smardl wrote:
Thanks so much for the terrific advice. I starched the shot cotton, used the edge stitch foot as someone else advised, and used a sharp stick to remove the freezer paper from the stitched house at the end. The result was almost NO raveling of the shot cotton. And whoever came up with the idea of using the edge stitch foot, thank you! What a difference it makes in the stitching process!

I bought the background fabric on Etsy a few weeks ago. Try a search there and see what you come up with. I paid the going price so nothing too expensive and it came quickly.

Thank you!

MysteryBayQuiltDes wrote:
This is not going to solve your problem with shot cotton raveling, but it will help. The trick is to remove the freezer paper from the inside to the outside pulling parallel to the sewn seams as much as possible. Use a chopstick or anything that has a dull point. For the house block poke the chopstick up the middle of the door and pull to the outside edge. Now start back in the middle of the door and pull the chopstick to the other outside edge. Starting to pull the freezer paper from the outside edge will give the most amount of raveling on the edges.

Starching may reduce the raveling. It may (almost certainly will) stop the freezer paper from sticking to your fabric. The freezer paper will in effect be sticking to the starch instead of to the fabric.

You can always try traditional paper piecing if the fabric raveling is too frustrating.

Hang in there.

Is anyone else having trouble with the shot cotton? I don't have my actual fabric yet - waiting for the kit to arrive - but I did a test block with some scraps. I used a shot cotton that I have and had lots of problems with it. Not only raveling and trying to fall apart when I took off the freezer paper, but also when sewing with the shot cotton down, it seemed to tend to crunch up as I began sewing - even when I was careful to start with it laying flat. I am using a single hole throat plate, so no problem there.
I am wondering if starching the shot cotton first might help. Any other suggestions?

moneil50 wrote:
I did and the starch didn't seem to have an impact.

Is anyone starching their fabric prior to cutting and sewing? If so, does the freezer paper wax still hold?

I`m working on using fabric from my stash. A long time ago I dyed fabric and have a tub full, so it is time to put it to use. The colors are soft much like those used in the original. so am hoping it will be ok. Have one house completed and love the process.

CrookedPath, I went with grunge as well. I love that fabric. I ordered mine the end of November but it sat until Friday when I started washing and ironing in preparation to begin. So far I have one house done. I've had company since December 1 and they left December 31. Between cleaning, putting back, washing clothes, etc., it's been a slow start.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone's quilt looks like.

Marti

JessieCrawford wrote:
LOL, I made this mistake and got the canvas. But I like it and have other projects I can use it for.

Color My World is a quilt that appeals to me because I have all sorts of ideas for embellishments. However, I wasn't going to start this quilt right away. I've been using family history research as a distraction from world events, but I decided on the 31st that I needed a distraction from my distraction! I was planning to use fabrics from the Grunge line for my quilt. Was up until almost 3am trying to match up -- as well as you can given differences in colors on the computer monitor -- fabrics from the Color My World fabric chart and Grunge fabrics.

I think I succeeded. I didn't get any olive colored fabric as it's not a color I like. Not totally happy with the choice to replace the aqua fabric either but there will be time to get something different if I decide to do so after my fabric gets here. Printing and prepping freezer paper templates until my fabric arrives. Getting more excited to get started!

I found this fabric at the Patchwork co, www.thepatchworkco.com I searched for Windham Fabrics Art History 101 Marcia Derse and got this product number - 50764D-28. The black is also there. Be careful not to choose the Canvas as they have this for sale also. I also found a backing fabric there by Windham fabrics that looked arty. I had to get enough fabric to make the postage to New Zealand worthwhile, otherwise too expensive. Any excuse for more fabric, I guess. I have just checked and it appears that it is still there. They say that orders over 4 yards will be shipped after January 14th. It will be worth the wait.

jobbi37 wrote:
Absolutely not the canvas. This fabric is no longer available, it was made a few years ago. The only place I know you can get it today is to buy the Kit from the Store here on the Quilt Show. Windham just reprinted it specifically for The Quilt Show to be able to produce more kits. When these are gone, there is no more

i would like to use my own fabric for the houses but want to use the art history 101 back ground fabric.. could you tell me if you are using what they call the canvas fabric or am I missing something? when i try to find this fabric on the web it says that it is a canvas.. and i didn't want to order it until i made sure i am buying the correct one. Thank you!!! i love this quilt.