"Red" Work Embroidery

I used quilt weight white cotton for my redwork squares. It looked good, and short travels did not show through. The two redwork quilts at the museum I work at seem to be made with heavy, white cotton for the squares. I must admit, being example deprived, that I do not know the difference between quilt weight muslin and cotton. If you want traditional, stick to the solid white. However, I like the idea of some visual texture to the background that a white-on- white would give. Turtle

Hi again, Pat! I make quilts frequently with embroidery. I love embroidering squares as a take-along project, too. My fabric of choice is Kona Snow. My LQS recommended it for some quilts I was making with

30's repro fabric and when I did some embroidery squares on one of them, I so loved the feel and look of it that I ordered a whole bolt of it. It is not a stark white, more of a creamy, old timey white. I have never had any trouble with seeing travelers through it, either.

Connie from ND

Pat > It is nice to have a hand project to take to meetings and such. For quite a

On Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:01:12 -0500, Pat in Virginia wrote (in article ):

I did the bluework blocks for my teapot quilt on Kona cotton. I think you'd be very pleased with it.

Maureen

Not sure about the Kona cloth. I did my redwork in a terrible plain muslin! I *wish* I had done the embroidery in an Aida, but I was half way done before I realized this!

Judy from Mass

I have done several Redwork projects. I usually use a WoW fabric as the background. After reading info from several Australian designers who use embroidery in their quilts, I have been using a light-weight fusible interfacing on the back of the blocks. It doesn't change the hand of the fabric very much, and helps with the thread show throughs as well. I have heard that many people use a piece of muslin on the back, but I would be worried about the layers slipping and puckering when I move my hoop. For some of the smaller projects, I use a fat quarter of background fabric, embroider, then cut the blocks apart after stitching. I just finished the alphabet blocks from Bobby Socks Quilt Company http://69.90.47.120/bobbysocksqc.com/freeredwork.htm

Connie: Thanks for the info on Kona Snow. Joanne's did not have it but I can check LQS. PAT

Judy: Ouch, too bad about your difficulty with that muslin. Luckily, I learned on the trial block not to use it. I'd like to say that the Kona Muslin had a nice hand, unlike any other muslin. I have not used it yet though. NAYY. PAT

"judyanna" Not sure about the Kona cloth. I did my redwork in a terrible plain muslin! I *wish* I had done the embroidery in an Aida, but I was half way done before I realized this!

Judy from Mass

How does the fusible interfacing affect the needling? Do you need a larger needle? PAT

And furthermore on Redwork. Even if it's green. Do bleed your embroidery thread to see if it's going to run. At least remove the brand bands, soak it in a cup of water and let it dry on something white. Strip it. That means: cut it in handy lengths, place them out straight on a towel and mist them with a little bit of starch. When dry, put them back together with 2 going in one direction and one in the other. This makes your stitches Gorgeous! Change needles frequently or at least sharpen the one you love. Wrap your hoop. Just plain old inch-wide strips of paper towels will do. Wrap them around the smaller hoop. This will keep the hoop from stressing the fabric. Do take the embroidery out of the hoop when you're not stitching. If you're going to do redwork, you might as well get the most bang for your buck. Polly

Not Polly, but this is something I was thinking needed to be discussed a bit. Kona Bay and Kona are different< very different. Kona Bay is a fairly tightly woven, smooth fabric and is wonderful to use for piecing and such. A lot of Kona Bay fabrics are Asian prints. Kona cotton is from the Robert Kaufman company. It is a "thicker" fabric, not as tightly woven and a bit less "sheer". Kona is great for embroidery, Kona Bay may be a bit tight and a bit too "thin" to work as well. Do cut your background pieces oversize and plan to trim to size just before you sew them together. Kona can ravel a bit, even just sitting.

Both Kona by Kaufman and Kona Bay are good fabrics, but they are best used for different things. I would use Kona cotton as an applique background, but not for any delicate applique pieces. Kona Bay is great to use for those tiny applique parts and such.

As for using Fusions or such, it depends on what effect you are going for. Personally, I like to use a much more subtle background for embroidery, and think that a solid (or a light "marble" or "hand dye" look) helps to set off the embroidery. Too much print in the background, even a tone on tone, can "fight" for attention with the embroidery. YMMV. Muslins do vary in quality. I used RocLon muslin for my Dear Jane quilt and it is great. But I also have gotten really cheap quality muslins that I wouldn't use for anything that I expected to last. And cost is not always the best way to determine quality.

Best suggestion is probably to get some samples of possible backgrounds and do a few test stitches, including a bit of traveling to see how it looks. Then get lots of whatever you decide to use.

Have fun Pati, > Polly:

Wonderful! When I don't know what I'm talking about, Pati does. How great is that? Thank you, Pati. Polly

"Pati, in Phx" Not Polly, but this is something I was thinking needed to be discussed a bit. Kona Bay and Kona are different< very different. Kona Bay is a fairly tightly woven, smooth fabric and is wonderful to use for piecing and such. A lot of Kona Bay fabrics are Asian prints. Kona cotton is from the Robert Kaufman company. It is a "thicker" fabric, not as tightly woven and a bit less "sheer". Kona is great for embroidery, Kona Bay may be a bit tight and a bit too "thin" to work as well. Do cut your background pieces oversize and plan to trim to size just before you sew them together. Kona can ravel a bit, even just sitting.

Both Kona by Kaufman and Kona Bay are good fabrics, but they are best used for different things. I would use Kona cotton as an applique background, but not for any delicate applique pieces. Kona Bay is great to use for those tiny applique parts and such.

As for using Fusions or such, it depends on what effect you are going for. Personally, I like to use a much more subtle background for embroidery, and think that a solid (or a light "marble" or "hand dye" look) helps to set off the embroidery. Too much print in the background, even a tone on tone, can "fight" for attention with the embroidery. YMMV. Muslins do vary in quality. I used RocLon muslin for my Dear Jane quilt and it is great. But I also have gotten really cheap quality muslins that I wouldn't use for anything that I expected to last. And cost is not always the best way to determine quality.

Best suggestion is probably to get some samples of possible backgrounds and do a few test stitches, including a bit of traveling to see how it looks. Then get lots of whatever you decide to use.

You're welcome,Polly. Although I have a feeling that it isn't often that you don't know what you are talking about. When the mood strikes I can discourse at length on most any textile related subject. If it bothers anyone, skip the messages. The "teacher" shows up at any time, but I do try to control that aspect some.

Have fun, and stay cool. (We are in the midst of an extreme heat advisory.... started Sat. morning early and may end tonight late. Even the dry heat is hot when it is 110=B0F plus, and 105=B0 at 10PM. sigh........ but we don't have to shovel it......

Pati, > Wonderful! =A0When I don't know what I'm talking about, Pati does. =A0How= great

105° at 10 pm? Good gracious! My goodness! Awesome. We do the 110° bit but by 7 in the evening, things are bearable outside. However - we've learned a cheap trick for keeping down the power company bill. We have 3 cheap (less than $10 ) little plastic electric fans going. One in the sewing room, one in the kitchen and one in the hall. They don't use much power but they do immensely help the big ac keep the house cooler by moving the air around or something. With the lights, iron and me steaming over a 5/8" seam, the ac and budget needed some help. I highly recommend the little fans for a helping hand. Polly

"Pati, in Phx"

Have fun, and stay cool. (We are in the midst of an extreme heat advisory.... started Sat. morning early and may end tonight late. Even the dry heat is hot when it is 110°F plus, and 105° at 10PM. sigh........ but we don't have to shovel it......

105° at 10 pm? Good gracious! My goodness! Awesome. We do the 110° bit but by 7 in the evening, things are bearable outside. However - we've learned a cheap trick for keeping down the power company bill. We have 3 cheap (less than $10 ) little plastic electric fans going. One in the sewing room, one in the kitchen and one in the hall. They don't use much power but they do immensely help the big ac keep the house cooler by moving the air around or something. With the lights, iron and me steaming over a 5/8" seam, the ac and budget needed some help. I highly recommend the little fans for a helping hand. Polly

"Pati, in Phx"

Have fun, and stay cool. (We are in the midst of an extreme heat advisory.... started Sat. morning early and may end tonight late. Even the dry heat is hot when it is 110°F plus, and 105° at 10PM. sigh........ but we don't have to shovel it......

Clearly Pati lives in the hot part of the desert. She wins. I don't think we have hit anything over 102 here yet. It usually doesn't do that until early afternoon. We cool off in the evening and all night usually and that saves us. Around here most folks have ceiling fans in a lot of the rooms in addition to the little carry around fans. More than a few swamp coolers too. I don't know how you folks in humid climates can take it. I can go the dry heat but that humidity makes me more than a tad cranky. I gotta have the cool evenings too. I am jealous of ds in San Diego. If houses get cheap enough I could find myself back there. Taria

That's why we're so pretty. The steam is good for our complexions. Polly

"Taria" I don't know how you folks in humid climates can

OH I remember those days! Yes....hot is hot...humidity/no humidity....it's HOT! We set a record on my DD's birthday back in the 80's at 122 degrees. It was HOT HOT HOT! The pool felt like bathwater. We had popsicles for supper....no one wanted to eat anything else. Shoveling ain't all that bad.....they make handy machines that do it quickly and very well. Be careful in that heat Pati! Hummmm I wonder where that quilted steering wheel cover is????? Is it still packed away here? Or did we give it away when we moved?