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Not so blunt needles

To avoid wrinkles and/or gaps between the cotton ground and the cotton backing that often occur when I make fabric sandwiches, I used steam a seam lite to attach the layers to each other. Now I'm having real problems getting the needles especially the crewel and chenille ones through the fabrics. Last night, I resorted to pulling a large eyed needle threaded with silk ribbon through with pliers.

I'm not about to abandon this project and could use some advice about what to do now as well as ways to avoid similar difficulties in the future.

Reply to
anne
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Would it be easier to do the ribbon embroidery just through the top layer and do the quilting through all the layers with heavy thread that you could hide under the embroidered part?

Reply to
Lucille

Yep, yep, yep, you're right.

Here's what happened: I wanted the subtle colorings on the ground instead of just a traced black and white but couldn't find a business that would print an enlarged version of Di van Niekirk's Ribbon Embroidery and Stumpwork design on cloth so I did it myself on two sheets of printable fabric. Because there are stumpwork wire pieces and someone told me or I read that another piece of fabric 'should' be used on such projects as a stabilizer, I first attached the design to the backing with strips of narrow steam a seam. As I stitched, little bubbles appeared so I detached the other side and reattached it with a sheet of steam a seam.

I've had such a good time working this piece that I ordered another book and preprinted design directly from the designer in South Africa. They should be here any day now.

Reply to
anne

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