quilting a silk quilt. HAS ANYONE DONE ONE
#13
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Sturbridge, Ma
Posts: 3,992
work carefully. I suggest getting a new pack of silk pins and do a lot of pinning I heard a lecture one time from a garment maker who said she never uses the same pin twice on her fine fabric. And take it slow. I have one in my to do list of a fabric of cotton/silk blend.
#14
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 1,148
I just finished a silk quilt top. Pattern was "Silk Tempest"
by Cherry House Quilts. Because of the awful fraying with silk I used a lightweight fusible interfacing on the back of the silk fabrics. I would never, let me repeat, never do another silk quilt without the fusible interfacing. Remember, the fusible will stabilize the silk to the point where there will be very little give and take for easying when sewing so be as accurate as possible in cutting. I used a Dual Duty silk covered poly thread that was finer than usual thread. The one thing I found out was that by the time I got to sewing the first few rows together the pieced blocks were beginning to "unsew". So I switched to a shorter stitch length and reverted to back stitching... not the blocks therselves but when sewing the blocks togetherBe sure to stay stitch on the outer perimeter of the quilt before quilting it or sending it to be long-armed. Also, I would suggest surging or zigzagging the edges of the backing. I have not (and will not!) quilt it myself. My BF will have the honors. Will be using a silk batt and she will make the decision on the quilting thread.
I enjoyed the challenge of this project and, cost factors aside, I would do another but nothing fancy, no Peaky and Spikes, no curves, etc.
Will try to get pics tomorrow and get my son to post. Please keep me (us) posted.
As an addendum - I didn't know not to use steam, I did and I didn't have any problem. Likewise with the pins but it was a simple geometric pattern and I pin the the seam allowances anyway and almost always use silk pins, so, again, no problems. You know what they say about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread. Sigh...
by Cherry House Quilts. Because of the awful fraying with silk I used a lightweight fusible interfacing on the back of the silk fabrics. I would never, let me repeat, never do another silk quilt without the fusible interfacing. Remember, the fusible will stabilize the silk to the point where there will be very little give and take for easying when sewing so be as accurate as possible in cutting. I used a Dual Duty silk covered poly thread that was finer than usual thread. The one thing I found out was that by the time I got to sewing the first few rows together the pieced blocks were beginning to "unsew". So I switched to a shorter stitch length and reverted to back stitching... not the blocks therselves but when sewing the blocks togetherBe sure to stay stitch on the outer perimeter of the quilt before quilting it or sending it to be long-armed. Also, I would suggest surging or zigzagging the edges of the backing. I have not (and will not!) quilt it myself. My BF will have the honors. Will be using a silk batt and she will make the decision on the quilting thread.
I enjoyed the challenge of this project and, cost factors aside, I would do another but nothing fancy, no Peaky and Spikes, no curves, etc.
Will try to get pics tomorrow and get my son to post. Please keep me (us) posted.
As an addendum - I didn't know not to use steam, I did and I didn't have any problem. Likewise with the pins but it was a simple geometric pattern and I pin the the seam allowances anyway and almost always use silk pins, so, again, no problems. You know what they say about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread. Sigh...
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 7,312
Originally Posted by dixiechunk
I just finished a silk quilt top. Pattern was "Silk Tempest"
by Cherry House Quilts. Because of the awful fraying with silk I used a lightweight fusible interfacing on the back of the silk fabrics. I would never, let me repeat, never do another silk quilt without the fusible interfacing. Remember, the fusible will stabilize the silk to the point where there will be very little give and take for easying when sewing so be as accurate as possible in cutting. I used a Dual Duty silk covered poly thread that was finer than usual thread. The one thing I found out was that by the time I got to sewing the first few rows together the pieced blocks were beginning to "unsew". So I switched to a shorter stitch length and reverted to back stitching... not the blocks therselves but when sewing the blocks togetherBe sure to stay stitch on the outer perimeter of the quilt before quilting it or sending it to be long-armed. Also, I would suggest surging or zigzagging the edges of the backing. I have not (and will not!) quilt it myself. My BF will have the honors. Will be using a silk batt and she will make the decision on the quilting thread.
I enjoyed the challenge of this project and, cost factors aside, I would do another but nothing fancy, no Peaky and Spikes, no curves, etc.
Will try to get pics tomorrow and get my son to post. Please keep me (us) posted.
As an addendum - I didn't know not to use steam, I did and I didn't have any problem. Likewise with the pins but it was a simple geometric pattern and I pin the the seam allowances anyway and almost always use silk pins, so, again, no problems. You know what they say about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread. Sigh...
by Cherry House Quilts. Because of the awful fraying with silk I used a lightweight fusible interfacing on the back of the silk fabrics. I would never, let me repeat, never do another silk quilt without the fusible interfacing. Remember, the fusible will stabilize the silk to the point where there will be very little give and take for easying when sewing so be as accurate as possible in cutting. I used a Dual Duty silk covered poly thread that was finer than usual thread. The one thing I found out was that by the time I got to sewing the first few rows together the pieced blocks were beginning to "unsew". So I switched to a shorter stitch length and reverted to back stitching... not the blocks therselves but when sewing the blocks togetherBe sure to stay stitch on the outer perimeter of the quilt before quilting it or sending it to be long-armed. Also, I would suggest surging or zigzagging the edges of the backing. I have not (and will not!) quilt it myself. My BF will have the honors. Will be using a silk batt and she will make the decision on the quilting thread.
I enjoyed the challenge of this project and, cost factors aside, I would do another but nothing fancy, no Peaky and Spikes, no curves, etc.
Will try to get pics tomorrow and get my son to post. Please keep me (us) posted.
As an addendum - I didn't know not to use steam, I did and I didn't have any problem. Likewise with the pins but it was a simple geometric pattern and I pin the the seam allowances anyway and almost always use silk pins, so, again, no problems. You know what they say about fools rushing in where angels fear to tread. Sigh...
#17
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 6
thanks for the infomation, i will be doing a little mini to work out a lot of things ,I did not think of, glad i asked before starting, and yes i heard about not reuseing the silk pins. and i will be using the light wieght interfacing.
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