Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop: gold foil fabric

Thursday, 20 November 2014

Be Careful for Asking for What you Want...

... you might just get it! The well know phrase is meant as a warning getting what we want doesn't always turn out quite as thrilling as we had expected. But in this case, I rather think it has.

In my post on 'Round the Bend in 12 Squares'...

...entered into the West Country Quilt Show, I said I secretly wanted the prize for Machine Quilting - and I got it - and I am thrilled!!

Thanks so much to Muv of Lizzy Lenard Vintage Sewing who went to the show on day one and emailed me this photo as soon as she got home.

So, with all this gold fabric I now have, I aggonised for a few days over a possible gold version - would it work without the change of colour per square? Would this or that be better? And then I got fed up with myself. Do you see Norma Shlager whinging over what might or might not work in her Skinny Wriggly series? No. Do you see Heather Pregger holding back on Tuning Fork Series? No. (Both series worth a visit - see my side bar) So stop whinging, prevaricating, procrastinating and just do it, and if it doesn't work, move on to number 3.

So here is the start of Round the Bend 2!
A few of you have asked how I get the lines to join together. Quite simply, I draw the whole thing out in one piece and then cut it up into squares.

Here it is once I've quilted in the lines. There is no way to mark this gold fabric without leaving a permanent line, so I've stitched it from the back...

... and here is a detail from the front. Then working from the front I can fill each square with pattern.

This is the top line, middle square, as yet with no binding. I start with sewing around the square as close to the edge as I can go to hold it all in place. It is quite useful to be able to start the design outside of the square when curves are involved, which you can see I have done at the top. Of course, this is only possible on and outside edge - it gets a bit tricky quilting at the other edges of the square.

This is top row, right hand square. At the moment, my plan is to cut out the central unquilted curve that runs through the piece and have it black. That may change when I see it all together.

Here are the two squares side by side, as yet unbound. I think, as I feared, the change in pattern alone without a change in thread colour, is not going to be enough to distinguish the squares. However, I've started so I will finish!!

Thanks for visiting...

Hilary Florence

Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by the river @ http://www.conniekresin.com/

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced @ http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN @ http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/

I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Lizzie Lenard @ http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk

Finish Friday @ http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.co.uk/

Friday, 14 November 2014

The same but not the same - the quest for the perfect gold fabric

My first trial on gold foil fabric just happened, by chance, to be on the perfect gold fabric - the remains of a fat quarter that I had bought locally. Cotton backed, it didn't fray, cut well into the smallest sliver, quilted like a dream, did not split, had a lovely soft handle and was a beautiful rich colour gold. It's only imperfection was it appeared no longer to be available - not locally, not on any quilting shop website nationally or internationally. I sourced, bought and tried about 6 other gold foil fabrics, none of which came up to the standard of my first.

Then, a friend of a friend sent me a fat quarter that she had found at the FOQ in Birmingham. Yes, this was it, the real deal, my original super-duper fabric!! I rang up the supplier (Bramble Patch UK for any one interested). Yes, they had it in stock. No they didn't always have it, couldn't always get it and couldn't say when or why they would/wouldn't have it. So even though it was quite expensive, I bought 10 meters - AND IT IS NOT THE SAME!!

Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop - free motion quilting on metallic fabric trials

It is close, much closer than the others. It is cotton backed, it does cut well and doesn't fray. The colour is the identical rich gold. It is the handle that is different. It feels like there is a thicker layer of plastic over the gold making it much stiffer. Where as my original and the fat quarter sent by my friend, handled like any other fabric, this is more like a plastic table cloth. It tends to drag and pucker a bit when quilting.

So, I've been trying to adapt to it - after all, I now have 10 meters to use!