Problem Solving

Piecing the triangle squares was no problem but as you can see piecing those strips to the center rectangle of the faux leather was a problem.   The vinyl tends to stretch and I could not even pat it flat so ripped the border strips off and cut a new piece and managed to save those border strips to use again.

I decided part of the problem was that I need to put a spacer between the border and the center rectangle so all the vinyl pieces could lay flat along those seams.  I decided to cut the center panel smaller so I could add a spacer strip of plaid fabric between the center panel and the triangle square border.This time I decided to transfer the tree design to the vinyl before I stitched on the borders.  I tried numerous ways to mark it and nothing seamed to work.  The only thing that did work was a chalk wheel and that would brush off quickly.  The only way I could come up with was to use Golden Threads quilting paper so I traced the outline of the tree and hills and used a glue stick to adhere it to the vinyl so it would stay put.  I followed the outline using my sewing machine and the thread I planned to quilt it with.  After stitching I torn off the paper as I will eventually quilt near these lines and add many more lines to give the trees and hills the texture it needs and sure didn't want to be picking out tiny pieces of paper out of all those lines. Did have a panic moment when I realized I cut the center rectangle smaller than it was supposed to be.  Whoops!  Actually it worked out that after adding the spacer strip I just had to add one more triangle square to make it fit.  Of course that made the number of triangle squares an uneven number so decided to make the pattern offset and actually I like that look better now anyway.  I did use those small clips to hold my seams as I stitched since I couldn’t pin the vinyl and that worked well.  As you can see the center section fits the borders so much better than my first attempt.  Also notice the offset triangle border setting.

 One thing I didn’t tell you in the first post was I used a regular foot for the seaming of the fabrics but when I topstitched I used a Teflon coated foot.  The backing of the vinyl is fabric so it stitches just fine with a regular foot but needed the Teflon foot to help stitch the topstitching of the seams.  It just slides along on the sticky vinyl.

More later,
Lynn

Another Quilt–Another Challenge

I am always looking for a challenge, trying something new or out of the box; something that  can add a spark to my quilting and make me think.  Now was the time for that out of the box experience as I had the last project finished and needed/wanted to start something new.First the design.... Using pencil and paper I drew a tree with lots of texture.  I wanted to thread paint and quilt it on a solid square and quilt an appropriate background.  Thread painting or quilting a picture has fascinated me for a while.  As you can see the tree is tipping so that is why I drew the line through it so the next draft I could straighten it.  The next draft will also have the root area shortened and have fewer fine branches but at least it is a start.Next to choose my fabrics – lots of plaids and the red arrow pointing to the real challenge part of this quilt.  Yes that is vinyl or faux leather.  Have never worked with it in quilting so this is a new experience for me.  I wanted the center tree to be of the vinyl and have a pieced border of the plaids and vinyl.For the pieced border I settled on making triangle squares using 2 squares stitched diagonally and cut apart.  Since I am using the vinyl I can not press them with an iron so instead I finger pressed them open and top stitched the faux leather side down about 1/8” from the seam line.  That controlled the bulk and kept the seams open.  The squares were all trimmed down to 1 1/2” and ready to stitch together in a border.
I used a variety of brown/grey plaids in combination with the black vinyl.  I topstitched the seams open again to keep it all nice an flat.  So far so good or so you might think......

Stop in again to find out the rest of the story.

Until Later,
Lynn

Tip Time–Vinyl Sewing

I recently learned the best tip about sewing with plastics.  If you have ever tried to sew with these materials you might have found that your presser foot wanted to stick to it and not slide along.  I know I had that trouble when I made all the luggage tags a little over a year ago.  Posted about them here on March 18, 2010.  I used a piece of fabric or paper to help the presser foot to move along and not stick to the vinyl but at times it was a little tricky to keep it under half of the foot and not stitch over it.

I read this tutorial on making bag straps of vinyl on Paradiso Designs by Cheryl Kuczek.  She suggested using a Teflon or roller foot if you have one but the best part was the tip that a regular foot could be modified very easily to slide along on the vinyl.

I decided to give it a try and wonder of wonders it worked great!  OK, here are my photos and what I did following her instructions to modify a regular sewing foot.  First you need to gather your supplies….a roll of Matte Finish cellophane tape, yup that is it.  The shiny kind of tape will not work – only the matte finish will work for this application.Cut off a piece of tape the length of your machine foot and stick it to the bottom of the foot. 

Using an X-Acto knife or scissors and trim off the excess tape between the toes of the foot and the needle hole, sides and front and back of the foot.  Cut off any tape that is not stuck down to the foot.

That’s it, now you can sew vinyl without the foot sticking.  If you are only sewing these materials occasionally it is a lot cheaper to use the matte finish tape over buying a specialty foot.  If you sew with these materials all the time it might be worth it to buy the Teflon coated feet or the rolling foot.

I tried each of the feet pictured above with the tape on the bottom and they all worked like a charm on the vinyl.  I am thinking any foot configuration would do the job with the tape so give your machine feet a try.  I sure wish I would have known this trick last year but better late than never and I will sure use the tape on my presser foot the next time I need to stitch vinyl.  I would like to try it on leather but I don't have any leather to try it on…let me know if you use this trick on leather as I would love to know if it works as well on it.

Here is one of the samples I stitched…if this were a video you would see the foot sliding along just fine, stitch after stitch.  YAY!

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Until later,

Lynn