Finishing a Candlewicking Pillow

Last night I put the final knot on a candlewicking pillow top. I had purchased the kit for $1.00 at the rummage sale and opted to do it immediately because, despite its size, it was easy to take to several stitching sessions. Instead of using ecru thread on ecru muslin, I used cranberry-ish thread in some places to add a bit of color. The kit came with ecru piping but it is dull and butt ugly!!! I'm toying with the idea of doing a rag edge using some still to be determined colored fabric for the sandwich.

How many layers should be in the top and bottom pieces? I'm worried if I use too many, I might not be able to stich 'em together.

To make the rag edges, I've read that one should make lots of 1/4" snips and then wash. Could all the little threads clog the machine's drain pipes? If the pieces are put in a net bag to possibly avoid potential clogs, would the edges still fray? Should the pieces be machine or air dryed? If machine dryed, might the clogging problem also rear its ugly head?

Reply to
anne
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When doing a rag edge on quilts, there is usually just the front fabric, back fabric and batting that are shown in the cut edge. If you don't have any quilt batting available, you might want to have two additional layers of regular fabric to get a similar look to your finished pillow. Adding a layer of fabric that matches the cranberry floss color you used would be nice, I think. As for the cut edges of a quilt when first machine washed & dried -- BEWARE -- they ****will**** fray and could clog up your washing machine works. Of course, with a pillow, there isn't anywhere near as much in the way of amount of cut edge so you likely wouldn't have a huge problem. Just be sure to check your lint traps in both machines and you should be OK. The hardest part of a rag edge item is making all those cuts! OY -- the fingers get tired but it is doable. Good luck and make sure to post a photo once you have the piece finished.

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

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Reply to
Tia Mary

As is often the case with me, things just ain't simple To ensure that I had even edges before sewing things together, I lightly schpritzed a little bit of the candlewicked top -- I almost cried when I saw that some of the cranberry colored knots bled. No way was I gonna put the whole top in water so plan B and then C were born.

Plan B was to use double sided quilt binding to give the edges some color. I was *almost* happy with my practise pieces using the 1 step method from wrights.com but couldn't figure out a way to attach the binding to the fourth side after the pillow was inserted. Remember, my inexpensive machine which doesn't have many attachments and I barely speak.

Plan C was born -- found cranberry colored material for backing, sewed 3 sides together, inserted pillow form, stitch witched the opening ... tain't too bad. Cost of kit was $1, pillow form was $0.50, pennies for the cranberry thread and fabric ... result is priceless ;-)

Reply to
anne

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