My technique for getting everything attached is to stitch around the edges with a free motion zig zag stitch. This creates a nice texture that I really like.
I found your blog recently and I love it. I am now part of the regular visitors! I will try this technique soon for sure! I don't know if you covered this before, so I will ask you and if you have answered this before, could you point me to the information? Do you follow a specific order when you zigzag around the edges? Since most of the pieces edges do not align, I am wondering how you get to cover all of them only once without having "orphan" edges. It looks like you stitch all horizontals, then turn your panel and do all verticals: how do you go from one edge to the other without stopping your thread or "angling" your zig zag?
Note: I have the same Janome machine and I am so much in love with it. I did not realize I could use stitches other than a straight stitch for FMQ until I found your blog. I went to my Instructions manual and found out about the other options. Thanks for showing me the way!
Anne-Marie, Yes, my process is exactly as you describe it. I do stitch all the horizontals at once, then the verticals. Yes, there are places where there is a big jump. Sometimes I will just stitch sideways a few stitches to get the next edge under the needle. Sometimes, I will just stop stitching - do a locking stitch so the threads won't ravel when trimmed. Go to the next spot and do the locking stitch again before I start moving. I trim away thread ends periodically so they don't all end up getting stitched down.
Thank you Cynthia for your reply! I will experiment with this technique soon. In another post on this project, you mentioned that you used 2 different ways of assembling all your pieces together: add misty fuse to each individual piece or add all your pieces to one large sheet of misty fuse. Which method did you prefer? By adding the pieces to one big sheet of misty fuse, you ended up with the overlapping parts not fused prior to your zigzag stitches: did it make the stitching more difficult?
As you would expect - it is easier to stitch if the fabric has the fusible web on it. I am getting low on Mistyfuse, so I am being really careful with it. Additionally, I don't want a lot of extra fabric with Mistyfuse on it left over, so the past few pieces (not on the blog yet), I am just using a fusible batting. I am layering the batting and backing and safety pinning all three layers to keep everything in position until it is free motion zig zagged. The other advantage of this is the zig zag stitching becomes quilting stitches. I am doing some very large pieces with this technique, so I want to conserve materials and time.
5 comments:
Hi Cynthia,
I found your blog recently and I love it. I am now part of the regular visitors! I will try this technique soon for sure! I don't know if you covered this before, so I will ask you and if you have answered this before, could you point me to the information? Do you follow a specific order when you zigzag around the edges? Since most of the pieces edges do not align, I am wondering how you get to cover all of them only once without having "orphan" edges. It looks like you stitch all horizontals, then turn your panel and do all verticals: how do you go from one edge to the other without stopping your thread or "angling" your zig zag?
Note: I have the same Janome machine and I am so much in love with it. I did not realize I could use stitches other than a straight stitch for FMQ until I found your blog. I went to my Instructions manual and found out about the other options. Thanks for showing me the way!
Anne-Marie
Anne-Marie, Yes, my process is exactly as you describe it. I do stitch all the horizontals at once, then the verticals. Yes, there are places where there is a big jump. Sometimes I will just stitch sideways a few stitches to get the next edge under the needle. Sometimes, I will just stop stitching - do a locking stitch so the threads won't ravel when trimmed. Go to the next spot and do the locking stitch again before I start moving. I trim away thread ends periodically so they don't all end up getting stitched down.
Thank you Cynthia for your reply! I will experiment with this technique soon. In another post on this project, you mentioned that you used 2 different ways of assembling all your pieces together: add misty fuse to each individual piece or add all your pieces to one large sheet of misty fuse. Which method did you prefer? By adding the pieces to one big sheet of misty fuse, you ended up with the overlapping parts not fused prior to your zigzag stitches: did it make the stitching more difficult?
Thank you!
Anne-marie
As you would expect - it is easier to stitch if the fabric has the fusible web on it. I am getting low on Mistyfuse, so I am being really careful with it. Additionally, I don't want a lot of extra fabric with Mistyfuse on it left over, so the past few pieces (not on the blog yet), I am just using a fusible batting. I am layering the batting and backing and safety pinning all three layers to keep everything in position until it is free motion zig zagged. The other advantage of this is the zig zag stitching becomes quilting stitches. I am doing some very large pieces with this technique, so I want to conserve materials and time.
Thank you Cynthia.
I am looking forward to see pictures of the finished project and your other pieces too!
Anne-Marie
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