INTERFACING AND FUSIBLE WEB
Fusible interfacing method
Lets talk interfacing!
Try and buy the best medium weight interfacing you can and remember to follow the manufacturers instructions because some interfacing you use a steam iron and other ones you use a dry iron. Or if you prefer you can purchase the pre-printed interfacing from Quiltsmart.
I use template plastic to make my template, so easy!
Drawing 64 seeds onto interfacing seems a lot but I do ten at a time, make them and then draw ten more, make them etc. its completely up to you. My daughter likes to draw them all out, then cut them all out, then sew them, and finally turn them all inside out, all in stages.
If you wanted to you could do raw edge appliqué seeds instead of using the interfacing method.
Raw Edge Applique
Always use a good quality fusible.
Directions:
▪ Trace the seed applique shape onto the paper liner of your fusible webbing.
The fusible gets ironed to the back of your fabric.
Refer to the manufacturer’s instructions on your fusible if you have any questions. Most come with step-by-step instructions for transferring your designs to the product!
▪ Cut out the appliqué seed pieces from the webbing, leaving a generous 1/2′ all the way around. DO NOT cut out the exact pieces!
▪ Iron the fusible webbing to the back of your fabric.
▪ Now cut out the exact seed appliqué shape!
▪ Remove the paper liner and iron your first seed appliqué shape in place.
▪ You Can choose to sew very close to the edge of your seed or zig zag around the edge of the seed appliqué in an invisible thread, stitch all the way around your first piece. (Slow down! You’ll be happier with your appliqué if the curve of your stitches matches the curve of the piece as closely as you can get it. Be sure both your needle and presser foot are both down. Stop your machine. Lift your presser foot and adjust your fabric accordingly. Sew the next stitch. Repeat as many times as necessary to get a nice smooth curve!)
2. SEWING YOUR SEED ONTO THE TOP FABRIC
You can sew your seed onto your top fabric in a number of ways.
Sewing with a matching thread as close to the edge of the seed is my preference, but you can zig zag with invisible thread, use a fancy thread or even hand stitch the seed to the quilt top.
This picture shows how close I sew to the edge, your sewing machine may come with a foot just for this purpose.
3. LAYOUT
The most important tip, when laying out the seeds, is to make sure they are in line from the centre of the quilt.
The below photo shows how they must line up with the points in a straight row radiating from the centre of the quilt.
3. QUILTING SUGGESTIONS
Okay, so now you have made the quilt top. Let’s talk quilting.
My Seed Burst quilts were made all in different color ways. I custom quilted each one differently according to the fabric choice, color and the overall look I wanted to create.
The ’ Solid fabric’ quilt was quilted in a style I call my ‘fanciful garden’. Basically, this means that I have made up flowers from my imagination. This style is very free flowing and I have lots of pictures in the post that your longarmer can refer to if you would like to recreate a similar look. This quilt would look equally as great quilted with an edge to edge pantograph in almost any style. My preference would be a flowering pantograph. Check out the post with my edge to edge patterns I have, as I have almost 80 patterns listed there. This will give you an idea of what you might like. Alternatively, I think it would look great in the ‘kindle’ pantograph which would create so much movement and texture.
The ‘Flower batik’ quilt was custom quilted with lots of large flowers. These large flowers were placed randomly in the background with large circles and spirals to fill out the spaces in between.
Depending on the colors you choose, you could pick a pantograph that embodies that color, such as a quilt made up of different shades of purple seeds would look great quilted with a hyacinth pantograph, or a quilt made up of red and pink seeds would look great with a rose pantograph.
The ‘Autumn’ quilt was quilted to create the idea of autumn leaves blowing in the breeze. These swirls would look great custom quilted or you could choose a pantograph of swirls and a neutral thread to get a great result.
The ‘Dark batik’ quilt was quilted with large swirly flowers (totally made up from my imagination). I wanted them to radiate out from the seeds creating lots of movement in between the seeds and then into the center. I think a pantograph with swirling stars would be perfect for this color combination.
4. QUESTIONS
My next tip is if you have any questions, just ask in the comments section and maybe it is something that I can put in the ‘tips and tricks’ for other quilters to reference.
……and thank you for your support in buying my first pattern!!
Peggy Carstens says
When you use the interfacing do you cut away any of it after you’ve turned them? Sometimes interfacing seems to show the big needle holes (especially if you have to rip out).
Carolyn says
Hello Peggy,
No, I haven’t faced that issue, I can’t see my needle holes at all.
I use a superior size 80/12 needle plus I use Aurifil thread which glides through the fabric.
If you cut away your interfacing at the back, is it still sticking to the fabric enough that you will be able to iron a ring of seeds onto the top and then stitch them down without them falling off? That would be my only concern.
I have a tip for closing up holes when I’m quilting and I need to rip out some stitches,I dip a cotton bud in water and gently rub it over any holes to close the fabric up.
I hope this has helped!
Carolyn