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Dealing with a nap

It just never crossed my mind that ordinary smooth cotton quilting fabric would have a nap. I don't know if I can explain to those of you with no dressmaking experience what I mean by 'nap'. Perhaps nap isn't even the right word. With corduroy, fur, velvet, satin and sateen, the light will catch it and it will be a different color if you turn it one way or another. The current quilt here is a precious panel of a teddy bear in a sailboat with rubber ducks floating on the high seas. I needed to sash some of the accompanying blocks to enlarge the panel to a good size. I didn't pay any attention at all to what direction I turned the sashing fabric as I added onto them. I was just so surprised when they were all pressed, stitched to the big panel and put up on the design wall. There is a very distinct difference in the color of the sashing depending on whether the sashing was laid on from top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top, etc. As it is, I am sure it will be fine for chewing, hugging and making a tent. It would be just Awful if you were creating a very special blue ribbon winner. Who would have thought it? Polly

Reply to
polly esther
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Reply to
Ginger in CA

Reply to
jennellh

Ginger, I am the title holder for napping for the South, maybe even the world. For way too many years, I had to get up and go about 4:30 a.m. My body clock still does that and I do start the day early but I manage to take a lovely nap whenever one calls me. But (!) this post is a very serious one. Can you just imagine someone doing exquisite blocks of Baltimore Album or Aunt Jane or such - only to discover that the background of one was a different shade because the nap was placed in a direction different from the others? Oh, my. Groan. Polly

Reply to
polly esther

I saw your header and thought to myself "Dealing with a nap"? Go for it. One can always use a nap.....

Guess I needed to read further.....

Laurie G. in CA

Reply to
Laurie G.

I don't know whether I can bear something *else* to think about!

(Thanks for the note, though, Polly. As you said, 'who would have thought of that?) . In message , polly esther writes

Reply to
Patti

Reply to
Susan Laity Price

Houston hasn't come by and begged me to enter anything so I probably won't ever be concerned with the color change caused by the direction of cutting fabric. I have, however, noticed very slight differences in color in many quilts and assumed that those blocks had maybe been handled more than the others or maybe they had been on a road trip. Now, I think I must go try a nap with my head at the south end of the sofa. Sounds good. Polly

Reply to
polly esther

Sadly, mine runs East/West >g< . In message , polly esther writes

Reply to
Patti

I usually nap -- on those rare occasions when I do nap -- with my head at the south end of my sofa, too.

Reply to
Sandy Foster

Was this a solid color or a print? I've seen it happen with a solid once before. My mom thought I was nuts until I showed it to her. Thankfully, it was just a little project and not a quilt. I tend to turn fabrics every which way before sewing now though. Debra in VA See my quilts at

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Reply to
Debra

I looked for a name on the selvedge but that's long gone; it's similar to Nancy Crow's "Crush" prints, just sort of swirly shades of cadmium yellow. Since I posted this, I've inspected the fabric in all sorts of light and find that the sheen is most noticeable in halogen light - not sunshine and not Ott. Most peculiar. Polly

"Debra" wrote > Was this a solid color or a print? I've seen it happen with a solid

Reply to
polly esther

I've had this happen before but only when I turned the fabric 90 degrees -- meaning one piece is cut with the grain and the other piece is cut across grain. I've never had it happen when turning the fabric

180 degrees. Heavens, there are so many clothing patterns that are laid out in a sort of "nesting" manner with one piece top up and the other piece with bottom up! Laying a pattern piece cross grain when everything else is with grain can often result in a totally different look especially if the fabric weave is something other than a regular over one under one! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

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

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