Embellishments

[Marty A.]

I was fortunate enough to see the A-Z quilt at Houston. There are tons of embellishments in the borders...small buttons and decorative machine stitches. I was disappointed that the December instructions didn't include any information about this. Janet, will you share where you get your small buttons, and your thoughts on the decorative stitching? I have loved making this quilt. Thank you for your beautiful design! Also, thank you to Julie for sharing her thoughts on construction!

[Marty A.]

Ditto what Martya said.

Judy

[Janet S.]

The tiny buttons came from either Joann's or Hancock Fabrics, my 2 local big box fabric stores, but I'm sure they could be found online. They are just 1/4" plastic buttons. I used a few larger hand covered buttons on the stars on the border, but if your quilt is going to be a bed quilt, I would suggest regular plastic buttons. The decorative stitch was a stitch on my machine, which I added in the quilting process through all 3 layers. Use your imagination! I don't think you could go wrong!

[Susan B.]

speaking of embellishments...I've effed up my top border using some form of Lite EZ Steam II. This is not our old Light Steam a Seam 2, which I ran out of, it's the intermediate one that fuses like my cat to the underside of the bed when she smells the cat carrier. The quandary is, on the central star of the top border, I added too much bias stem under the star and there are big lumps that are so visible they are ugly. I'm out of the light blue border background and it doesn't seem to be available anywhere online.

My choices seem to be
1. Cover up the lumps with circles.
2. Start over with a different background fabric.
3. Piece together another top border. I have enough fabric to do this, but don't want seams in the top border. Would seams be less noticeable in the bottom border? I haven't started putting that one together yet.

I'm putting some pictures of the effed up part in an album on my profile, along with some circle ideas. The green ones on the edges of the stars are the only ones that would look remotely reasonable to me. Would a few of you please give some honest opinions? I can take it!

[Janet S.]

Susan, I don't think the circles look bad, but I would consider putting some heat to the stars, melting the fusible again, and pulling them off. Then you could trim your bias stem and redo the stars. Even if you had to recut them slightly larger to cover any fusible residue, that would look fine. Any color fabric would work for the stars, so you could use whatever you have, and wouldn't have to buy any new fabric. The old Steam-a-Seam lite 2 is back on the market again, so you should be able to find some. I bought several packages online at Create For Less. And I suggest a trail of cat treats from the edge of the bed to the carrier the next time you need kitty in the carrier!

[Robin G.]

Hi Susan, I actually can't see much problem in 2 of your photos, but I can see what you mean in the close-up of the star. Is the star fused to the background fabric? If not, could you cut out some of the background fabric and then either cut away the bias stems or add some batting to make a trapunto out of the star? Sounds like Janet has given you some good advice, though.

[Susan B.]

Thanks for your suggestions. Rita, too, who responded with a comment on a picture. OK, after coffee, now that the scam IRS caller is blocked on my phone :evil: , I'm going to see if I can get this fusible to release. I like the idea of trying to get them off and recutting the stars. The circles at the edges of the stars are ok, but they make the stem look more like a chain instead of a ribbon.
I knew you all would have great ideas!

[E.M. T.]

Sue..I feel the pain !! Well...I don't have any thing to add to the great suggestions offered already.
An absolutely last resort before throwing the whole border might be to prepare a new star, slightly
larger, applique in place by hand...then cut way the offender from behind. You could top stitch after...
Hoping for the glue to release !! Waiting to see how it turns out !

[Susan B.]

Actually, Marilyn, I like your idea a lot, thinking not to applique by hand, but not to use a fusible and maybe a bit of interfacing to prevent shadowing. Thanks!

[Susan B.]

Praise the Lord and Hallelujah, with heat, the appliques on a test sample peeled off complete.

And now the stars are off. Thanks be.

[E.M. T.]

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[Constance G.]

Susan, don't throw out the baby with the bath water! Your border looks wonderful to me. Tweak the center star as others have suggested, then enjoy your beautiful workmanship!

[Marty A.]

Sue,
Actually, the same thing happened to me, only worse....I had already blanket stitched before I decided I didn't like it. I ended up making a small snip from the back and was able to pull it off the back of the star with a little heat. I then fixed the snip with a small piece of fusible although it probably wasn't necessary. Good luck.

[Susan B.]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=295107510688821&fref=nf

this is an experiment to see if this works. If not, I'll delete. It's a video of beading from Atelier de Modelagem

[E.M. T.]

Worked here ! Amazing !