Drafting a quilting pattern myself

Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to free-hand quilting designs, in response to my post about what a hassle templates were, I had good luck tonight. I was thumbing through a book of quilting patterns looking for something I might like to hand-quilt on each block of a project I'm piecing right now, and found one I though would be perfect, but it was too small for my 12" blocks. So I got a dinner plate, a cereal bowl, and a drinking glass to measure out the concentric circles, then used a straight-edge for the wheel-spokes between the inner and middle circles, and freehanded the feathers between the middle and outer circles. No problem! I can do this repeatedly with a graphite pencil or chalk on the quilt sandwich, no problem!

It was fun. Just wanted to share.

ep

Reply to
Edna Pearl
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Atta girl, EP. Quilting is supposed to be fun. However ... did you feel that coming? I'm wondering if the handquilters here are going to let you use a graphite pencil. If they're all on Halloween candy sugar high and unable to respond, for goodness sake test and be sure that the graphite will wash out. There's a strange recipe of alcohol, detergent and something that includes brushing with a toothbrush to remove graphite marks but you might want an easier way. Only fair to add that I don't know what I'm talking about - I've just seen the discussions. Polly

"Edna Pearl" Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to free-hand quilting designs, in > response to my post about what a hassle templates were, I had good luck

Reply to
Polly Esther

Believe me, Polly -- after my recent experience with a yellow fabric marker, I'll be testing that graphite fabric marker on a scrap of this calico cotton!

But surely I don't have to test chalk . . . .

ep

Reply to
Edna Pearl

I've had happy results with the children's just plain old water soluble Crayola felt pens. Don't know what would happen if they were left in very long or exposed to much sunshine or baked in a car. For 'briefly', they are wonderful. While you were using the china, I was using the lid to a butter tub to make a perfect circle for the base of a flower girl basket. When you get really creative, you might add pickle jar lids and the top to a can of spray starch. Good circles just all over the place. =) Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Have you tried those blue water soluble pens? Or even just crayola washable marker? You do have to be careful you don't get an iron or the sun near your quilt top and the water soluble ones have been known to reappear if the quilt isn't washed with soap/detergent, but I've found that pens make marking a quilting design a lot quicker and easier than chalk or pencil. I do exactly what you did, it's impossible to own a circular feather template (or any other shape for that matter) in every size you might possibly need, so I'll use any circular object that I have on hand and if nothing seems to be the right size, I'll resort to a pair of compasses and cutting my own template out of card and trace round that. A while back I also went to an art store and bought a template that had circles from tiny to about 2 inches in increments of

1/8 inch, which is useful for all sorts of things.

Cheers Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

A correction to Anne's post- do NOT use any type of soap or detergent to remove a water soluble marker! The marks must be removed with lots of cool, clear water. The soap/detergent could set the water soluble marker and make the marks permanent. The best way is to run the finished quilt thru a washer cycle with only cool water for the wash and rinse cycles. Then it can be washed with a soap/detergent. The Crayola washable markers aren't fussy- just wash and you're ready to go.

Sounds like you are making great strides in your quilting! Good on you!

Leslie & The Furbabies >> Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to free-hand quilting designs,

Reply to
Leslie& The Furbabies in MO.

I use both graphite and chalk pencils to mark all of my quilts. Never a problem but I always wash in the machine w/detergent. I'm currently using a plain old #2 mechanical pencil but I've used the graphite one that comes with the changeable chalk pencils that Joanns sells as well with good results on both. One note of caution, the graphite one that Joanns sells is smudges A LOT on the templates and your hands - hence the reason I switched to the regular mechanical pencil. But the markings from the graphite one come out of the quilt very easily when washed. I also like the chalk changeable markers sold at Joanns. They are great when the mechanical pencil just won't show on the fabric. I have learned to only mark the section I'm working on at the time, though. The chalk wears off otherwise with all the moving and twisting of the quilt. Then again, I've only worked on queen and king sized bed quilts. I think the chalk would last the length of time it takes to hand quilt something that size if not for all the movement. So if you're working on a frame it might be a different matter to mark the entire quilt. I think I've tried every marking tool on the market and these are my favorites. And just my 2 cents - Roxanne #12 needles and Thimblelady stainless steel open end thimble are the best needles and thimbles for hand quilting. Again, tried lots of others and these are the best for me. Give them a try if you have the opportunity. Good luck!

Kim in NJ

Reply to
AuntK

Reply to
Roberta

I fully admit to being a quilting heretic, and this note is about using graphite pencils to mark quilts. I do it all the time and have NEVER had any problem with it not washing out! I use an ordinary No.

2 pencil, nicely sharp, and mark lightly. When the quilt is finished I toss it into a large washing machine, gentle cycle, cold water, and use regular laundry detergent. Thin lines marked lightly seems to be the key, and if you make a mistake do NOT try to remove the stray mark with an eraser, since that will scrub the graphite into the fibers! Ignor them, and they will wash out later. As to using pencil only where it won't show much, I should add that I use pencil on white fabric, too, and just finished my 4th whole-cloth quilt, and the pencil came out completely.
Reply to
Mary

I've only used a regular mechanical pencil to mark a quilt one time. That was enough for me. Nothing I did got those lines out, even though I'd used a light hand with the marking. I washed. I used that "strange recipe" (can't remember exactly what it was, except that it did have alcohol and Palmolive dish soap). I even resorted to a fabric eraser. No luck at all. Now I use the water-soluble blue pens or the Bohin markers (wonderful things! I love them.).

Reply to
Sandy

That DOES sound like fun, EP. :-) Not only will it be pretty, you've got the satisfaction of figuring out how to make the pattern.

Best regards, Michelle > Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to free-hand quilting designs, in

Reply to
Michelle C.

Hi Polly,

Good catch about the graphite. I used it a long time ago. It is so accurate for quilt marking that it still entices me. That said, it washed out of only about 95% of the fabrics in the scrappy quilt on which I used it. :-(

Best regards, Michelle > Atta girl, EP. Quilting is supposed to be fun. However ... did you

Reply to
Michelle C.

oops, I'd somehow managed to miss the two stage requirement, just checked what Diane Gaudynski has to say on the matter and she confirms what you said, I'm just hoping now that I've not done this to any quilts!

I have heard that you do need to be sure to do that 2nd stage of washing with soap as water only makes the colour change to invisible which might be reversed under certain conditions like a wallhanging with sun on it.

The only reason for me to use the blue water soluble ones over the crayola ones is that if I make a mistake in marking I can just wet a small area, let it dry and remark.

Cheers Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

I love this whimsical look, it's a lot more forgiving than a precise wreath, but each have their uses.

Cheers Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

I'm amazed, as one of the problems I've had with this method is that the graphite transfers on to the thread and it ends up looking like it's been quilted in grey thread!

Do you starch your fabric before marking?

Cheers Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

Dang, EP! You need to post some pictures of all these creations!! I'm still determined to finish my ongoing 3 projects but I have promised my quilting friend I will be ready for some basic beginner instructions come Feb when I see her again.

However, I found myself thinking about trying to copy these Pottery Barn "gift" pillow shams. What a lovely next years Christmas gift they would make! With hope and heart, Kathleen, back to lurking because I *refuse* to get too interested just yet!

Reply to
Kathleen

Yeah, right. Lots of luck with that, Kathleen. Polly

"Kathleen" Kathleen, back to lurking because I *refuse* to get too interested just yet!

>
Reply to
Polly Esther

lol -- Polly, meet Kathleen, a dear friend of mind who has quilted in the past and is trying to finish some UFOs of other arts before she gets back to quilting. Kathleen, Polly is guaranteed to crack you up and is an expert quiltmaker.

ep

Reply to
Edna Pearl

I haven't quilted in the past, just wanted to do it for a couple years now!!

Reply to
Kathleen

Oh, I misunderstood, Kathleen. Well, let's get on it! :-)

ep

Reply to
Edna Pearl

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