FMQ method I'm really comfortable with, I prefer to follow lines, but it gave me some practice.

Feline - THANK YOU so much for your advice. I'm very grateful for the people on here that have the experience and can help guide me through my mistakes. I've been quilting for over 10 years, but when you leave the box and try something new, it's like being in grade 1 all over again!

And yes, the embroidery does POP! Right up!

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Your quilt is gorgeous, Marion! I am so impressed!

Something similar happened to me on a much smaller scale. That is when I learned to block a quilt. It worked really well. But I was doing a piece that was maybe 30 inches square. A bigger piece may be difficult to lay out and pin.
Here is a tutorial, and a Google link to more:

http://www.adventurequilter.com/e-Le.../Blocking.html

oh, and this one is good too:
https://quiltingjetgirl.com/2016/12/...hoto-tutorial/

google:
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+...nt=firefox-b-1

And it's all done!!

Feline Fanatic, I can't thank you enough! Your tips and guidance saved this quilt from going in the trash. I was totally discouraged! Now, it's not the mental image I had when I first started this quilt, but at least it looks 1000 times better than it did before.

Thanks again ...

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Marion!

That's gorgeous! The quilting adds definition to the blocks and looks outstanding. Congrats on learning a new technique. You are an inspiration.

Thanks Rhonda K ... I wouldn't call me an inspiration ... I'd say what the heck was she thinking LOL ... I did learn lots of stuff during the process, so I am happy with the learning curve!

Hooray!! So glad you didn't get discouraged and trash it. I think it looks great! And bonus that you learned from the experience. Just out of curiosity, what kind of batting did you use and how big across are the embroidered motifs?

It has been my experience that the downfall of many quilted projects is leaving too much area unquilted. Even if a batting says you can quilt up to 10" apart, I honestly don't think any project looks good after being washed when that much area is left unquilted. It just allows too much loose fabric to wrinkle and bunch. Now I do know that I personally prefer more quilting and what some refer to as "quilted to death" quilts. I know not everyone likes that look. But I read once somewhere (and it could have been an old rule going back to the days when batting was not bonded and would not hold up) to leave no space unquilted that is bigger than your fist. I actually have a "vintage" Mountain Mist 100% cotton batting in my stash that is not bonded and the minimum quilting distance is 2". When I finally break down and use that batting I will probably quilt it so that no area bigger than 1" is left unquilted.

This has been a great thread to follow. I learned a lot, not only about quilting but also about asking for help and advice and following through. The quilt is beautiful, Marion and Feline Fanatic did such a great job of sharing her experience and knowledge.

I use warm and natural. I'm not really one to be fussy about batting, maybe I should be for certain projects!

What a beautiful quilt! So much love in there. If you do the embroidery again, might I suggest that you use a soft stabilizer, perhaps an iron on tricot, and embroider through just the top and batting, leaving the back off until ready to actually quilt it. That should give you less pulling or puckering and keep the top stable. Then when you quilt it the back won't show the embroidered areas (but the batting is quilted to the front) and the open spaces will be part of the design on the back. That keeps the "messy" embroidered portion off the back too. Love it!

Thank you ... I'm doing that right now on a different project! And it seems to be working well!