Saturday, January 16, 2016

In the Hoop Quilt

It is time to design another quilt to be completed in the hoop. With my quilt "Russiese Inspirasie" I digitized all the piecing, embroidery and Quilting myself. That was a daunting task. I am not skilled in digitizing embroidery and it isn't really my interest. Over the years I have bought a lot of beautiful embroidery designs that I would like to use in my quilting.

For my new project I first had to decide what designs to use. I selected a beautiful set "Vintage Chic" that I bought from OPW and it is designed by Riani a South African woman. The designs are relatively big so I first had to plan how I will be able to use it. That would determine the choice of patchwork blocks.

There was not really a design that was suitable on its own as  a central design. So I select and combine two of the designs to use in the central square of the middle block.

Then the next step was to design a quilt that I could piece in the hoop, then do the embroidery, add the batting and backing and proceed with the quilting. With my previous quilt I struggled with the thick seam allowances and realized that I will have to design with sashing strips dividing the blocks.

I like to work with colour and very seldom make monochromatic quilts. I decided that working in a monochromatic colour scheme will be a real challenge for me. So I will try and do this in blue greens.
Now I have a framework and I can start digitizing the individual blocks.

This is how the block look in my Bernina Software. I will work in my Large hoop that will give me a work area of 24 cm. I will load a soft vilene as a stabilizer in the hoop. I have digitized a 24 cm Square that will sew first to give me an indication of my batting placement. I will cut a square of 25,5 cm and will place it on the sewn square so that it overlap evenly on all sides. (I could not digitized and sew this line as a placement indication because it is outside the stitching area.) I will then sew the square again to anchor the batting. I can print templates of the fabric pieces from my EQ7 design program and will use that to cut the fabric. I will then add the middle fabric and the digitized seams of the two triangles will then sew. I have imported the embroidery design that will fit in the area and contribute to the overall design of the quilt. The design will now sew colour by colour.

When I add the backing fabric (I will secure it with pins outside the work area and pinned from the top) I will be able to start the quilting that is already digitized for the open areas. Once this is complete I will have a completed block.

I have already digitized three blocks and can start this project. What I like most about piecing in the hoop is that I can place the embroidery exactly where I want it without any difficulty. I still struggle with design placements and really is a novice embroiderer. I like techniques that disguise my lack of abilities and piecing in the hoop is one of my tricks to do that.

Hope to show you soon what I have achieved.

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