Sharon Schamber's Video for Designing Quilting

[Margo C.]

You should be able to see through the freezer paper well enough to trace the design without a light box, but light would certainly help!

[Susan B.]

Dawn, beautiful work. I was mesmerized watching how the seemingly strange angles play out to such incredible designs. I hope if someone gets this transfer process unlocked, they'll share it here, or in the classroom.

[Lotti D.]

Another idea is that once it's enlarged (photo copier?), you could use Ricky's method of tracing the lines on the back with a soft pencil, then rubbing them onto the freezer paper using a pointy tool - also shown when Ricky demonstrates his technique for making the bohemian rhapsody quilt...

[Nancy H.]

Just finished watching Sharon's Video for a second time and from what I am getting out of it is that once you have your 1/8 of the design drawn and get the proportion to scale, you take it to a copy center. Have them make the size/scale adjustment (150%; 200%; 300%; etc), have 4 originals and 4 reverse images made and then you can tape them together to create your enlarged copy. Once you have everything taped then you transfer it to the paper side of the freezer paper and then transfer the design to your fabric. I personally don't want to duplicate everything again, so I think using Ricky's transfer method would work much better as was mentioned using the Rhapsody method. If it was a small quilt (24 x 24 etc) Sharon's method might work but anything larger there is just way too much duplication of efforts. I want to start the quilting process. Just my thoughts and opinion.

[Nancy H.]

Note: Just reviewed the Marking to the Quilt and noticed that the freezer paper that Sharon is pressing to the back of her fabric is not the full design. It looks to be a little more than half the design. Has anyone else noticed that? or are my old eyes deceiving me?

[Rita C.]

Looks like that to me too Nancy. I am going to watch part 2 now.

[Rita C.]

I would think that once you have the full design finished and enlarged, tha it would be more accurate to tape the design to either a sliding door or very big light table and then transfer to the freezer paper since the design is so intricate. I would think that the folding in Ricky's technique might throw the lines off a bit.

[E.M. T.]

I don't know of any other method that will transfer detailed designs easier. It is just a labor of love
project to mark some of these quilts ! :roll:

[Nancy R.]

I think I remember Sharon mentioning that the multiple times copying the design by hand help you to see the quilting path better when you get to that part. For my couple of wholecloths, I've designed the quilt in pencil full size, then have traced over the lines in Sharpie, then have traced the design on the fabric using a lightbox or the window. I agree that the different copies are good practice for the quilting itself.

Nancy

[Lois B.]

Not that I've done anything that intricate but sometimes when I am sewing a design or even tracing a picture with thread and needle on the machine I just can't see where I am going. If I don't let myself get all bent out of shape by that fact, it seems radar takes over and I just know where to go and how to turn. I believe that has something to do with having learned the design by duplicating it a number of times during the design process. Marianne if you practice drawing it I believe you are also practicing for sewing it. It still blows my mind that when I sign my name FMQ my signiture looks the same as if I'd written it with a pen. It's my handwriting. I've done it that way with pencil and pen all my life now when do it FMQ it looks the same. A year ago I was doing alot of Zentangles and I believed that has helped with my FMQ. There's something about improvised drawing with permanent ink that helps build confidence over time. It is amazing to watch Sharon work.

[Marianne G.]

. Marianne if you practice drawing it I believe you are also practicing for sewing it. It still blows my mind that when I sign my name FMQ my signiture looks the same as if I'd written it with a pen. It's my handwriting. I've done it that way with pencil and pen all my life now when do it FMQ it looks the same. A year ago I was doing alot of Zentangles and I believed that has helped with my FMQ. There's something about improvised drawing with permanent ink that helps build confidence over time. It is amazing to watch Sharon work.

Louise, I think you are right about drawing the designs out before going to the machine. I read on a blog recently that the lady practised for 2 hours drawing the design over and over before she went to her longarm machine to quilt the design and she could then do that design without marking. I think this works very well for some people but not at all for others. I find that if I draw on the days when I cannot get to my machine and practise it is easier when I do get to FMQ than if I don't do anything in between sessions at the machine. I have been musing though whether the drawing works slightly better for the people who use a longarm machine than for people like me who use a domestic machine because of the fabric versus the needle that is being moved around? I have never had a chance to try a longarm machine and am not likely to either but I could try do set up a stationary pencil and move the paper underneath for practising couldn't I :?: Mind you people on the bus/train or in waiting rooms may give me some weird looks if I do come up with a contraption that would work on the go :P :P :P

[Norma H.]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Nancy R.]

Marianne - I do my quilting on a domestic machine. For me, drawing the design doesn't give me what I would call "muscle memory" like it does for others. What it does for me is help me work out in my head what direction I need to move to make the design. For FMQ, this helps me with doing things like figuring out how to move out of corners or how to move around the design. (Just remember to not lift your pencil while drawing.) For things like feathers, it also helps with being able to visualize better where to move in areas where the foot gets in the way of the marked lines. I've just found that it has nothing to do with how I move my hands, but the movement of the line in the drawing.

Nancy

[Dawn S.]

Okay, I have finally had a chance to go back and review sections of the video. And, you are right! There are no directions as to how she tranfers the whole copy of the design to the freezer paper. She just says, "I've transferred my pattern onto the freeezer paper." :roll: And yes, it does look like she only transfers a little over half of it. I am assuming she will trace that half onto the quilt top, with some registry lines into the second half portion, pull the freezer paper, then realign it to the second half, then press it to the fabric to trace that second half. This would make sense, since she said it takes her 4 to 7 days to trace the whole pattern onto the fabric. It would cut the trace time onto the freezer paper by a little over half.

I have a question about the radiating lines in the center of the quilt, since I have them in other areas as well as in the center of my design. Is there a build up of thread at the center point? I have done similar stitching, and it sort of volcanoes! I'm assuming a finer thread will help, or not stitching some of the lines all the way in. Has anyone done this sort of stitching?

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

[Margo C.]

I have a question about the radiating lines in the center of the quilt, since I have them in other areas as well as in the center of my design. Is there a build up of thread at the center point? I have done similar stitching, and it sort of volcanoes! I'm assuming a finer thread will help, or not stitching some of the lines all the way in. Has anyone done this sort of stitching?

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

Dawn, you are right on all counts! Yes, there is thread build up on a design like that. Yes, finer thread helps as does not stitching some of the lines all the way in.

This is another instance where it is worth your time to quilt out a sample with your fabric and batting and thread choices to see how it behaves before you stitch on the real thing that you have spent hours prepping! It's lots easier than unstitching!