After spending the better part of a day stackin & whackin, here are some observations I have made:
- Don't every try to stack & whack pre-washed fabrics. My bug fabric was fresh off the bolt and whacked wonderfully. I had two yards of a fabric I purchased on e-bay that I thought would make an interesting quilt. It was pre-washed. I followed the instructions and made a guide piece, lined up the guide piece to cut the second piece and...wait...it was like trying to hit a moving target. I finally got them all cut, but they were all slightly different. So, I starched them (should have probably done this to start with). That was a little better. But lining them up was a real pain. The fabric wanted to stick together (because of the starch) and getting the pin to an upright aligned position was very difficult. And, cutting a stack of 8 pieces of starched fabric was a real challenge. I finally succeeded though!
- When whackin gives you lemons - make lemonade! The above whacked fabric looked horrible cut for the 15" block - right triangles. I then said to myself..."a half a right triangle is still a right triangle"! So I whacked them in half again. And, that was much better. The kaleidoscopic effect was much more pronounced.
- Don't give up on a stack & whack as hopelessly boring until you find a "wow" background and look at it through a reducing glass. The above whacked and whacked again looked really boring until I put them on a deep blue moda marble and looked at it through a reducing glass. Wow, that made a huge difference. I think I'll make them into a wall quilt or a table covering.
- Don't ever, and I mean EVER try stack'n whack unless you are prepared to become hopelessly addicted. It's all I could do to stop myself from heading to the local LQS to find more whackable fabric! But...there's always E-Bay.
Mardi Real e-mail address spelled out to prevent spam. mardi at mardiweb dot com. ____________________
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