Laura Nownes

[Rita C.]

Rosemary why are you starching your fabric?

Like Rita says, far less flexibility in the fabric (if you go too mad it is more like paper) which makes keeping the pieces flat & square much easier, particularly if you are working with diagonals.
Lakeland sell tubs of powder starch which you can make up a bit at a time, as you need it and to what ever strength you fancy. Once made either put it into a spray bottle & spray it on or soak the fabric in the bowl. Personally I put a towel down on the floor, place the fabric on that & spray, then keep adding other pieces on top & spraying, until I've got the batch done, and then leave them, usually overnight to dry. Lastly steam pressing to make them nice & flat & paper like. If you do want to iron & use them the same day make sure you leave them to soak for at least 15-30 minutes before ironing them or you will get a patchy scaley layer of starch that is on the surface of the fabric & a gunged up iron - not good.

[wendy w.]

Right so like my mum used to use ? Doesn't it make your fabric lose it's strokeability?

Sorry Rosemary didn't see your post. That explains it clearly, thanks

[Marianne G.]

Not sure about the etiquette of the forum but I hope it is ok to post a question about the class here. Does it say anywhere how big the finished quilt will be with sashing, border and everything?
A couple of people have mentioned starch; is this a must? I have watched Saly Collins' video but I don't remember her mentioning starch but maybe I should watch it again before I start this sample quilt adventure, could very well be I was not paying enough attention in class :lol:
TIA
Marianne

[wendy w.]

Well post away, I haven't been told off for posting in the wrong place yet or for going off post which I do frequently

I reckon it's 42" square - 5 x 6" blocks + 6 x 1" sashing + borders and binding. But some clever clogs on here are doing it half or twelth size so they'll end up with a handkerchief size quilt 8)

[Marianne G.]

Thank you, Wendy.
I am no good at quilting and anything large scares the living daylight out of me! Seeing it has sashing strips maybe I can do a "Quilt-as-you-go" job of it. There is no way I will make it smaller than the pattern - that is even more scary :wink:
Marianne

[wendy w.]

Hey don't say that, it's about learning and gaining confidence together so follow all the classes and you'll learn. When we get to put it together we'll talk about quilting and all learn from each other and you'll won't be worried about the quilting. I've not been on the forum long and have got loads of help from others.

I won't be going small either. 6" is a nice size block, there'll be lots of options for quilting.

[Rita C.]

Hi Marianne, welcome to the forum. Pitch in any time you like. The starch is optional. Some of us who have done exchanges found that if you starch the fabric then it makes it easier to stitch straight. As for the size, I am going for the 6" block.

Wendy, Rosemary's method is very thorough. Mine is to buy Dylon or Robyn spray starch and I spray as I go. Sometimes I will spray the fat quarter and sometimes the cut pieces. Sometimes I just spray the finished block. Depends on how the wind is blowing, tides, time... :lol:

[wendy w.]

Just found a can of Robin I didn't know I had, probably from the days I had to pleat and form my nurses cap.

I'll give it a go and let you know

Off to get my background fabric tomorrow, a trip to London for the Olympics and I'll be ready to start on thursday.

[Renata L.]

Hello, Marianne and welcome to the Forum. I've only done one of the blocks in the sampler before and have never done sashing, but I cannot imagine it being very different from the method used for attaching a border. In any event, my plan for this class is to learn as much as I can and I have found that so many are more than willing to help on the Forum, whether it is regarding a class or anything else, for that matter.

As for starching, I have found it very useful to starch and press my fabrics before cutting--it really makes the piecing a lot easier for me with a stiffer seam to negotiate under the sewing machine. When I use the method Rosemary describes, I always use steam, as she does. However, when I simply starch as I go along, as Rita describes, I often do not use steam; the dampness of the starch is enough for me, but I will put my iron on the linen setting (one hotter than the cotton) and I spray starch one side of my fabric but turn it over and press from the non-sprayed side so that the starch will find its way into the fibers of my cotton fabric rather than the iron. When I finish pressing one side, I spray the side I just pressed with starch, flip it over and press the other side. This also keeps the white flakes of starch from appearing on the fabric.

I look forward to seeing more of you on the Forum and hope you will post the sampler in the show and tell portion of the Laura Nownes classroom. That way we will all see each other's work and even get ideas from one another!

[Renata L.]

If you are making up the powder, it doesn't tend to keep too long - a fortnight maybe? before it starts to smell a bit funny &/or go mouldy (don't ask how I know :roll: ), that is why I usually only make up a pint & try & use it up fairly quickly.

By the way starching before you cut your pieces is definitely preferable to after, because you can stretch the pieces out of shape if you starch it after cutting your lovely triangles etc. This came up in a discussion I had with Jenny Rayment at last years Great Northern Quilt Show & she was saying that previous students had done this and then wondered why things didn't fit together so well.

I now have a nice pile of starched red-orange fabrics....... and a gunged up iron because I was too impatient to wait for tomorrow for them to be dry :roll: ops: I really do recommend that you do as I say, not as I do, especially in this instance :wink:

[Renata L.]

Oh Rosemary, don't make us wait... post your fabrics starched and pressed! Do you have any new ones besides the reds?

[Renata L.]

Not sure about the etiquette of the forum but I hope it is ok to post a question about the class here. Does it say anywhere how big the finished quilt will be with sashing, border and everything?
A couple of people have mentioned starch; is this a must? I have watched Saly Collins' video but I don't remember her mentioning starch but maybe I should watch it again before I start this sample quilt adventure, could very well be I was not paying enough attention in class :lol:
TIA
Marianne

Hi Marianne & welcome to the forum. This is definitely the place to post questions about the Laura Nownes course. As a generality we try to start a topic under the right heading, but once the initial query or announcement has been covered, we do have a tendancy to meander off topic and back again, and we always try to have fun.

I don't remember Sally Collins mentioning starch in her video, but for accurate work I have found that it really helps to control the flex & easing issues that is inherent in fabric.

Look forward to hearing from you again.

[Renata L.]

Oh Rosemary, don't make us wait... post your fabrics starched and pressed! Do you have any new ones besides the reds?

At 11.40 at night the lighting is abysmal for decent photos of shades of fabric. I have one more, a yellow, that has a very slight tinge of red, but it is also a bit of a deeper hue of yellow, because I decided to just use up the last of the packet, and it was a bit stronger than the rest of the mixes I had done.

Now I have to try and find what I did with the new roll of egyption cotton that goes with what I have been dyeing so I have some white for the background :roll: I snuck it into a safe place...... :lol:

[Renata L.]

Well post away, I haven't been told off for posting in the wrong place yet or for going off post which I do frequently

I reckon it's 42" square - 5 x 6" blocks + 6 x 1" sashing + borders and binding. But some clever clogs on here are doing it half or twelth size so they'll end up with a handkerchief size quilt 8)

I didn't say I was going to do it in 1/12 scale, I was just debating whether I was mad enough to try.... or not (nurse I think I need some more dried frogs pills!)

By the way, yes fabric does lose it's stroke-ability when firmly starched, or rather it changes it, but it easily comes out in the wash afterwards and is defintely worth it, in my view.

[Hannelore N.]

Waving to Marianne! I have asked all sorts of questions in the forum, gone off topic, bored others by showing off my granddaughter and relating details of a family wedding, ......... So far nobody has told me off or kicked me out.

I can fully understand your reluctance/worry about tackling a large project. Every time I want to try out something that is new to me, I make a few place mats. If they turn out well I give them away as gifts, if not I use them here and put plant pots on them. When I started quilting I would not start a very big project until I had done a smaller scale trial run.

About that sampler quilt: I think it's an ideal project for a beginner. You can make the blogs. When you have all your blogs you can lay them out on the floor (or a large table), or pin them to a design wall (or an old curtain), stand back and see if you like what you see. It's quite possible that you may want your quilt to be bigger. Then just add another row or two of blocks.

Just one warning: If you intend to quilt your sampler quilt on your domestic sewing machine, then make sure that you are happy with manipulating that size quilt under the machine. Personally, I quite happily quilt anything up to a lap quilt size myself, but if it's larger I save up and take the 'monster' to a longarm quilter.

I keep saying to myself that I really MUST practice 'quilt-as-you-go', so that the very large quilts are fine on my domestic machine too. But work and life keeps getting in the way. Ah well, when I eventually retire........

Finally starch: I have used it and, yes, it makes my piecing more accurate. But I loooove the feel of soft and tactile fabric, so most of the time I don't bother. And I never starch when the artist in me insists on making some sort of wallhanging that should not really be washed because of the types of fabrics or embellishments used.