Auditioning Colors and Fabrics for Sedona Star 2012

[Margo C.]

Carol, that post should have come with a warning! Now I need to clean the drool off my keyboard!! :roll:

That fabric is GORGEOUS!! And I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

[Carol M.]

Carol, that post should have come with a warning! Now I need to clean the drool off my keyboard!! :roll:

That fabric is GORGEOUS!! And I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

This is going to be a new venture for me. I have not worked with Dupioni Silk before. I will share the process and hopefully I will not encounter too many pitfalls. I think one of the key things will be to make sure my iron temp is not to hot. I did a little experimenting with the Seam-A-Seam. Was afraid it may discolor the silk but it worked great and no change in color. Now off to have some fun.

[Betty J.]

Oh my, Carol, they're just yummy! So exciting.

[Carol M.]

Wow Carol! This is going to be absolutely georeous! I have never worked with silk, for fear it would be a "slippery" project. But then you are an excellent award winning quilter, so you probably have all of the pitfalls already solved. I will be looking forward to your updates in the BOM Show and Tell!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

Hi Dawn, I used a very lightweight stablizer on the back of the silk. It is a Pellon product, very sheer and soft but helps with the natural fraying which silk has and also helps with handeling it in the machine. From my experiments having no problems with slipping of the silk underneath the needle. It is going to be fun experimenting and seeing what works with using this fabric.

[Carol M.]

Oh my, Carol, they're just yummy! So exciting.

Thanks Betty. I am excited so see what my center star looks like with these colors.

[Sherry B.]

Wow!!!!! Absolutely gorgeous! Can't wait to see it as you make it!

[Lotti D.]

oh so delicious... i dyed some dupioni silk last autumn and they're still sitting in my living room - not being worked with but because they're just so wonderful to look at... maybe one day i'll decide what to do with them... i really look forward to seeing the first pictures carol.

[Mary K.]

Wow, Carol!!! That is going to be stunning!!! I will be excited to watch your quilt progress this year!!!

[Pam D.]

Wow, Carol. Those colours in dupioni are yummy. How can you bear to cut them? I have some royal purple dupioni that I get out and fondle every so often.

[Carol M.]

I have my center star completed. Will start working on the outside border around the star. Here is what it looks like so far. I appliqued my circle with a feather stitch in Blue Aurifil 50wt thread. My triangles are going to be in blue so it will tie the blue of the triangles in with the thread applique. I also used the 100wt Superior Kimono Silk thread for the piecing and set my stitch length down to 1.5, the results are a very nice fine seam. Used an Emboridery 75/11 needle with the silk thread in both the top and bottom. It pieced very nicely together.

[Margo C.]

WOW! Even Alvin says WOW!! Gorgeous!

[Judith A.]

Absolutely beautiful, Carol! It shines clear across the internet!

Judy

[Lotti D.]

shining bright and happy here in switzerland - what a sight to wake up to :P

[Lotti D.]

Wow Carol, those colours are breathtakingly beautiful and your centre star looks fabulous, can't wail to see more of it. I used dupion silk to make my twin grandchildren christening gowns, my daughter wanted an all in one suit for the little boy in a blue I chose ice blue and she wanted them both smocked and let me choose the colours and style etc, The little girls was in white, or almost white with smocking etc. I also did little hats and I made some shoes on the embroidery machine, it actually made the fabric for them as I used thread to make them they were the exact same colours as the gowns, The silk did tend to fray and so I stabilized the edges and they were fine especially as I was smocking them, it gives the fabric time to fray,but they were fine, they turned out absolutely beautiful, I have always loved silk and everytime it comes on a good special I just have to get some so I do have some lovely colours.
Can't wait to see more of your quilt, it is just going to shine, silk has a life all of it's own.

[Carol M.]

I added my outside border to the center star last night. I do have a little fraying going on. It was a good thing I used a stablizer or it would probably be a lot worse. The stay stitching really helps too. I am going to hold off on doing any more embordiery around the circles. I am not sure if I like the stitch I selected around the center circle. I may rip it out and put a new circle in the center. I am going to see how it looks with the triangles before in continue on. One thing I really like about this, is the beautiful glimmer and scheen the silk gives to the piece. It will be fun watching it grow.



It will be interesting to see how the silk handles with all the paper piecing in the triangles. Going to really have to be careful since the centers are fairly small and the points on the outside are narrow. I may experiment with a product called "Fray Check" by Dritz to help cut down on the fraying, expecially at the triangle points. My only fear is that it might discolor the silk. Does anyone have any experience with this product?