PosyP wrote:
Great looking quilt, Renata.
Interested to hear about using hairspray to fix chalk powder, whilst quilting, never heard of that one before!
Thanks, Rosemary! The use of hairspray to temporarily fix the chalk powder was recommended by the makers of the Pounce Pad, which contains powdered chalk, sometimes with a bit of color added when plain white won't show on the fabric. It made sense to me because I've known artists to do the same to fix charcoal to keep it from smudging on artwork. I marked the portion of the quilt I was going to sew next, then lightly sprayed it with the hairspray in the same manner I would apply a light starching to a fabric. Then I let it dry well, often for 15 minutes, sometimes 30, before taking it to the machine to sew. It did require washing the quilt to remove the marks and the hairspray that had stiffened the fabric. I had a little residue under the feed dogs of my sewing machine but not much and I got all that out from the bobbin area with my usual cleaning routine. Hope this helps.
). I wanted an edge-to-edge design but was going to quilt it on my Bernina 830. So I took a stencil called "Buttered Popcorn" by FullLineStencil Company (Hancy), and used Pounce to mark the quilt, followed by a light spray of cheap hairspray to keep the chalk from rubbing off while quilting. I was only able to mark half a row at a time (a good length of 30 inches) before the marks became too difficult to see. I got through it pretty quickly and was happy with the results. This quilt is now in the appreciative hands of a neighbor for whom I made it as a "thank you."
