'Hypothetical' (blush) question

Yes, you can mix lengthwise and widthwise cuts. The world will still turn. Do try to control yourself and Press - as in up and down - iron instead of scrubbing back and forth. The scrubbing motion will give you some interesting and annoying curled strips. The lengthwise strips, especially for long lengths such as sashings and borders behave much better. As to polycotton sheets for backing, that's one of my favorites. I dearly love to make a gift of a quilt with a sheet backing plus a set of sheets that match. It is just a wonderful look. It does contribute to nap-attack addicts. Almost impossible to walk by without climbing in, just for a moment. It is said that poly is very difficult to handquilt. I haven't tried it. And there would likely be a difference in percent of shrinkage from the quilt top. With some serious stalking, you can find sheets that are all cotton that are luscious and affordable. Polly

Nonono, Lynn--that's not how you word this type of question! The correct introductory phrasing is "This happened to a friend of mine and I told her I would ask you what to do." Do it like that and you'll never have to blush again! :)

Nurse Ratched (remove "cuckoo" from address to reply) We'll all get back to normal if we put our nation first, But the trouble with "normal" is, it always gets worse. ~Bruce Cockburn

If you were doing borders, it would be more important to go with lengthwise grain. But for piecing, it does not matter as much. Every piece you cut has

2 sides (well, squares and rectangles) on the crosswise grain anyway. If you are doing strips, you can mitigate the "give" by sewing down one set of strips, then turning and sewing from the opposite direction for the next strip you add.

And shouldn't that read "I bought a FQ instead of 3 whole metres - terribly sorry, won't happen again" ??

UNLESS your LQS has buy 3 FQ's and get the 4th one free--they don't do that for yards or metres. One of these days, I will get there on a Friday when they HAVE that special : ) Seeing as how I have a card filled that says I get $20.00 my next purchase---hmmmmmmmmmm--maybe Nov. Butterfly

frood wrote:

You're absolutely right Wendy!! Must get into the quilting jargon, sounds really impressively obscure. I bought a metre of suit weight silk today for $3 at a fabric clearance shop and a metre of wool for $2. Of course, I was only going to the supermarket for cat food at the time, but but but... I think the virus has got me. Lynn

Hi Butterfly,

I haven't seen anything like that around here, sounds good, so may happen yet :-) Lynn

Lynn, this is from reading, not from experience. Sheeting is not good for quilting. You can test it yourself by feeling of the sheeting. Is it as soft, as flexible as quilting cotton? Take a threaded (unknotted) needle to the store with you and run it through two or three thicknesses of the sheeting. Is this what you want to push a needle through for thousands of stitches? I'm sure others with more experience can give better advice.

Nell in Austin