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Sewing diagonal stripes onto a muslin backing?

We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out that what "some book" says is a wonderful idea may not translate so well into real life!

We want diagonal stripes of various colors, 6 inches wide, with black patterned stripes 2 inches wide in between. The 6-inch and 2-inch stripes have been cut and sewn into long strips. These were all cut and sewn with the grain of the material.

The "book" said to lay two stripes right-sides together and pin or baste, and then sew onto a backing piece (sewing through all three layers in one go). We are using a large piece of muslin for the backing. This will be the quilt top. Finished dimensions will be 64 x 76, and then we'll add a 6-inch border all the way around.

As this is sewn, the stripes are being sewn with the grain, but the muslin is being sewn on the bias. My poor wife has done more with her seam ripper than her sewing machine! It seams (uh - "seems") sewing onto the muslin on the bias causes it to stretch, which misaligns everything and puts wrinkles in the material.

We're going back to square one - not that we ever got too far away from it!! She's removing all the stripes from the muslin today, and when I get home tonight I'm going to chalk out the design onto the muslin - square up the sides and draw in the 6- and 2-inch stripes. That should give us some references for whether things are stretching or we're just getting ourselves misaligned.

Questions:

(1) Is sewing the stripes together with the backing the right way? Or should all the stripes be sewn together first, and then onto a backing? Or fuggedabout the backing? (My concept would be to fit the stripes to the lines drawn on the muslin, sew the stripes only to each other until finished, and then sew again over each seam to the muslin. But "the book" said different, and it was written by someone who obviously knows much more than we do.)

(2) If the backing is a good idea, is muslin a good choice? Or is there something that won't cause the problems we're running into?

(3) Is the stretching because of sewing grain-to-bias? Or are we doing something else wrong? If it's a bias problem, can we get around it by hand-basting the stripes to the muslin before running through the machine? Or are we going to insert more problems that way?

Any suggestions are most welcome!! Ed

Reply to
Ed from AZ
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I don't see why the plan wouldn't work. You're probably going to have to act like the bank robbers in an old movie and yell, " Nobody Move!". What if you starch that muslin? I mean really, really starch it - stiff as glass. Can you ease up the pressure so the feed dogs aren't stretching the muslin? The Bernina sm has a neat little dial on the left hand side; don't know if all machines give you that option. And use pins, Ed (and wife). Lots and lots. More than that. That sounds like quite a smashing quilt. We would love to see it. Polly

"Ed from AZ" <

Reply to
Polly Esther

Hmmmm - this does sound like an adventure! Does "some book" recommend using a large piece of fabric for the backing? This sounds similar to the concept of string piecing, but I think it's generally done with smaller, block-size pieces.

Unless I'm missing something here (and I could be!), I don't know why you would need the backing. Since all the strips are cut and sewn on-grain and all are the same widths, I think I'd try just sewing them together without the backing.

If you still want to use the muslin backing, though, you might try using a walking foot as you attach the strips to it. Another thought is to figure out a way to cut the muslin and re-sew it (similar to piecing backing) so that the straight of grain is on a diagonal. I'm sure there's a way to do that, but I can't wrap my brain around it right now!

Louise > We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out

Reply to
Louise in Iowa

Oh, what an intriguing puzzle!

First thoughts: If the stripes are cut with the grain, at least you are half way 'saved'! I would say abandon the muslin - it seems to me to be serving no purpose except causing difficulty. I would normally have said use paper instead of muslin, but that would be a very large piece of paper! and very difficult to handle. No, if those stripes are on straight grain, I would forget backing altogether. I would sew them together in pairs, then fours, then eight (or whatever). Sewing two, then adding one at a time, and accumulating width is rarely the safest way to go - with strips or squares. Before you add the border, I suggest you do a large stitch basting right round the edges - or you will again be sewing straight onto bias.

Hope something there helps >g< . In message , Ed from AZ writes

Reply to
Pat S

I am afraid I don't quite get the point of sewing the stripes together and then sewing them to the muslin. I think I would either abandon the muslin entirely, or draw it out on the muslin and sew it as for foundation piecing.

You definitely want the muslin true to grain, well squared, and starched to within an inch of it's life. Especially working with a large piece. On a large piece it would be very easy to just get things misaligned, especially working bare with no guide marks.

Basting it down by hand would indeed eliminate much of the problem, at least it would for me. I have been sewing clothes for so long that I seldom have trouble with bias seams. It's just a matter of practice. Threads like this make me sit and think about what I do and what in particular I do that helps avoid trouble.

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

To which book are you referencing?

Bev > We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out

Reply to
Bev in TX

Starch. Not the wimpy kind in a fancy-schmancy spray can but the kind you mix yourself and can make really strong. Then, make sure your foundation is very, very straight and square. Once you've done that, toss it and just stitch your strips together, measure the diagonal space and cut. Okay, if you are trying to keep the foundation for some reason, do the starch and straight cutting thing, then get a walking foot. I can't see why the diagonal stitching would be a problem unless you're letting the fabric go all catty-jawumpused. A walking foot will help.

Sunny (what are you trying to accomplish?)

Reply to
Sunny

Which book? The only reason I can imagine why you would need the muslin might be to give yourself a guide for offsetting the ends of the strips so you end up with a rectangle shape of diagonal stripes. But you could surely figure that out by yourself: ditch the muslin. Orconsider using a thin batting instead (no bias issues).

If you really want the muslin for some reason (is it the actual back of the quilt that will be visible?), you might consider cutting your strips on the bias. then the grains wouldn't be fighting. But this is maybe not the simplest choice.

Either way, it sounds like you need a walk>We're off and running on another quilt adventure. And finding out

Reply to
Roberta

Thanks to all who chimed in.

"That book" was probably one of the many from our library; finding it again might be a chore in itself. My wife might know off the top of her head; I'll check.

I'm going to outline the stripes on the muslin. That way, we'll have a "jigsaw puzzle" guide. Rather, SHE will have a guide - she's the creative genius; I'm just the guy who can draw straight lines and keep the machine running. 8>)

The starch idea is good. I'll pass that along - I think it'll really help.

We thought about the walking foot, but wondered it it would be more trouble than just basting a bit or taking it slow and easy. Then again, with a good power seam ripper, there's not a whole lot of fatal mistakes in this craft!

Ed

PS - As I'm wrestling this piece of fabric across two table tops, I'm envisioning a frame that would allow you to put something this large on and draw a pattern on it, mark edges, and other planning type things. Do they make such a frame? Or is that what walls are for?

Reply to
Ed from AZ

If it were me, I'd ditch the concept of the muslin as stabilizer.

Since these stripes are the whole quilt, I'd do it QAYG (quilt as you go). That makes much more sense to me. Sort of like Judith Larzelere does, but with much wider fabrics. Someone else - I can't remember the name - does Bargello quilts the same way as QAYG.

The batting/backing will supply the stability you need, plus you can always mark your lines on the batting as well so you can maintain the correct straight line/angle you want. And then your quilt is done.

Sounds like a pattern from a very, very old quilting book, when the fabric wasn't as well made as it today.

Reply to
Michele in NYC

A bit of an update:

First, aparently the idea for sewing the stripes onto the muslin did NOT come from a book - it was a "brilliant idea" from my daughter! Loosely based on "something" read in "some" book, but nope, not found anywhere.

Second, we decided to draw stripes on the muslin as a guide and template, and then sew the stipes together and ditch the muslin! Finished that yesterday.

This is a t-shirt quilt for my daughter. She's cut out all the designs from her favorite teen-years t-shirts and put them on black backing patches. She wants a top of diagonal multi-colored stripes separated by a thin patterned black stripe.

Two weeks and we get to go to San Diego for the weekend. Got a new Janome DC2010 waiting for the wife at Rosie's!

Ed

PS - Got to thinking about that frame idea and I've got some inspirations. Would hate to reinvent the wheel, though, if something else is already available.

Reply to
Ed from AZ

Reply to
Roberta

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