Wednesday, March 23, 2016

All Fired Up - Part Two

I am so excited to be an Island Batik Ambassador!  I've been working on a miniature quilt for the March Mini Madness challenge!

You can read Part One here.


The next step was to choose thread to do the double blanket with.  Behind the picture above you can see see the white stabilizer I like to use when doing double blanket stitch.  My machine is much happier when I use stabilizer and my piece turns out much flatter and smoother.  I currently use Rinsaway by HTC, but I am almost out of my bolt and will have to try some new things or see if I can get another!


Above are the threads I was considering for my blanket stitching.  The far left is a Fufu machine embroidery thread.  It's black, but reads dark gray so I decided against it.  The second choice is a Madeira polyneon thread.  It has a lot of sheen and is 40 weight which will leave a nice thick line.  The third choice is a YLI bobbin thread in black that is 60 weight.  I decided against it because it wasn't quite as shiny as I wanted.  The last choice was a black Aurifil 50 weight cotton thread.  I decided I wanted some sheen to the stitches so they would show up against the black background of the batiks.  In the end, I chose the Madeia polyneon because it would give me a nice thick line and plenty of sheen.

Here are two pictures of the blanket stitching.  A close up and a full view.  I used a 2.0 width and length for my stitching and was able to weave my way in and out of the pieces to finish the stitching in one pass.  I thought a lot about how to do this before starting.



Once I was done with the blanket stitching I ripped it away from the back of the quilt leaving it only behind the leaf shapes.

I also took this opportunity to stitch around the outer-most marked line.  I wanted this to be the edge of the quilt.  I stitched it in purple thread so I could see where it was going to be.  This was helpful in planning my machine quilting designs.

I'll tell you more about the quilting on Saturday!  Be sure to check out my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group too!
Suzy

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