Creative articles about quilting

Month 8 of the Crazy Colors Mystery Quilt 2017 project

Is it august again? Wow, time flies… we will be working on block 8 of the Crazy Colors Mystery Quilt 2017. I will use the BERNINA 770QE again, and love to make decorative stitches with variegated threads.

Make a sandwich of 32 x 32 cm, but first you can download the left part and the right part of the pattern.

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Cut one pattern part on the dotted line, taping both pattern parts together.

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UseVlieseline L11 – 32 x 32cm – to draw the lines of the pattern, making the sandwich from off-white backing, batting and the Vlieseline L11 on top – all at 32 x 32 cm. There are 9 fabrics to be used with this block: I have 8, so I will repeat one fabric/color.

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Normally you will place fabric 1 on section 1, but this time we will do things differently. This time you will sew fabrics 1, 2 and 3 together first, abefore placing them onto the sections 2/1/3 all at once. To do so, cut the fabric for section 1, don’t forget to add seam allowance. Sew fabric 2 to the left and 3 on the right of fabric 1,

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then cut them back to their intended size, seam allowances included, and pin this piece of three fabrics onto the sandwich. You can use paper templates if you want, to cut the fabrics, but don’t forget the seam allowances. I have glued the fabrics onto the sandwich with Bohin Glue Pen, because…..

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I will use lace to decorate, and it is easier when the fabrics are not moving while doing this. Use lace of 2 or 2,5 cm wide (mine is 2,5 cm wide), place one piece next to the seam between fabric 1 and 2, and glue this onto fabric 1, using the Bohin Glue pen. Cut the ends of the lace back to the same size as the fabric. I have used ‘antique’ lace, which will look nice in contrast with the bright colors of my batiks.

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Glue another piece of lace to the other side of the first piece, onto fabric 2, again with Bohin Glue pen. Be sure to glue the small pieces of the lace too.

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Place two pieces of lace onto the other seam, between fabric 1 and 3, and another set of lace inbetween, in the centre of fabric 1. There is not much fabric left, but the effect should be that you will see the fabrics through the lace.

Now it is time to embellish the lace, with decorative stitches, quilting, and afterwards with beads, sequins and perhaps Hotfix stones…

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I have used variegated thread, Mirage/Wonderfil which is a randomly colored Wt30 Rayon: making wide satin sttiches to join the lace two by two. Mirage is a thread that is a bit thicker, and perhaps you want to ajust the density of the stitches to cover the lace. My lace is quite thick, so it shows through the decorative stitches. If you don’t want that, be sure the stitches are closer together. Try your stitches on a sample to see what happends. I think the effect is nice..

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You can also quilt Free Motion, with metallic threads, to follow the edges of the lace. Work slowly, and quilt 3 or 4 rounds on top of each other to let the metallic threads stand out, otherwise the stitches will sink into the lace, and you won’t notice it after quilting. Or use a thicker thread instead.

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Be sure that the fabrics underneath are still visible: that is why I have drawn another line, half a centimeter towards fabric no. 7 onto the Vlieseline L11.: this will be my new sewing line. If I would have sewn fabric no 7 on the existing line, the green fabric would dissapear and even a piece of the lace, and that is not what I want. If you are using smaller lace, 2cm wide, you don’t have to move the sewing line for fabric 7.

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And now I will add fabrics as we are used to, decorating them with stitches and ribbons. Don’t forget to use those wonderful ribbons! And you can even add more lace if you want to. You can see that I have added a red metallic ribbon, sewing it down with a zig zag stitch on both sides, with yellow machine thread. Looks great, doesn’t it? Sometimes it’s really nice when adding a different visible stitch when sewing ribbobns down.

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I have made several rows with one of the newer decorative stitches (1396, top of the picture) on the BERNINA 770QE (these are also available with the B720, B740 and B790) – you will find this one with the quilting stitches – I’ve startedat different points at the beginning of a row: they seem to intertwine with each other. I really like this decorative stitch: makes me wonder how it will look on the stripes of a Log Cabin Block…

New stitches are designed and can be added to your machine, now and then, by downloading the latest Firmware of your machine: you can do this youself, or ask you local dealer when you bring your machine for maintenance. There are often improvements, like with the BERNINA 770QE ( latest march 2017, perhaps you haven’t downloaded it yet) there are 3 new decorative/quilt stitches (Serpentine stitches for Quilters, #1396, , #1397 en #1398; last two also for the B790*), and some imporvements:
1) The Running stitch (#0004) has been improved and especially adapted to the sewing applications (such as sewing on elastic bands). For decorative purposes, you can also choose the Serpentine stitch now.
2) The new optionally available presser foot ‘Adjustable Ruler foot #72’ is now displayed when recommended (B 720 / 740 / 770QE) and can be selected (onlyB 790).
3) Straight stitch with 9mm foot corrected (B 720 / 740 / 770QE) For a short time, presser feet with a special coding had been sold for the model B 830, e.g. the foot #13. When these feet were attached to a B 720 / 740 / 770QE, these machines couldn’t recognize the special coding and therefore they didn’t start. The   machine recognizes these feet now and starts as usual.

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So back to making decorative stitches…

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And my block 8 is ready too. Because I have used lace just in the centre of the block, it stands out more and that’s what I wanted. The green fabric I’ve used for section 3 is very small, so that’s the fabric/color I’ve repeated with the last piece (nr. 9): I have used this fabric twice.

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Would you like to know how the centre of my block looks like with Hofix stones? It shines and glitters… wonderful. Have fun with your version of block 8: remember to place a picture of your creation in the COMMUNITY of the Bernina Blog, to inspire others!

Next month block 9: will you join me again?

Happy quilting!
Sylvia Kaptein
Sylvia’s Art Quilts Studio

*Do you want to know if there are ‘new’ decorative stitches for your type of BERNINA machine? Check the laterst Firmware Update: you can find this with the BERNINA website, look at Support for your machine. You can check with ‘Release Notes’ which impovements there are.

IMPORTANT: when your sandwich/block is finished, check if the size is aprox. 32 x 32 cm. It can be shrunken a bit because of the stitches you have made, and the freehand quilting. BUT DO NUT CUT THE SANDWICH, not even to make it tidy!!! Leave it like it is, and put it aside until month 12.

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