GFG practice piece - Advice?
07-04-2013, 05:46 AM
#21
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 6,430
I, too, think that a good pressing will ease out the pucker. Beautiful colors and a good job. I don't use plastic hexies or paper either; I mark the sewing line as I cut them out and I don't have any trouble getting them to lie flat.
07-04-2013, 09:00 AM
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Pratt, KS
Posts: 313
I use and love the ladder stitch for joining hexies...just catch one or two threads and keep the stitch length very short...be sure to give a small tug after every three to four stitches-this will cause the stitch line to close up and it will be invisible to the eye...as for the puckers-a hit of starch and a dry iron will fix them almost every time...you are doing great work for your first attempt....
07-04-2013, 11:52 AM
#24
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 1,618
I am trying out a GFG block that will be appliqued in a BOM project I'm working on right now. I'm running into the same problem as the original poster. I think I know the the ladder stitch is and that's how I apply my binding by hand, so I know that stitch. I think the running stitch is what I use when I hand quilt. What is an overcast stitch?
I found I didn't really care for the glue stick to adhere the paper to the fabric, but I did like using basting stitch to attach the paper to the fabric. I whip stitched a couple together and that wasn't bad. I too am trying to keep my stitch length short and that shortened some of those puckers too and I've been starching the daylights out of everything and I noticed right away the difference. Is a whip stitch like an overcast stitch?
I found I didn't really care for the glue stick to adhere the paper to the fabric, but I did like using basting stitch to attach the paper to the fabric. I whip stitched a couple together and that wasn't bad. I too am trying to keep my stitch length short and that shortened some of those puckers too and I've been starching the daylights out of everything and I noticed right away the difference. Is a whip stitch like an overcast stitch?
07-04-2013, 12:11 PM
#25
Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Virginia
Posts: 7
I do not understand why anyone would go to the trouble of doing a ladder stitch when piecing GFG. I am with Jinny Beyer on this and simply piece with a running stitch (right sides together, from the wrong side). I do an extra back stitch towards the middle of the hex and at each end to secure the thread.
Maybe it's just me, but doing a ladder stitch (I assume you are doing this from the front?) would at least double, and more likely quadruple, my stitching time!
If doing a ladder stitch, I would use a thread that more closely matches the color of the patches. That way, if the thread shows, nobody notices. (Actually, I would do this when piecing also -- a darker thread for darker patches.)
Edit: Oh, I finally realized you are using paper and doing a ladder stitch instead of a whip stitch. It's so much easier to skip the paper and simply piece like any other hand-pieced pattern! If at all possible, check your library or purchase Jinny Beyer's video or DVD on hand piecing. She shows how to piece very quickly and easily. I watched her video years ago, but I think she just came out with a new book and DVD on hand piecing.
Edit: OK, checked and here is a link to her book:
http://www.amazon.com/Quiltmaking-Ha...dp/097212182X/
She has a separate DVD that is out-of-print and sells for something like $160 used, which is a real shame. However, check your library to find out if they have the older video or the DVD. It's much easier to watch her do what she explains than it would be to read a book about it!
Maybe it's just me, but doing a ladder stitch (I assume you are doing this from the front?) would at least double, and more likely quadruple, my stitching time!
If doing a ladder stitch, I would use a thread that more closely matches the color of the patches. That way, if the thread shows, nobody notices. (Actually, I would do this when piecing also -- a darker thread for darker patches.)
Edit: Oh, I finally realized you are using paper and doing a ladder stitch instead of a whip stitch. It's so much easier to skip the paper and simply piece like any other hand-pieced pattern! If at all possible, check your library or purchase Jinny Beyer's video or DVD on hand piecing. She shows how to piece very quickly and easily. I watched her video years ago, but I think she just came out with a new book and DVD on hand piecing.
Edit: OK, checked and here is a link to her book:
http://www.amazon.com/Quiltmaking-Ha...dp/097212182X/
She has a separate DVD that is out-of-print and sells for something like $160 used, which is a real shame. However, check your library to find out if they have the older video or the DVD. It's much easier to watch her do what she explains than it would be to read a book about it!
07-04-2013, 12:23 PM
#27
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,281
I am trying out a GFG block that will be appliqued in a BOM project I'm working on right now. I'm running into the same problem as the original poster. I think I know the the ladder stitch is and that's how I apply my binding by hand, so I know that stitch. I think the running stitch is what I use when I hand quilt. What is an overcast stitch?
I found I didn't really care for the glue stick to adhere the paper to the fabric, but I did like using basting stitch to attach the paper to the fabric. I whip stitched a couple together and that wasn't bad. I too am trying to keep my stitch length short and that shortened some of those puckers too and I've been starching the daylights out of everything and I noticed right away the difference. Is a whip stitch like an overcast stitch?
I found I didn't really care for the glue stick to adhere the paper to the fabric, but I did like using basting stitch to attach the paper to the fabric. I whip stitched a couple together and that wasn't bad. I too am trying to keep my stitch length short and that shortened some of those puckers too and I've been starching the daylights out of everything and I noticed right away the difference. Is a whip stitch like an overcast stitch?
07-04-2013, 03:30 PM
#28
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Happy Valley, South Australia
Posts: 186
GFG is a very good project for people on the go, I have one on the ten year plan as I call it, which means it happens when it happens. A small bag of papers, material, thread and needle goes just about everywhere with me and when I have to wait somewhere I do a little bit. I have even been known to sew hexagons together while waiting in line to get into a Quilting and Craft Fair. I am a soft toy maker from way back and when I started doing a GFG, it just seemed natural for me to use the glove stitch that I used on my soft toys. It is a very firm stitch and done small enough it does not show on the front, but it does use a little more thread. Glove stitch is easy enough to do, the first part is just a whip or overcast stich and then you simply do another stitch in the same spot as the whip stitch, then another whip stitch, then another stitch in the same spot and so on and so on. I hope this makes sense.
My quilt was not going to be anything spectacular, but lately I have seen so many different layouts of GFG that are stunning that I don't know which one I am going to do.
My quilt was not going to be anything spectacular, but lately I have seen so many different layouts of GFG that are stunning that I don't know which one I am going to do.
07-06-2013, 05:49 AM
#30
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 292
As I posted earlier, I am making a GFG quilt with 1" hexies. I baste the fabric on the papers, but cut the fabric into one inch squares, then trim the corners. I use paper clips to hold the fabric to the paper, which makes no marks or holes. I then use a whip stitch for securing the hexies together. I use a little paper binder clip to hold them together as I stitch them. I started mine in March of this year, and have around 40 "flowers" done, with another 12 with white borders. I am intending to attach them with green as a path between the flowers. EPP is portable and I take t with me easily. I did see on Fons and Porter a method of cutting the fabric with the seam allowance, folding it over the plastic hexie and pressing each side for a minute each. Then, they sewed the hexies together with a zig zag stitch. Seemed to take a lot of time and not very portable. I will be posting my progress shortly, watch for it
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