Questions for Sarah - Month 4 (April)

[Sarah V.]

Hello Everyone,

I just watched the video for month 4. Ricky is doing a GREAT job of putting these together from the footage that we shot in La Veta last November! For those of you who have been waiting for the instructions on how to stitch a circle into a hole, here they are. Wish we could have done this in month 1 - but there were a ton of other things to be said.

If you have a question specifically for me - this is the place to ask it. I hope you're all having fun with this project. I am loving seeing all the quilts being shown off in the Show and Tell area!

Sarah :-)

[Sarah V.]

My Adobe Reader is no longer giving me the option of "Set Page Scale to None." Now it comes up Actual, Fit, or Shrink. I don't know when this changed, does anyone else have this problem? With the Month 4 star template, there isn't a background 2" grid to check against. Any advice out there?

[Sarah V.]

I think you need to use "actual" size in the new version of Adobe Reader. I need to get it downloaded myself!

The star template is in small pieces with no need to tile pages - hence no grid. However - there is a blue dotted rectangle on each star segment. This should measure 1.5" x 3.5".

Kind regards,
Sarah :-)

[Sarah V.]

Thank you so much! I'm right on track then. Appreciate the prompt reply.

[Sarah V.]

Hi Sarah,

I am so grateful for this forum, it is really making the difference for me! My question is about fusing the centres of the stars in Months 1, 3, 4 and 5. (No, Month 1 is still not finished!) I am using the Stable Stuff as a foundation for the paper piecing, and I do intend to leave it in at least until the top is assembled. My concern is that there is no foundation in the centres where I want to fuse the applique. I do intend to trim the fusible down to a 1/4" from the edge, but I am still worried that the centre will be very flimsy with just a single layer of fabric, compared to the inner edge of the star. Especially with Months 4 and 5, which have seams in the foundation which add a lot of bulk.

Any advice? Thanks!

Monica.

[Sarah V.]

Monica: I hand appliqued the bigger circles, and that works. The center fabric stands up just fine as far as I can tell. I'll bet Sarah is going to give instructions next month or very soon after. I fused the first months' small circles (I think that was in the instructions?). Sounds like people are blanket stitching the edges of the fused applique pieces. I'm waiting till later on to decide what I'm going to do there.

[Sarah V.]

Hi Monica,

When all of the paper has been removed from the back of the stars, there is only going to be one layer of fabric - with the exception of the seam allowances. So the center of the circle isn't going to be any different! It just seems that way when all of the paper is in place.

One thing that you could do (and I didn't as I didn't think of it until after!) is put a piece of very light weight batting underneath the circle. If you turn the edge of the circle so that it covers the batting, and then use a tiny zigzag stitch to sew it in place - or stitch it by hand, I think that would give a very nice finish - and the circle would have a bit of a trapunto effect going on with it. Alternatively, put a piece of batting underneath the hole when you stitch the fused circle in place and then trim away the excess batting. I think either way would work - and would give a little more substance to the center circles.

Hope this helps!
Sarah :-)

[Nancy R.]

Hi Monica -

I'm using Ricky Tims' Stable Stuff for my paper piecing and plan to leave it in the final quilt. So, I machine appliqued my center circle using turned edge applique with the Stable Stuff inside it. This leaves all of the quilt with the same layers underneath, but no trapunto. But it's a little more work than fusible applique. If you want to fuse and still get that layer, you could fuse the fabric to Stable Stuff before cutting the circle, then fuse that to the center. I haven't done this so don't know if there would be any problem, but I've heard of people doing this same thing with an extra layer of fabric when fusing a light fabric on top of a dark fabric to prevent shadowing. If you want to do this, I would suggest testing it on a sample and then soaking the sample to see what happens when the Stable Stuff gets soft.

Nancy

[Nancy R.]

Thank you very much, Liz, Sarah and Nancy! Now I have three great options to consider.

I will have to think on. So many decisions to make!

[Nancy R.]

Hi Sarah,
I am greatly enjoying this project. Thank you very much . I understood at the beginning that the Ricky Tims Stable Stuff could be left in at the end or removed as desired. Are you advocating that it should be removed? As others have commented I worried about the centre of the circles being single fabric and therefore more flimsy. I have used a disc of stable stuff cut to fit exactly into the back of the exposed centre fabric, but of course this would be unnecessary if all is eventually to be removed .

[Sarah V.]

Hi Crowcafe,

The nice thing about the stable stuff is ... you can either leave it in or take it out. It's your preference! I don't like quilting through it, so I take it out. You could leave in the pieces behind the circles. That will definitely give the circles a bit more body, even in the finished quilt. I would actually leave the stable stuff in behind all of the applique shapes. But tear it away from everywhere else. If you ever wash the quilt, the stable stuff will mostly disappear anyway.

Hope this helps!
Sarah :-)