susie-susie-susie

Your block is beautiful. The colors really pop. I hope you can solve your problem without too much trouble. Can't wait to see the finished quilt.
Sue

Bree123

I agree with Dunster about contacting the vendor to ask for a larger background fabric.
If that's not possible, I'd try to buy additional background fabric somewhere.
Barring those two solutions, if it's a wall quilt, you could back the whole thing with fusible+muslin. That would give you a little bit extra play with the edges & would also reduce how much fabric is taken up in the applique process. Even with a quality lightweight fusible like Misty Fuse and the thinnest weight of muslin, though, it will produce a stiffer quilt, so I would not typically recommend that for a bed quilt.

Warbler

Thank you everyone for the encouragement and kind words. I am about half way done. This is month 6.

Jan, Since this is a BOM, I am working with the given fabric. The cut they shipped is simply not enough. That's the real issue.

Gay, I think you have made a very astute point. I am using the Clover bias tape makers with the role of adheasive that feeds along with the tape. I do pull and let it relax before I press but I find that sometimes the fabric will unfold if I let out to much before pressing. I need to move the tape maker is small increments. So I may have been too impatient where some did indeed stretch. You can see that little bit of wave in the background.

Dunster & Sewingitalltogether, I agree. I have already been in contact with the company about making cuts a little more generous and already asked for more fabric for another block that was too small... I wonder if other participants have had the same problem. I have done other BOM's without issue but this is the first with this particular business. I was told if I wanted yardage from the company offering the BOM, I'd have to pay retail at 12.95/yd. I searched for some of the fabric, used in this project and ordered. I found some elsewhere for a better price plus free shipping... including a couple yards of Bella that is used in the background. I think I am set with fabric. The line is getting hard to find though. I will have to stitch very carefully and try not to pull my thread to taunt.

Also I laid the background over a light box to align all the parts of applique... everything is where it should be and I'm only tweaking what is along the edges. Those small leaves are supposed to be small, now they're 1/8 smaller... not enough to really make it look weird. Yes, it was extra work but it was the only solution... either that or start over.... I can make that decision later and come back to this, and move onto the next block.

Overall, I am going forward on this project and be mindful the finer details with great caution!

Thanks so much. (Hugs)

Just something to compare...

jmoore

I just want to chime in to say what a lovely appliqué project you have chosen. Good luck.

mac

I would definitely contact the provider of the block and ask for a bigger background. If they are not overly familiar with applique, they may not have considered that the background will shrink quite a bit when it is all sewn.

If you are hand appliqueing and not machine quilting, I would do this post haste. Depending on how many pieces you are appliqueing on a block will determine how much it will shrink when hand sewing. Since there are quite a few pieces, you may get more shrinkage than you bargained for.

Warbler

Are you saying that If i stitched this down by machine it won't shrink as much? I did contact the company and they apologized and are sending more background... which I don't need now because I went and purchased my own fabric for future errors... I suspect this will not be the last. I asked if she had any recommendations on how to more forward on this project but there was not response to this questions, just a comment they will send me more.

I really don't want to take this block apart. But I am afraid I may have to...

mac

It has been my experience that machine applique doesn't draw up the background fabric as much. When you are doing hand applique, depending how tight your stitches are, it tends to draw up the background more.

How far have you gotten with the applique? Am I correct in understanding that you are hand appliqueing? If you have done a fair bit on the block, you can measure your background and at least get an idea how much it is drawing up. If it hasn't drawn up very much, then you might be safe. If you haven't gotten very far at all, you may want to reconsider going any farther and cut another background and put your pieces on that background.

I like to be sure that I have enough background fabric so that if I run into any problems, I will be sure that I will have that 1/4" seam. With this in mind, I cut at least 1" - 1 1/2" bigger than the background needs to be. The more pieces that are sewn on the block, I will cut the 1 1/2" inches more. If it is just a few pieces that I am appliqueing on the background, then I will use only 1 inch extra.

It was good that you called the company providing the blocks. I am sure you are not the only one having trouble with the size background that they cut.

I hope my explanation helps.

Warbler

Thanks for your insight. I have done applique with great success both by hand (true needle turn) and machine. And I know it shrinks but this is the first time using all the techniques I've employed here. My error in all this was not measuring the background before I began... I made the assumption the business would ship what's required in a reasonable amount to make the block considering that its customers would use any variety of methods. Because I have always made sure there was ample amount of background in previous projects, I never considered how much it shrank as long as the block was centered.

Looking ahead to the next applique block in this BOM, the image below is from the pattern... those fingers are awfully tight together, not allowing for much fabric in between for a good turned edge. I am thinking of using the starch and template method again in this because at least I can stabilize the edge somewhat to prevent fraying.

Do you or anyone else have any thoughts?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]567274[/ATTACH]

mac

I have done the hand and heart pattern before and you are right it will be hard to turn without fraying. Since I rarely do the starch and template method, I would probably use a little Fray Check between the fingers. My favorite way to applique is to do it Jeanna Kimball's way.

Anybody out there have any other suggestions?

Warbler

I am nearly done in rebuilding my applique block. I dragged my feet for a few days, resenting that I was forced to do this. I am happy to say I am able to preserve all my shapes and will post new picks when I get it basted. The background fabric arrived from the BOM company and still I did not like the way the block had to center on a really strange cut. So I broke into some yardage I had and cut my own, giving myself nearly 3" plus of extra around the seam allowance for shrinkage. I know this is overkill but after having to rebuild the block, I guess you can't blame me.