Finally got enough of a hand on the wedding sewing to return to other things. I should probably work on my hand-quilting or free-motion quilting, but all I want to do is piece. Shocking.
Still, plenty of hours left in the day to quilt things. Remembered to order freezer paper – could be a good day to try my hand at FPP. Add a few more orphan blocks to the pile. Not like I burned myself to blistered once already today. Oh wait…
Ordered a few books, but turns out they’re all moderate to advanced patterns, and I have zero idea wtf I’m doing. Time to go where I always go when I’m out of my depth – YouTube. Sticking with Karen.
Confirmed the scale and cut enough fabric to run four blocks. The prep process is not insignficant – not insurmountable, but still monotonous as only cutting can be. If I can find a flow, seems like it will prep similar to the collage method, without the extra stability prep. And the paper should limit torque-related disortion.
Prepped two each of the A and B blocks, one on plain paper and one on freezer paper, and made the pattern folds. The plan, such that it is, is to run the plain paper blocks first, and then test the freezer paper method after, but I’m procraftinating. Lots of new of late.
Patterns by Karen Brown of JustGetItDoneQuilts.com
And here I was thinking the underbustle was the challenge of the weekend. FPP may be the most counter-intuitive thing Jinx and I have ever done. Wrong side of the pattern to the wrong side of the fabric and sew through the paper. And just for funsies, don’t confuse the mirrored pieces you thought would make an easy first attempt.
So. freaking. weird. But clearly effective. Have to watch that the tails don’t get tucked under since I can’t actually see what I’m sewing, and I could have lined up the side pieces better, but it did work. Mostly. It’s not awesome, but it’s not horrific. Definite potential.
The 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheets of “quilting” freezer paper liked my printer fine, but the soleplate of my iron did not care for the ink. Had to stop and transfer all the marks to fresh freezer paper and try again. I like that the pages are flat, but for the price, I’ll deal with Reynold’s by the roll. And I dunno what’s in Odif’s iron cleaner, but it may well be worth the lung cancer its probably giving me. That shit is amazeballs.
Once it got rolling, take two with freezer paper was a vast improvement. Went faster doing one block from start to finish, rather than trying to assembly line two, and sewing next to the paper is better for my psyche than sewing through it. Next time I will leave the seam allowance on the block pattern, if only to help me set my edge pieces better. And lay down some parchment paper – freezer paper picks up too much fuzz from the felt ironing pad.
And nothing got quilted. Or painted. Again. Such is life.
