Joy, imperfection and an interlude
I continue to have problems with the two pieces I’m working on but I’m not surprised. I decided to work out some of my problems “off-line” by preparing a sample piece that is exactly like my quilts. This was no small task. But I did not want to work out any more problems on the actual quilt, so the sample was worth my time.
I still had problems with the bobbin thread coming to the top and showing. Even with perfect tension, if you quilt atop a previous layer of stitches, your tension will go bonkers. This problem is inevitable with this type of design. I had this idea of how to get rid of those pesky show-throughs…..
You can clearly see the bobbin thread coming up despite good tension. How to solve this?
Yup, I got the Sharpie out and just ran over those gray spots. It worked well. I did learn to be mindful to cover the area evenly and to be very careful to not go out-of-bounds. I need to think about the archival impact, if any.
Now I must digress. I have been asked, why don’t I just hoop it? Great question.
I know this may sound odd, but, I just don’t like to hoop. It’s that simple. I will do all kinds of things that are less-than-pleasant to achieve the look I want, yes. But for me, some things are not just tedious, they rob joy from the process. Hooping is one of those things that takes away the joy for me. In this case I would have had to rehoop several times to finish the leaf on my quilt-ick!
I call this blog “Quiltskipper” for a reason. It reminds me that I do this art/quilt thing because it gives me joy. I don’t ever want to catch myself getting caught up in the pursuit of perfection, ribbons, better teaching gigs, competing with others. All those things can rob my joy. So even if I appear to be taking the long way to finish a piece, it’s worth it to me if I arrive at the end full of joy.
Onward:
I began to block my piece and of course, I stuck myself and began bleeding before I noticed that I bled upon my quilt! I did the spit thing but there was still residue left. At this point I knew I was committed to washing and blocking it one more time. Sigh.
After I washed the piece I began to block another time. When I have a seriously rumpled situation like this I will plop rulers atop the wet, blocked piece to help control the fabric.
Ah, so the mistakes are not done! Note to Self: Do not begin to block a piece without washing your hands after applying foundation. Du-oh.
At this point I realized I had hit a pivot point. Disregarding the make-up stain, I still had a rumpled quilt after 2 blockings. It was clear that this piece just simply might not work. The Really Good News was that now I could experiment with radical or unexpected solutions-what did I have to lose?
I am actually way ahead of my deadlines on these pieces. Come this fall I will be insanely busy prepping for teaching at Houston, my other quilt guild gigs and local teaching engagements….and the house remodel. So I’m motivated to finish these now.
Here’s my chance to try hoopless hooping. I’ve had a few bottles of Terial Magic on-hand, but I had not tried them yet. The manufacturer says that it stiffens fabric to the point where hooping may not be needed for embroidery. You can see here how stiff it makes the fabric-almost like cardboard.
For my test, I heavily stitched both motifs, a surefire way to get ripples. But on the right side, I stiffened the fabric with Terial Magic before stitching. Then I washed it out and stitched the left side without any Terial. You can see that the right side has no wobble despite the heavy stitching. Even after washing the product out, it remains flat. The left side wobbled as expected. It works! No hooping! I’ll use this product in the future.
This is a pivot point. This entire process that I write about here would not need to happen if I used the Terial before heavy stitching! (I wanted to write that whole sentence in caps!)
So, back to blocking:
I thought, what would happen if I just “micro block” (yeah, just made that term up) the areas with problems? There is some real high-tech stuff going on here! This area is particularly troublesome since it is surrounded by heavy stitching.
Okey dokey, that did not work. Well what would happen if I pinned the dickens out of the problem areas? I’ll call this technique “custom blocking” and yeah, I just made that up too!
So here I am at an interlude. I don’t quite know what to do. The last blocking (“custom blocking”) made a world of difference. It hangs well.
I’m not sure I’m happy with it though. I don’t want perfection. It comes at a high price-Loss of Joy. But I’m still a little unhappy with how it hangs. I wonder, should I block it again?
And it needs one last refinement in the design but I’m just not quite sure what to do yet. I’ll have to ponder both issues. I imagine by next week I will have resolved the issues on both pieces and be done. I’ll be linking this up on Friday with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.
Thank you for sharing your journey as a quilter. It is easy to look at those beautiful works hanging in shows and think “I could never do that, it’s perfect. I make too many mistakes.” You show that it is a long process and many oops can happen along the way. It is how we handle them that results in the final outcome. So even though I will most likely never do the type of work you do, I look forward to every posting.
I chuckle when I hear that someone thinks that some amazing piece just happened Karen! Through SAQA I know lots of artists that make amazing work. We ALL go through this! Thank you for your comment Karen.
Whew Jenny – you are making my head spin. You truly do own the title “Blocking Queen”! (Possible future book?) On the tension problems, try a wax based colored pencil (Prisma color). With the wax, the color sits on top of the thread – so no worries about it soaking through or bleeding. Also, it comes in tons of colors to match any thread. I sometimes use Prisma color pencils on top of my thread to add a little extra “texture” and color when I thread paint. Not sure how it would work on something that is washed, though – so I’d do the touch up on the thread when the blocking is done. As always – your work is maaarrrvolous – as are you!!
Oh I didn’t think of that-my Prisma’s and others are just sitting there, waiting to be used. This is all part of my process of learning to use other mediums to enhance my work. I’m a slow learner! Thank you Schatzi!
Very good post! In regards to your makeup stain, I have to ad while we all are growing tomatoes, after a trip to the tomato patch, do not touch or attemp to block anything wet and white before washing your hands. Just ask how I know!
Oh no Inger!! I guess you too are getting good at removing stains. At least it wasn’t a red tomato stain-that would have been really hard to remove.
I feel your pain… spent several hours yesterday [in 100 degree weather] steaming and blocking a new quilt….. sweat dripping even with the overhead fans going… left it with a piece of plywood on top overnight… much better this am. Linda
Ouch Linda-that sounds brutal! The things we do for our quilts…. Plywood should whip it into submission.
I do appreciate posts filled with trials and errors and how well a technique works (or not). Second only to posts about alternate design decisions.
If you like posts about trial and errors you will continue to like my posts Claire:-/ I don’t even have to try for the mistakes, they are so very natural.
Jenny, I really enjoyed this post! I especially liked the part where you talked about not letting the process rob you of the joy of creation. I feel exactly the same way. The funny thing is, things like “micro-blocking” are things I would never do–they would rob me of my joy. And when I talk about these things that I would never do, because they take too much time, my BF points out to me “and yet, you are perfectly content to spend hours hand stitching.” That’s why I liked what you wrote–joy comes in different flavors for each of us!
Oh that’s SO true Debby! It’s all about the joy. I keep thinking I am going to do something with hand stitching because I do miss that and it would be lovely to sit on my front porch or on a plane and stitch away!
Wowsa! You have a serious commitment to these pieces (or are addicted to hitting your head against a wall.) I’ve done the marker touch up but agree it’s a good idea to think of the archival effects of Sharpies. And thanks for the review of the stiffening product. I assume starching wouldn’t work? I know the result will be glorious.
Oh I do have a serious commitment to these pieces Joanna. I am going to try the Prisma colors instead though (as Schatzi noted in the above comment). I’ve used regular undiluted starch and it does not have the strength of the Terial stuff.
Jenny, This is a great post. I love the pinned section picture especially. I wonder if you have tried doing the heavy stitching off quilt. I sometimes do this using a layer of bridal veiling and several layers of clear washaway stabilizer and then cut it close, and stitch the final edges on the quilt. there is so much pull on that heavy a stitching…or are you trying to stitch both sides of the quilt at once?
I am stubbornly attached to the reversible aspect of this series Betty Jo. The back is black sateen with light gray silk thread and I loooove that! I may need to rethink my shtick after this though. I certainly have learned a LOT about blocking!
I wonder if it could be stitched off quilt in two sections, the one on the back in opposite shape to the one on the front, especially if the edge stitching was done on quilt (as well as a few down the middle of the shape). I’m probably not being clear…off stitching the main shape and adding the final edges on quilt…it is the way I do things like hair and horse’s tails because of the pull. Even with hooping and stabilizing, that much stitching would pull a lot, as your post shows. Might be too thick though. What an interesting problem.
Interesting problem indeed Betty Jo! I know you have the experience as an embroiderer, which is a skill set I do not have. Interesting thought-to do the front and it’s mirror image separately, then add to the quilt. I have to ponder that one. It seems like more time but a better outcome is worth it!
Oh Jenny my heart goes out to you, this piece is giving you a lot of grief, but you are so good to stick with it and knowing you, as I feel I do, you will conquer these problems. I take my hat off to you I think I would have binned it long since!!! I too hate to hoop, I use vilene tear away stabiliser if need be, it is good and it does tear away easily. It stops a lot of puckering I find. Not sure if you get it in USA. I can send you some if you don’t. Let me know. Make sure if they do sell it you get the TEAR AWAY, not the cut away. That stuff is a nightmare to get off. Stick with it girl, you will get there.
It’s funny Janet-this much trauma is not unusual for me! I haven’t used tear aways on this piece because I want it to be two-sided. I may not win on this one-won’t know until the end:-/ Thank you for your supportive comments!
Jenny…I follow your posts because you share the nitty-gritty; what works, and what doesn’t work for you. I don’t like to use a hoop either. I generally use layers of water soluble, or tear-away stabilizer. The Terial Magic intrigues me. I shall have to try it.
Laura if I didn’t share the nitty-gritty I’d have nothing to share! I hope you’ll blog about it if you use the terial-it has all kinds of intriguing uses.
Oh My! I applaud your patience. I chuckled a bit as I was reading down, I was thinking “I’d just use a sharpie” and give up. And then you used your sharpie. I had an art teacher once say to me that whatever you need to do too attain the affect you wish with your artwork is “OK”. One place in life where the end justifies the means. Keep on having fun!
I like that quote from your art teacher Nancy-it’s a good concept. And yes, I’m having fun!
Make-up? You wear make up? lol! See I just forget it because I don’t have to look at me.
Seriously thanks again for telling us about how to overcome obstacles. LeeAnna at not afraid of color
Sometimes it seems like all I have to write about are my obstacles LeeAnna! I hope this one turns out after all that.
You are so determined. I think I would have given up on this a long time ago. I hope that you do tame the beast eventually and that you regain the joy.
I do hope this works-there is no guarantee. But I will find my joy Maggi!
I have never heard of this Terial Magic product! Where did you get it, and how does it work? As for the bobbin thread issue, you probably already thought of this, but could you switch to black bobbin thread for that bit with heavy stitching? Then you wouldn’t have to play fast and dangerous with the Sharpie markers. I admire your commitment to the process of quiltmaking, and your attitude that every disaster is an opportunity for a creative new solution.
Rebecca Grace I get mine locally, think it’s even available in JoAnn’s. Google it and see all that they do with it. I”m not a huge fan of the fabric flowers but many are. The only reason I didn’t switch bobbin threads was that I was going for a two-sided quilt. I know, a lot of trouble for that! If you saw it in person. the sheen of the light gray silk thread on the black sateen really is divine. I suspect you would like the look.