Margo, do you put anything else in your cold water soak or just plain water?

I've been thinking and studying fabric after getting it wet. Some of the fabrics I soaked in cold water first and pretty much always had perfectly clear water after 15 minutes. Next test, I filled the basin with warm water and a tiny bit of orvus paste and then added the fabric back into it. The water almost always regardless of fabric had some discharge of color into the water. I tried this on about 15 different fabrics and they all did the same thing which I found quite interesting and puzzling at the same time. None of the fabrics bled into my white monitor piece of fabric that I had in with the test fabric, but it was still interesting to see if there was anything I could add to the water to NOT get the fabric to release dye. I couldn't find anything that didn't encourage it to do so. I even tried my organic laundry detergent I get from Shaklee and it did the same as the orvus paste -- some of the dye in the fabric released into the water but only after a cleanser was added.

Maybe I'm the only one that has experienced this. I hand wash all my fabric in my laundry room and it has a white tub so it's great for seeing what's going on with the fabrics. Now what I wonder is why some fabrics will release dye that doesn't do anything to other fabrics and why some release dye that changes the color of surrounding fabrics. I'm thinking out loud here -- could it be that it only affects fabrics that it directly rubs on? I'm thinking this because of the one piece of fabric that was ruined recently that gradiated from black to grey to white. The black in the fabric attached itself in blobs to the white in the same fabric. I'm thinking that perhaps this is where the black fabric was laying on top of those particular areas.

It's interesting to try and figure it out even if I may never know the answers.

Margo, If you aren't a teacher you should be. You would be great and if I lived near you I would take your class.

Margo, Thanks! Very clear description.

BJ, even on a long-arm, there is some stretching involved. Think about it. If you pull on any piece of fabric it will stretch a different amount in 3 different directions; lenghtwise grain, crosswise grain, and bias. Depending on how the fabric is mounted on the long-arm, you will get a different amount of stretch horizontally and vertically. Add in piecing, and you have a third element of distortion with bias seams!! And the appliqué, with the grain of the fabric often going in yet another direction! So, what's a quilter to do??? First of all, I find that starching helps with the piecing and applique, but I seldom starch my backs unless they are pieced. Yes....this particular back was starched because of all the bias seams, and it still stretched significantly in one area. I'm still learning how to deal with those issues.

Also....you won't wind up with a square quilt if you don't start with a square quilt top! Every step of the construction process should be checked to see that you are making the sides the same length as the center measurements , whether the quilt is a square or a rectangle.

For domestic machine quilting, I pin baste my quilts close enough that any place I put my hand on the pinned quilt sandwich, I'm touching at least one, and preferably two safety pins. On my long-arm, I use Superior's Vanish thread to baste horizontal lines about 4-5 inches apart over the whole quilt.
I can't help you with the hand quilting projects, except to say that they need to be securely basted.

On both my domestic machine and my long-arm, my first stitching is to stabilize the entire quilt by stitching horizontally and vertically in the ditch evenly over the whole quilt. I try to have this stabilizing stitching no more than 8 inches apart, but realize that's not always possible. I also securely SID the borders and the outside edges of the quilt. Then I go back and add more detail stitching over the whole quilt and finally go over it again to do the background fills, trying to keep the density of the quilting even over the entire quilt.

After the quilting is done, I wash my quilt in the washing machine. I first soak it in cold water for about 1/2 hour to remove any chemicals. Remember, I usually use starch, and Crayola WASHABLE markers, and Vanish thread that all need to be removed. Then I spin that water out and run it through a regular light cycle with warm water and Orvus Paste, and usually do one extra rinse cycle to be sure all the chemicals are gone.

When the quilt is finished washing, I block it to get it back into square. I have a vinyl floor in my sewing room that has a grid pattern on it, and can just spread the wet quilt out flat and line it up with the marks on the floor. I pat it into shape and let it dry overnight. My quilts are then pretty square.

Some people will wait until after blocking to add the binding, but I bind mine before I wash it, and so far it's worked well for me. This is not the only way to get a square quilt, but it's what works for me. I hope you find methods that work for you!

Until this discussion, I thought it was something to do with using my domestic machine to quilt that make my squared up tops come out somewhat askew and have to be resquared after blocking and before binding. My landscape/pictoral quilts on the other hand are all wonky and have no form of besquaredness (I just made up that word) until after I finish quilting them. I thought if I had a longarm that would change. So how do people have such wonderfully perfected borders and great pieced backs? I've seen them at shows. They DO exist. :shock: I'll bet Margo has some.

I have made a label for EVERY quilt I've ever made, but I usually do the fastest thing for me, which is to print them out on my computer onto fabric!

There are instructions here: http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Quilt-Labels-Quilting/dp/1564771466/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293718922&sr=8-1

And here: http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/images/projects/10069.pdf

I hadn't even thought of trying to get the label straight. I have added any labels so far. I have signed my quilts but I want to start making labels too. I plan to search for Margo's instructions on labels. I read them before but I forget. Labels are next on my list of new things to do.
Maybe her instructions will tell how to keep them straight.

Hmmmmm.....I think that depends on how you are finishing your quilt, but because fabric DOES stretch, the only way to get around that is to wait until you get to that corner before you place the label and cut away the backing. Even if it's quilted on a long arm machine, the corner with the label could be just basted until the rest is finished, then fold back that corner to attach the label, and proceed to finish quilting over it. It would be awkward, but I think it's do-able.

I have the same problem even though I don't make 2 sided quilts.

I like to attach my label before I quilt. I always cut away the fabric behind the label and place it in the lower left corner of the quilt.

My problem is that I find it impossible to layer the quilt top, batting and backing so that the label is parallel to the side and bottom of the quilt - it always looks a bit askew.

So far, I have solved this problem by attaching my label a LOT askew so that it looks like a design choice. And sometimes it is, but ...

I would like to know how to do it the right way.

BethMI

I wish I knew who originally said this so I could give them credit, but one of the sayings that I put on the GRAM SAYS quilt for my grandchildren is:

Whether you think you can, or think you can't....you are right.

With all the encouragement and help available here on the forum, and Sue's wonderful directions, I hope that everyone feels like they can make a Ruffled Roses quilt. We can do this!!

...sorry Marion. I guess I'll keep my stash and I'll keep on quilting...no, trying. I'll keep on trying to quilt.

Drat...this means there isn't going to be a whole stash on ebay to buy!

If it isn't a big deal about the block size; you might be able to split the back into four quandrants and then insert sashing to make it the size that you need. At least you would be able to use the back with a little "tweaking."

visit sewingandbeyond.com and take a look at my friend MaryAnne Ciccotelli's quilt - "Generations Unite" She spent a lot of time getting the back and the front to line up. If you send her an email and ask for directions on how she accomplished this I'm sure that she'll give you some direction.

Teri