More than Just Quilting Cottons

Over the past couple of years, there are two new fabrics that have invaded the 100% cotton fabrics that quilters love so much.  Those two fabrics are flannels and wools. 

I was first introduced to flannels about 27 years ago when I was pregnant with my son.  I made Matt a crib quilt and backed it with flannel.  To say I was not impressed with flannel is a severe understatement.  It frayed and did not play well with the batting.  It was a headache to sew with from beginning to end and I swore I would not spend what precious little quilting time I had with such an onerous fabric again.

The back of Matt's Baby Quilt

Besides, flannel didn’t even come in pretty colors.

Flash forward ahead to three or so years ago, say, circa 2013.  My how things have changed.  Bonnie Sullivan came out with a line of flannels that were brilliantly colored, breath-takingly beautiful, and patterns to go with them.  The little quilt shop I frequent began to purchase bolts of the tempting fabric and flaunt them in front of my face.

Then they paired the flannels with wool.  It was to-die-for gorgeous.

But still a part of me held back.  As beautiful as the fabric was and as preciously cute as the quilt blocks were, it was, after all, still flannel.

And flannel is stretchy.

And if frays easily.

And it does not wash well.

However, I was comparing the 1988 flannel to the new lines.  Some of those concerns still held, but now…now there were products and methods to counter any of the hindrances of working with flannel. 

The first issue with flannel has obviously been dealt with – what they look like.  While you can still get the standard light blues, pinks, soft yellows, and mint greens, the folks that manufacture flannel have upgraded the choices tremendously.  They are patterned in herringbone, tweeds, plaids, stripes, flowers, and dots.  Quilt panels are also appearing in flannel.  One quick glance in quilt catalogs and some quilt stores (as well as some “big box” stores) dispels the notion that flannels are dull. 

Flannels for my Raspberry Swirl

Now for the stretch issue.  That is still true with flannel.  It does stretch.  Flannel is typically made out of wool, but it is mixed with cotton and synthetic fibers.  It’s the synthetic fibers that give flannel its stretch.  However, there are some suggestions on handling the flannels that help keep their shape.

First, lightly  starch the wrong side of the flannel with spray starch or Best Press and a hot  iron before cutting.  The key word here is lightly.  The fabric should not be stiff, but have just enough added body to stabilize it. 

Second, be sure to press and not iron the fabric.  Remember my earlier blog about the difference between pressing and ironing?  Ironing is a back and forth motion of the iron and pressing is an up and down motion.  If the flannel is ironed, that back and forth motion is sure to stretch the fabric even more.  If you’re putting the iron to your flannel, be sure press at all times. 

Third, if you have to use the exposed bias (as in half-square triangles), handle those as little as possible and as gently as you can.  And expose that bias at the last minute to avoid stretching.

As far as the fraying issue goes, flannel is going to fray far worse than cotton quilting fabric.  And cheap flannel frays the worst. However, if the quilter is prepared for the fray, then he or she knows there are steps to take to combat it.

Flannel is often used as a background for wool or flannel applique.  If this is the part flannel is playing in your quilt, then cut the background square at least ¼-inch to a ½- larger than the unfinished required size.  Yes, this is larger than you cut cotton backgrounds, but again, flannel frays a lot worse than cotton fabrics.  This added width and length gives you what I call “fray margin.”  The loose threads can easily be trimmed away without messing up your required unfinished measurements.

If this amount fray margin can’t be achieved, zig zag or serge the edges of the square. Remember that typical applique patterns require the quilter to cut the square down a little before piecing the quilt.  The zig zag or serged stitches will be cut away, so no additional bulk with be added to the seams.

There is also a product on the market called Fray Check.  It’s typically available at the “big box” stores and at some quilt shops.  This product has been on the market for years.  I used it back in the 1980’s-1990’s when I taught French heirloom sewing.  I would coat the end of the ribbons I used in Meg’s dresses so they wouldn’t fray.  It has the consistency and look of clear fingernail polish, but it dries soft.  While it would be costly to coat all of the edges of a flannel quilt in Fray Check, if there is a spot or two that has some really bad “fray issues,” it is my go-to choice to deal with it.

Fray Check

While we’re on the subject of applique and flannel, it should also be remembered that flannel has a very soft hand – that is, it’s a really soft fabric.  It doesn’t have the stiffness that cotton does when it comes off the bolt.  Therefore, don’t wash the flannel before you begin to work with it. 

This may go against everything you know about prepping fabric for quilting, but flannel is a horse of a different color when it comes to piecing and quilting.   Flannel manufacturers do put a type of sizing on the right side of the flannel before they ship it out to the wholesale and retail markets.  However, that sizing is far less and much softer than what’s used on cottons.  So it’s not a good idea to wash out what little finish is in the fabric.  Plus, the added washing would cause the fabric to fray even more.

And this, of course, means two things.  There is that possibility of the flannel pieces fading on each other.  But again, this is 2015, and dyes have come such a long way, especially in the flannel market.  When the flannel item is washed, throw a Color Catcher in the washer and everything will most likely be fine.

Second, this means that when the flannel quilt is washed and dried, there will be some shrinkage.  And this shrinkage will cause the quilting to “pucker” just a bit and give the quilted item the look of an “older” quilt. 

That soft feel of the flannel may make you a little hesitant about machine appliqueing with flannel.  Don’t be afraid.  It machine appliques beautifully.  There will be a future blog on this topic that will go into more detail, but it boils down to a few important things to keep in mind.

--Use a smaller and tighter zig zag or blanket stitch.  Because flannel frays, that smaller and tighter stitch keeps the fray factor in check.

--Back flannel with a stabilizer.  Because the flannel has such a soft hand, your sewing machine may not want to move it over the feed dogs evenly with a small, tight stitch.  The result will be a hole in your flannel.  My favorite product to use as a stabilizer on flannel is Pellon’s Stacy Easy Knit.  It irons on and is light and soft.  It does not have to be removed prior to quilting, either.  It’s easy to quilt right through, either on a domestic sewing machine or a long arm. 

Pellon's Stacy Easy Knit - you can see how light and soft it is.

Finally, when the quilt square is finished, it’s a good idea to stay stitch around the block to help the flannel hold its shape and not fray.  And clean your machine when the project is done.  Flannel is very, very linty.  Your machine will need to be cleaned thoroughly.

More on flannel (and wools!) in a week or so….until then,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

PS -- Always remember that I am not a paid employee of any product company I promote on my website.  I mention the product and trade names that I use and pay for myself and know to be of good quality.

A Trip to the Eye Doctor and the Color Purple

Today has been a doozy of a day.

I’ve never exaggerated about my age in this blog.  I am 53 years-old.  And 53 is what it is…middle aged and some issues are beginning to crop up in the getting-older body.  While my mind still thinks it’s a 20-something, my body is sayin’ it ain’t cashing that check.

Today was one of those check-bouncing days.  I have horrible eyesight and wear contacts or glasses every waking hour.  Today I had to go see my optometrist, an energetic 20-something woman whose body isn’t even writing checks yet.  The good news is no glaucoma, no macular degeneration, and no sign of cataracts. 

The bad news is I’m still blind as a bat.

That and my pupils are still dilated to the point you can’t see hardly any blue at all.  If I had been pulled over by the police at any given time today, I would have promptly been asked to pee in a cup.

However, my eye doctor was very intrigued about quilting.  When she asked if I wore reading glasses in addition to my contacts, I mentioned I wore a magnifier when I appliqued.  Which brought up questions about what that was and what all quilting entails.

Moral of my morning appointment:  She said all quilters need to take care of their eyesight.  She was happy with my explanation of Ott lights and magnifiers and cautioned me (as well as every other quilter) to be careful with their eyes.  Rest them after about 20-30 minutes of hand sewing.  Make sure the lighting is not just adequate, but really, really good. 

Of all the senses we use, as quilters, sight is really precious.

I hadn’t intended on sharing all of that, but as this week’s blog is on color, I did think it was pertinent. 

I love picking out fabric for my quilts. I love color and design.  And quilters, as artists, are sensitive to color.  There are the pure colors – which are the primary colors and all the colors that are made by mixing any two of the primary colors.  Tints are made when white is added to any color in varying amounts.  Tints are colors such as apricot, pink, lavender, mint green, robin egg blue, and light blue. Shades are created when black is added to a pure color.  With the addition of black, colors such as olive, avocado, rust, brown, cranberry, maroon, navy, emerald green, teal, dark blue, and dark violet are created. 

Tones are made when a pure color, tint, or shade has been grayed.  If the graying is minimal, the effect is subtle.  The color, tint, or shade is slightly softened.  If the graying is more extreme, the color itself appears gray with just a hint of the color.  Beige, tan, rose, mauve, plum, heather, dusty teal, bluish gray, and salmon are tones. 

All of these colors, tints, shades, and tones are wonderful and you only have to glance outside of your window to see how Mother Nature uses these in a grand harmonic gesture.  However, there are two colors that are particularly intriguing to me as a quilter.

These two colors are lime green (a mix of yellow and green) and purple (a mix of red and blue).

 

When I first started quilting back in 1985, it was a pretty hard and fast “suggestion” (because there really are no rules in quilting), that a quilt needed to be a balance of warm and cool colors.  The warm colors of course are the reds and oranges and yellows.  The cool colors are the greens and the blues.

Current quilting has kind of blown that “suggestion” out of the water.  The 2013 and 2015 APQS winners had yellows and oranges as their background fabrics, fully nullifying the cool/warm balance rule.  While cool colors were used in these quilts, the overwhelming color scheme was warm. 

And you know what?  That’s fine.  The quilts are beautiful.

However, getting back to the lime green and purple, the reason I like them so much is that they play on both teams. 

Place purple next to a cool color, such as blue, and it looks cool. 

 

But watch what happens when you place it next to a warm color such as red…

 It heats up immediately.

The same thing happens to lime green.  Next to a cool color, it’s cool.

 

Next to a warm color, it’s warmer.

I think it’s even more noticeable in batiks, where the colors undulate.

 

Moral of this story – while purples and lime greens are great to play with and are the most versatile of colors – they do make placement of them a little tricky.  Please note that if you’re using them as a cool color, make sure they’re placed next to cool colors.  If it’s used as a warm color, make sure it’s next to warm colors.  Otherwise, they’re not going to do the job you want to do.

And wonkiness will ensue. 

Love and Stitches, 

Sherri

Cleaning Out and Cleaning Up

So...I'm back from vacation.

You know how it is when you leave to go on vacation.  You clean the house and then somehow, someway, it still gets dirty when you're gone.

Or you just didn't see the mess when you left.

That's the way it was with my sewing area.  It was one of the first things I saw when I returned home.  My first thought was "It's a wonder I can find anything...much less get anything done!" 

So I cleaned up and threw out and re-organized.  Four hours and eight new bins from Office Depo later, I think it's better, except I misplaced some blocks for my history club's quilt.  Need to find those babies soon.

Such was  my week and therefore a short blog. 

More next week....

Sherri

A Sad Good-bye

I know I said there would be no blog this week because I was on vacation with my family.  However, I received some information that was very upsetting.

After 46 years, the National Quilt Association is shutting its doors.

That's kind of like hearing the  church you're a member of is going out of business.

You see for 46 years, the NQA has put out a quarterly magazine with terrific articles and pictures and patterns.  They have fostered excellence through shows and classes.  This is the organization that established the quilt world's teacher certification program and the certified judges program. 

And those programs are thorough.  The teaching certification program has produced some of the finest teachers available to quilters and the judges program is so rigorous that one of the judges told me "It's like getting a PhD in quilting." 

Along with all of this, they had a grant program for quilt artists.

Financial crunch is the reason the NQA is folding.  The cost of shows is rising while membership is declining.  Both of those equal financial statements that will run in the red.  So while you can't blame the board for reaching this decision, it does send a shiver up my back.

Most quilters are like me.  They are "belongers."  They belong to at least one of their local guilds, several bees, and at least one national quilting organization, such NQA, AQS, IQA, and TAS.  I'm a card-carrying member of all four national organizations, two guilds, and two bees.  We cherish the fellowship and value the information that is passed on. So when one of these organizations ups and vanishes -- well, I kind of worry that others may be on that precipice.  Every time the quilt world loses a guild, or national organization, or a bee, a little piece of quilt history and quilt information is gone forever.  And that, my quilting friend, is very, very sad indeed. 

Could NQA have been saved?  Perhaps.  I'm not on the their board, so I don't have ready access to financials, but perhaps.  Cut the number of shows?  Maybe.  Shows are expensive and take a huge amount of time.  Up membership dues?  Another maybe.  But then you run the risk of alienating members. 

In a lot of ways, quilting organizations have their backs against a wall.  National and international organizations are at a particular risk.  With a local bee or guild, you have meetings and workshops and other events that put you face-to-face with other quilters, so the fellowship and learning component is readily available and worth that $20 to $25 annual membership fee.  The national and international organizations for the most part do not have this advantage.  The Applique Society (TAS) -- of which I am a board member -- has chapters that meet monthly or even weekly.  But not all states have them.  It's up to a TAS member to see the need and start a chapter.

Sometimes it's hard for quilters to see the advantage of that  $25+ membership fee.  All of these organizations have websites and quarterly newsletters.  AQS offers a membership discount into all of their shows and at their online store or their booth at shows.  Most local quilt shops will honor those cards with a 10% discount.

So what's a quilting organization to do?

I thought a lot about this, what with working with my guilds and as a board member of TAS.  I think all quilting groups -- bees, local guilds, and large quilting organization -- must remember that the times -- they are a changin'.

The average age of a guild member is 50.  These are folks who have for the most part raised their kids and see the retirement light at the end of a long, hard tunnel.  Most have a little more disposable income.  This means if you gotta raise the membership dues by $2 to $5, they're not gonna complain a whole lot.  Sure, they're going to grumble a little, but if they feel they're getting bang for their buck, a slight increase probably won't hurt your membership a whole lot.

However, this has got to be handled carefully.  I feel the membership has got to know why the fee is being raised -- that it's not just an arbitrary decision by the board.  For instance, I know of one quilting group whose show really tanked this year.  The President was pretty straight forward with the membership over the financial crunch.  She told the group the fees would be raised $5 to a total of $30 annually until the group could run in the black again, or the programs would have to be severely cut back.  The membership voted to raise the fee. 

Now let's pick up two issues from this.  First of all the age thing -- 50 years-old.  I definitely fall into that average.  But there is a whole huge group of new quilters out there who are younger and energetic and appreciate the art, too -- the Modern Quilters.  Now before some of you traditionalists get your batting in a twist, let me remind you that it's probably going to be this generation of quilters who decide if quilting is going to survive for another 40 years.  For sure, they have their own guilds, but we should be making a large effort to attract them to ours. 

And this may mean changing some of the ways we do things. This group is definitely internet savvy.  They're perfectly fine with chat rooms and blogging and Facebook and Twitter.  They want their newsletters on line.  They are fine with lots of negative space in their quilts and certainly want their own category at the next quilt show.

We could learn a lot from them.  And they could learn a lot from us.

Nationally, membership is on the decline, especially in large quilting organizations.  Attracting these new members could benefit everyone.  It may mean upping the ante on our websites or having a modern quilt category in our shows.  It means not gaping at their quilts at the guild show and tell.  It means listening to what a whole new category of quilters want from a guild.  Virtual meetings?  Day time meetings over lunch?  And it certainly means seeing how traditional techniques (such as applique) could be incorporated into their quilts.

Attracting these folks would push up the membership numbers and be beneficial for everyone.

The second issue is shows.  Shows take a great deal of time and a greater deal of money.  And more volunteers than you could shake a quilting needle at.  Every guild I have talked to this year that has had a show has either not made as much as they did at the last show (best case scenario) or the show completely failed (worst case scenario).  It seems each guild puts on their own show as well as each national organization.  I really, really feel that this has got to change.

In the business world, in order to survive, you need to find a niche you fill better than anyone.  In the business that my husband and I own, ours is federal and military work -- for a multitude of reasons.  It means miles of red tape, but it's put two kids through college and made mortgage payments.  I firmly believe that organizations that are producing quilt shows have got to start thinking along the same lines.

If every other guild in your state is having a quilt show in the same year, why should a quilter go to your show over another?  And better yet, why should a vendor pick your show over another to vend at? It's a given that huge organizations, such as AQS, have their shows down to a science, so let's see what we can learn from them.

There's always Paducah.  They can have shows all over the United States and all different times of year, but come April, you know they're always going to be in Paducah, Kentucky. 

It's a multi-day show.  Generally, it's a three day show regardless of the location.

They're not afraid to network.  There's always a strong showing of local guilds.

They have classes with great teachers.  Always.

It's a judged (and usually juried) show.  Yep.  AQS ribbons mean something.  You come home with one of their blues and you've made it as far as the quilting elite goes.

So what does this mean to a guild?
1.  Find the best time of year to have your show that's convenient to your customers and vendors and have it about that same time every other year. 

2.  Make it at least two days.  A lot of great vendors who may have to travel some distance to be at your show won't touch a one-day event.  Multiple days may make a difference.

3.  I really do believe that the days of the one-guild show are over.  I think guilds need to work together to put on a multi-day show.  This spreads the cost around as well as gives you more volunteers to pull from.  For instance, there is an area on the coast where three or more guilds get together to have their show.  Each guild takes turns being the host -- that guild gets the attendance money.  The have a food vendor that sets up but it is not allowed to sell desserts.  Another guild sells desserts and they get that money.  So cost and proceeds can be divided.  It's a matter of guilds working together.  As a result of the cooperation of the above mentioned guilds, attendance is stellar and everyone goes home happy, not exhausted, and has cash in the guild's tender.

4.  If you have a multi-day show with multi-guild help, you can pull the best teachers from each guild and offer classes -- a win/win for everyone.  That way you're encouraging people to come back to your show for a couple of days to take classes.  This makes vendors happy and it allows the guild to showcase their best instructors. 

5.  Viewers' choice ribbons are fine, but you really need a judged show with a certified judge.  This is an added expense, but it can be worked around.  The quilts are usually judged before they're hung for the show.  Most guilds charge an additional fee per quilt to cover the cost of the judge.  Of course, not all members may want their quilts judged, they just want them hung.  And that's fine.  But it should be stressed just what a judged show is -- a quilt judge is not going to be hyper-critical of their work.  He or she is going to give them a critique of their quilt -- what they did great and what they need to work on.  It can only help make you a better quilter.  Plus, honestly?  You really get a better turn out for a judged show.  Sometimes judged quilt shows are open to guild members only and sometimes they're open to anyone.  It's up to the guild(s) involved to make these decisions.

The news about NQA is very upsetting.  I hate it so much.  But as quilters we can take this as a cautionary event and look at the organizations we love so much very carefully.  While we love guilds and national groups so very much, everyone must realize that they are a business.  We may not call them as such, but they do have a bottom line that needs to be kept in the black. Hard decisions may need to be made, but if the membership is kept in the loop, I don't think these decisions are impossible. 

The last thing I want to do is say good-bye to another one.

Love and Stitches...and Kleenex tonight,

Sherri

Let's Try This One More Time...

If all you've ever done at a quilt show is shop, let me clue you in on something...

They're a lot of work.

Even for a one-day show with a small guild like mine, it's a lot of work.  It wearies me to no end to try to fathom what goes on in a huge, multi-day show like AQS and NQA put on.

These are our lovely raffle baskets that everyone raved over....

 

 

And this is our lovely 2015 Raffle Quilt (I still have tickets.  We don't draw for it until December.)

 

This wasn't a judged show, per se, but we did have viewer' choice ribbons.  Gail Lawson's Dear Jane won in the large quilt division.



Theressa Smith won the small quilt/wall hanging division with her Mexican Star.

 



Since I was the outgoing president of the guild, it was my responsibility to chose the theme for the 2015 President's Challenge, so I chose, "What Does High Point Mean to Me?"  There were rules about the size, the materials, and the color -- it had to have purple in it.  It also had to be an original work -- no kits, no patterns, no classes.  Karen Tooley took the viewer's choice in this division with her quilt:

This hits on just about everything High Point is:  the furniture city, the international city, the transportation city, High Point College, jazz music, and World Relief.

Here are a few of my favorites...

 These two are by Linda Hudgins, and both show her sense of whimsy.  The top on is a miniature of "The House Quilt."  Each house depicts a different holiday or time of year.  My favorite is the beach house with all the surf boards outside.

The one below that is completely self-explanatory....

This is Judy Poteat's Hop To It.  Her technique and color selection are always flawless.

 This is one by Gail Lawson. I can't remember what it was called but I absolutely loved the yellows used in the blocks and backgrounds.  Some quilters don't like to work with yellow, but I love the way this one plays well with the other colors.

This is "The House Quilt."  Several years ago a few of my friends took a class in this quilt and for months you would have sworn they were general contractors the way they talked about walls and chimneys and window sills.  This quilt was done by Theressa Smith and has won quite a few awards.

 T-shirt quilts were present and I just had to take a photo of this one.  The quilt was pieced and quilted by Shelle Mancl, whose husband has run many a marathon.

 This is another beautiful quilt by Judy Poteat.  It's called Quilting the Garden.  I love, love, love her color choices.  And as per usual, her technique is flawless.

This is another quilt by Linda Hudgins.  It's all machine embroidery and is her family tree.

Other than my President's Quilt, I didn't have one in the show.  I tried my best to get At Piece with Time done, but it just wasn't to be.   My long-arm artist is backed up out the wazoo right now.  It will be ready for the 2017 show.

Which begs the question -- do you quilt every quilt with a quilt show in mind?  I always try to do my best in every aspect -- color selection, pattern choice, technique, and quilting -- but no, I don't quilt every quilt with a quilt show in mind.  That just adds a layer of stress on my already stressful life.. 

I did find out what was wrong with BlogSpot last week.  Evidently BlogSpot is like me -- it hates change, because it does not play well with Windows 10 and Windows Edge.  I have to post through Internet Explorer.  Oy-vey.

There will not be a blot next week.  I leave this weekend to spend a week at Emerald Isle with my family.  I hope to return refreshed and ready to quilt!

Love and Stitches...

Sherri

And Tiara Has Been Passed...

What a week...and it's still not over with.  I explained a week or so ago that my laptop went into meltdown and had to be restored.  I'm not sure what it is with me and computer adventures, but this week...of all weeks, I got the message from Microsoft that said my Windows 10 was ready for download.

"Big deal."  That's exactly the thought that ran through my head. I had had enough to the peculiarities of laptops and printers.  I was perfectly fine and okay with waiting a week or three to download the new stuff.   But then my laptop started not recognizing some of my drivers (like the one I use to download photos from my camera to my blog for you folks) and nothing I did made it work.

So evidently in the great scheme of bits, bytes, ram, and rom, I was destined to download Windows 10 whether I wanted to or not.  Which was really a "not" because this week I wanted to talk about quilting software.

Instead I spend three hours downloading "the big 10", waiting for it to do whatever mojo it needed to do to my apps and updating everything.  Then I spent another 45 minutes waiting on my pictures to load.  Which they eventually did. 

After spending about four hours of my life that I will never get back dealing with software I really didn't want, I did find that while my drivers now worked perfectly, my apps looked entirely different.  

You need to understand something about me and new technology.  I am a strong proponent of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule.  I mean, I kept QuickBooks 2012 until Intuit no longer supported it just because I didn't want to retrain.  While I have may have enough patience to spend two years quilting a quilt by hand, I have none when it comes to technology.  When I turn my computer on, I want it to work.

Perfectly.

Every.  Time.

Spending minutes -- no, hours -- dealing with back ups and updates and playing hide and seek with files does not make Sherri a happy quilter. 

Anyway, it's done.

Over.

Kaput.

Until some 19 year-old brain trust at Microsoft decided he or she needs to make older adults go nuts with another update.

That said,  the High Point Quilt Guild had its show last weekend and I had planned to post pictures of it.  I took tons, but alas, in the great scheme of "the big 10" I can't post them.  It was a wonderful show, and Shelle Mancl, the show chair, did a wonderful job.  Shelle wore the tiara of "show queen" well, and now it's someone else's chance to wear the crown. 

I hope by next week to have all the bugs eradicated from my laptop and post pictures, even if it means moving the blog to another domain.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

To Starch or Not to Starch....That Is A Question....

My blog is about a lot of different aspects of the quilt world.  Sometimes it’s about the actual quilts and sometimes it’s about the process and sometimes it’s about inspiration. 

But sometimes it’s about the basics, because if you can do the basics correctly, that will take you a long way in making any other technique look good.  We discussed thread at length in a previous blog and today I would like to write about pressing verses ironing, to starch or not to starch, and prewashing your fabric. 

One thing I have discovered about all three is that quilters can feel passionately about these basics.  So let’s just jump right in and stir the pot.

First of all, if you’re ironing your quilt, you’re doing it wrong.  The word ironing connotes that one is sliding the iron back and forth over the fabric to get the wrinkles out.  Darling, you want to iron your clothes (if people actually still do this…), but press your quilts and your fabric.

Why?

Ironing may stretch the bias, because you’re sliding the hot iron over the surface of the material.  Pressing is an up and down motion and it will dispense with any wrinkles, but it won’t play with your bias.

And here’s where your preference of starch or a substitute (such as Best Press) can come in into the equation.  So let’s just jump right in and talk about the first issue – to starch or not to starch your fabric. 

All fabric, whether you prewash or start sewing the fabric as soon as it rolls off the bolt, needs to have some starch or starch substitute pressed into it to make it sew better.  While the fabric off the bolt does have some “body” to it on the right side of the fabric as a result of the finishing process, the back of the fabric does not.  Fabric manufacturers won’t spend time or money finishing the side of the fabric that’s not seen on the retail sales floor.

So the back of the fabric (whether prewashed or not) needs a little help.  Some quilters will starch the entire cut of fabric and others only starch the pieces they’re working on at that time.  Either way is fine.  You want to starch the wrong side of the fabric. 

Lay the fabric on the iron surface with the wrong side facing you.  Spray the material well and allow it to sit for a minute. 

 

If spray starch is being used, let all the little, white bubbles dissipate before putting a hot iron to the surface. 

 

Then press the fabric with an up and down motion.   This up and down motion forces the starch into the fibers and gives the fabric wonderful body and makes it easy to sew. 

 

 

 

 

There are a couple of schools of thought at this point, and they’re both entirely personal preference.  If you’re not a “pre-washer” (which we will discuss further down in this blog), one application of starch may be all the fabric needs.  However, it’s not wrong to starch the fabric several times.  Some quilters prefer the fabric to feel more like paper than material, so they may repeat this process as many as three times.  It’s entirely up to you and what feels best and works best for you and your sewing machine.  I do think that if you are a “pre-washer,” more than one starch application is needed, since all the finishing chemicals in the fabric are dissolved in the pre-wash. 

So now, let’s talk about which is best – starch or substitutes, such as Best Press?

I use both, each for different applications.

 

Starch has been around it seems like nearly forever.  It’s been on the shelves of grocery stores along with laundry soap and bleach and sizing.  I use the regular starch or the heavy duty, whichever is available.  I use it to prep my fabric for cutting and sewing because in my 27-year quilting opinion, spray starch gives the fabric more body and works best for this step.  Other quilters prefer Best Press or other starch substitutes, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

Indeed for years and years and years starch was the only player in this game until someone invented sizing.  Sizing is kind of like starch – it gives the fabric a bit of a lighter hand than starch – but chemically it’s very, very different.  The former chemistry teacher in me could get into hydrocarbons and such, but let me just boil it down to this:  sizing can play with the dyes and bond with the natural fiber make up in your cotton fabric.  And this is not good because that means all those wonderful marking tools that you use that either rinse out with water or disappear with heat or over time are suddenly faced with an entirely different set of chemical molecules than they’re made to deal with.  And that means the marks made with those marking pens and pencils may not completely and absolutely come out.  So leave the sizing for those folks that still iron clothes and reach for the starch.

Couple of cautionary statements about starch at this point.  First, don’t starch fabric you plan on storing.  The big appeal with starch substitutes is that, since they are not plant based, they do not attract bugs.  Starch won’t either, if you starch the fabrics as you use them.  Don’t wash, press, and starch the fabric and then store it for months before cutting.  That’s like putting out the welcome mat for all kinds of six-legged critters.

Second, don’t by the dollar store starch.  True, you may save yourself a few pennies, but you’re gaining a great deal of water weight (and I could make really bad jokes right now about water retainage, but I won’t).  The cheap starch is made with cheap ingredients and nothing is cheaper than water – unless you drink the imported kind.  Buy your starch at the grocery store or drug store.

Now Best Press. 

 

I do use and like Best Press.  I primarily use it when I’m doing Mylar applique or making bias tape with bias tape makers.  I like the softer look it gives the edges of the applique pieces and, since a paint brush is used for that step, I do find it plays better with a brush than spray starch.  Best Press is a little (okay, a lot) pricier than starch but it comes in different scents and it does last longer than starch.  And if you really like it, there is a “recipe” for homemade Best Press out there on the internet that involves distilled water and a trip to the ABC store for cheap vodka.

Let’s now focus our attention on the last question:  To prewash or not prewash the fabric before sewing.  Some quilters do and some don’t.  I do both.

Let me explain.  When I began quilting back in the early ‘80’s, everyone prewashed their fabrics.  Ellen Freeman, the lady that really taught me to quilt, instructed me to prewash all of my fabric, press it, and cut a tiny corner off of one side.  This was a sign that, if I didn’t get around to using the fabric for a while, that clipped corner meant I had prewashed the fabric and it was good to go.  So I dutifully prewashed everything, including light colors.  Most of us did.

Recently, because of the great breakthroughs in color fastness and those wonderful color catchers you could put in the wash to deal with colors that fade, prewashing kind of fell out of fashion.  There for a while, I was one of the few quilters I knew that still prewashed.  So I began to be selective.  My dark colors I would still wash, but the lighter ones I wouldn’t.  And this worked okay until I had a fairly light pink fade on a piece of white during the pressing process.  I immediately threw it in the wash with a color catcher, but it didn’t get rid of all the faded color.  If this had been a quilt I was making for me, I honestly wouldn’t have cared that much, but it was for a local library’s silent auction to help raise funds for their children’s section.

I was heartsick. This time I threw every piece of fabric going in that quilt into the washer and prewashed it.  Then I started over.

So now I’ve gone back to prewashing every piece of fabric.  Live and learn.  The only time I might not do that is if the fabric will be used in an art quilt, landscape quilt or other type of quilted wall hanging.  Those are honestly not washed often, if ever.

And I’ve recently learned a new thing or two about prewashing.   We have a wonderful man in our guild that worked in the textile industry for years before retiring.  He knows tons about color and color fastness.  He told us at a guild meeting that nothing -- not soaking in salt water or adding vinegar to the water – can truly “set” a color that runs.  The best bet to make sure all the excess dye is out is to wash it in warm water a couple of times.  This will get rid of most excess dyes.  He also said that after this, if the fabric still bleeds, to discard it or use it in something like a wall hanging that won’t be washed, because it will fade regardless.

Like everything else in quilting, there are no real right and wrong choices.  It’s up to you to discover what you like and what works best for you.  Don’t be intimidated, just try different things!

My guild’s (High Point Quilt Guild) quilt show is this Saturday, August 15 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Hartley Drive YMCA.  If you’re in the area, please come and join us!

Love and Stitches,

 

Sherri