Farmers Wife Quilt

[E.M. T.]

Not to dissuade you from hand piecing but I machine pieced a sampler quilt last year that is very similar to the Farmers Wife Quilt. A gal in our guild drafted 56 or so 6" traditional blocks in EQ7 that we used as our BOM. Many of them are the same as the ones in the FW quilt. We paper pieced the most complex ones and had no trouble at all with any of the blocks. Yes, some of the individual patches are small, but I used Best Press before cutting and no steam when pressing and that worked great. I also pieced all my blocks on my Featherweight which has a single hole plate. I'd recommend using the single hole (Strait stitch only!) plate on your machine, rather than the standard wider plate. I didn't have any tiny pieces get 'eaten'.

[E.M. T.]

Yes Michelle....easily done up by machine...I do love the six in. size in order to keep quilts a little
smaller. I just wanted to practice my hand skills....and feeling a little "historical" these days ! :roll:
Don't know about Terrie, tho....

[E.M. T.]

Deb - what are you thinking? Are you going for it too? Hand or Machine? Summer's almost here... :lol:
Is it easy to hand stitch through starched fabric?

I do not have the option of a single hole plate. Would it work if I put duck tape or masking tape over most of the existing hole? Doesn't seem a very good idea.

I could just go out and buy a new machine...NOT! :cry:

[E.M. T.]

Terrie....I generally use some starch as I am a pre-washer. And it will sew great either by machine or hand.
Helps stop stretching ,easier to mark, less fray and crisper folds to name a few...
I sewed a long time without the ability to change out the hole size, so You will do just fine!
Even now, with a very wide hole, I seldom change over ! Using a small gauge needle and finer thread is
helpful. And going slowly.... :roll: And practice !

[E.M. T.]

Yup, I pre-wash.
Well, there are enough blocks that I can try by hand and by machine and see which works out best. Maybe some of both, depending.

[E.M. T.]

Why not? Granny woulda ! if she coulda !

[E.M. T.]

Thanks for the encouragement, Michelle, but have you noticed that I don't have the same 'qualifications' listed under my name as you do. :mrgreen:

I am sew simple.

[Deborah W.]

Deb - what are you thinking? Are you going for it too? Hand or Machine? Summer's almost here... :lol:
Is it easy to hand stitch through starched fabric?

I do not have the option of a single hole plate. Would it work if I put duck tape or masking tape over most of the existing hole? Doesn't seem a very good idea.

I could just go out and buy a new machine...NOT! :cry:

I am thinking of doing it from my scraps and it might end up a mishmash as I have not done anything like this before. I am feeling completely out of my element with this but it should be fun and definitely a learning experience. I will definitely be machine piecing. I am currently doing a stitchery BOM and figure at the rate I am going it will take me six or seven years! ops: I don't think I have ever made a six inch block either! This should be a challenge.

[Deborah W.]

http://fussycut.blogspot.ca/p/shop.html Just found this link in my search and thought it might be helpful. I am only 28 weeks behind! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Susan B.]

Thanks for the link, Debbie! It makes me think that if I do this, I'll want some sort of loose color scheme, or sashings maybe. All those colors jumbled make my head spin.

[Rita C.]

Thanks for the link Debbie. It's interesting to see all of the blocks together like that. But I don't think that they would seem as jumbled once the sashing and cornerstones are in place. On that particular one I would imagine she will go for a pale coloured sashing. I think it's really great. But I am a scrapper at heart! Still contemplating.....

[Rita C.]

Well, I've made three blocks so far,but they are all too small. I was super careful with measuring, starching, sewing on the line etc. ( which I think made them smaller, I think maybe I should forget about sewing on the line, because the line has a width - left, center, and right ) I think I'll just use my basic 1/4 inch foot - it usually always comes out good with that.

The CD, when downloaded, reads that the file was at 123%. I re-adjusted it to 100%, printed out the templates but the blocks are a bit tiny. What is your experience with this? I think I'll re-do a simple one , maybe rail fence, and see if 123% works better.

Have any others begun this journey???

[Catherine S.]

I would love to do this quilt, but unfortunately I have too much waiting already. First is to quilt some of the quilts I have waiting. Then I want to get my reels quilt done. So far I only have one block done. I am doing it Edyta's way, but I am enlarging it. The applique will be a challenge for me.
Anyway, I will be following you all while you make this quilt. I have been collecting civil war fabrics. I thought they would look good in this quilt with an accent color and sashing. I may just have to buy the FW book in case I can't resist. :lol:

[Susan B.]

Terrie, I did one block "The Tall Pine" for a mug rug, by getting the design in EQ7 and used paper-piecing. It worked well, but I skimped on one point, don't know what happened, but didn't study really hard.

Which blocks have you done?

[Susan B.]

More for Terrie, what do you mean you were sewing on the line????