jebm Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 I'm all set to try Bonnie's starch and seam method--but these borders are not just straight stretches of fabric--does it make any difference? The customer offered to take them off and just sew plain borders but this treatment makes the quilt--so if I can starch and seam the fullness out I'd like to do that. It's ruffly the entire length and width--and it looks like the little stones that attach to the piano keys are probably right--I don't know exactly how it got to be so ruffly--I even thought about taking the borders off and putting them back on--but I'm not sure it will help. It's not huge ruffles, just continuous! Any suggestions will be appreciated!! Jane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebm Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Here's another photo--the corners are off--feel like off grain totally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 It would help if the customer would add straight of grain border along the outside of this. She needs to measure the width and length from the middle of the quilt for these. She can worry about the tucks and puckering when she applies that outer border. I would think that you could then quilt this out. I have done this in the past for charity quilts and it works fine. Besides...it is better to have less seams on the outside edge of the quilt for binding purposes anyways...IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boni Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Questions: Does the customer want a perfect quilt? Does she want to do the fixing? Does she want you to do it and pay you for it? My opinion and observation: You would have to take the stones off too if you wanted them to match the keys. From my experience with the Kaleidoscope, matching those keys and stones will be a pain. (Since most of the fabrics are similar colors, what would it hurt if the keys did NOT match the stones?) I would take the keys off, starch, press, and re-measure the quilt top. Make it fit right. I would also re-do the corners. It looks like there's plenty of fabric to make it square. The way she has it sewn in, you're going to lose most of the black center patch. It looks like a good half inch or more that will be cut off. It appears the borders have NOT been pressed. After pressing, you will get a better measurement and be able to eliminate the ruffles by cutting out one or two. If the customer doesn't want to go to the trouble, then use double batting, SID those keys and let nature take its course. If you do an all over like Baptist Fans, you may have a few puckers and folds, but the ruffles will flatten out somewhat. Eeeek If it was MY quilt, I would re-do and re-do. Measure twice, cut once. Good Luck----my 1.5 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnHenry Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 If she offered to remove the border, I would certainly encourage her to do that, but only to revise the border, not to replace it. I think that removing some "planks" will solve the problem, and that could be done (in my fantasy world) without removing the entire border, but just taking out the stitches every 12 inches or so. It may be only a couple of planks too big on each side. Myself, I wouldn't hassle with quilting it as is, and I would fix it before quilting if she wouldn't. It will be a PITA to try to quilt it as is IMHO. It's a lovely border to the quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littleshoes Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 What if you just add another layer of batting to take up some of that ruffle. I don't know if that will help, but thought It might be worth trying along with steaming of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hollyrw Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 It really looks like each key is either too wide or her scant 1/4 inch seam was a little to scant. If it were my personal quilt, I would remove the border and fix what ever caused it to be too big. If the customer doesn't want to do that, could you SID the keys and take up the slack between? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neher-in-law5 Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Ok, remember I don't use a frame to quilt, so I don't know how things work with that method. but to even/straighten out the key border, can it be taken off with the stones still attached to the keys, then press well, measure through the center, then either removed sets of keys/stones or resew fresh seams through both the key and the matching stone. When it is the right size, put it back on? It sounds like more work than it would really take. Removing the stones seam from the center shouldn't take too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 It sure looks like the center of the quilt is nice and flat. Borders sure can be a problem even for the best of piecers. I myself have not done a border with a million pieces in it. I'll have to try it and see if I can do it! I agree taking the borders off and reapplying them would be the way to go. Removing the excess keys and reapplying the border seems a lot easier than fighting with them the whole time. I also noticed the problem of losing the black corner square, but that iblock is still going to be too big unless you or the piecer remove the corner blocks and square them up to the right size and reapply. It is a really neat quilt though. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 OK, Miss Big Mouth is here and she's got to add her (humble) $.02 , too! So here I am: (the Big Mouth) saying: Why don't you cut a swatch of extra batting so that it fits along the borders and then quilt it? This will take up any fullness. In the end no one can tell that an extra swatch of batting is under those borders. I would do piano keys SID. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Personally I'd take the borders off and just fix them. The center of the quilt is really nicely done. It would be a PITA but worth it I think. If she chooses not to take them off and cut them down then I'd do the steam method. It would take up a lot of the fullness. It just looks like she has too many keys in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennan100 Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 I'm with the startch & steam and add another layer of batting to the border sections and then so the piano keys. if there is still a little too much then do a double line piano key. I love those borders and think they should stay on the quilt. Looks like they might be just a tad wider than the stones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebm Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Wow! this is better than an encyclopedia. I have never done the extra batting (never needed to!) and it's tempting...She's in her 80s and this is the first quilt she's brought me that wasn't nice and square and perfect, and I think she's totally frustrated--but it's for her sister's 50the wedding anniversary so she wants it to be nice. I think it would probably be good in terms of customer relations etc., to do it--I know she's willing to pay whatever I charge! If I do the starch and steam, and then the extra batting...do I just butt the additional batting up against the point where the little stones begin? I need to put a practice piece on just to see how it looks! I am leaning toward removing the border--squaring the quilt, pressing the borders and then cutting the borders to fit properly--and then taking care of those corners which are all way out of whack. As someone said--it probably won't be that bad to take them off--and now that I read all this, I remember her saying that the pattern didn't really say how many pieces to make for the borders--so my guess is she used the "make the borders and sew them on method" without measuring-and that just won't work. If I need to, I will see if she has enough fabric for me to add one more plain border. on the outside for stability. Has anyone ever tried the silky hem tape (on the inside) to stabilize this kind of border--once it's the correct size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Jane, I haven't had the "opportunity" to use an extra layer of batting, but it is something that quilters have been known to do to take up some fullness. Perhaps you could spray baste it on the quilt top just before you load...easier yet, just eyeball laying it in there as you roll the quilt along. That might work fine, too. Check out Kimmy Brunner's situation and she tells you how to fix it: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/177130797JuGMTh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheri Butler Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 to me it looks like she's got one extra strip of fabric in those wavy borders. What would happen if you took just "one" out? Could you pre measure and see if that's the case? Maybe she did that on all 4 sides by boo boo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebm Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Originally posted by quiltmonkey Jane, I haven't had the "opportunity" to use an extra layer of batting, but it is something that quilters have been known to do to take up some fullness. Perhaps you could spray baste it on the quilt top just before you load...easier yet, just eyeball laying it in there as you roll the quilt along. That might work fine, too. Check out Kimmy Brunner's situation and she tells you how to fix it: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/177130797JuGMTh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Yes, if you click on the first photo, look below toward the bottom of the page, you can see her written explanation of what the issues were and how she fixed it. Scroll through each photo. Go back and look again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebm Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Thanks Shana! Wow--and I thought it was just one bad block--9 borders corraling all that fullness! she's a miracle worker--makes my problem look pretty puny! I'll post pictures when I finish doing whatever I do--I looked at again last night--and there's a very narrow border capturing the og cabin--and then the stones and keys start--it looks like she's worked in an extra key and stone on each side--and then the cornerstone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darlene Epp Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Hi Jane, I've dealt with LOTS of borders that had much more fullness than this one has. Steam will do wonders! I've never used the starch before, and quite honestly, I can't compute in my brain why starch & steam would work better than just plain steam. For one thing, the starch stiffens the fabric. The steam softens it so you can "pat" it into place. One of the problems with this quilt is that there is no stay-stitching along the outer edges. This is something I insisted my customers do before bringing me the quilt. Lay the quilt out, get lots of steam going and steam and coax the fullness out, and let it dry in place. Then stay-stitch before mounting it on your machine. You'll be amazed by what a bit of steam can do! I've transferred all my workshop pics to another computer to save space on this one, or I'd show some pictures that would have you gasping! In the end they turned out nice and flat. BTW, you ARE going to charge extra for this extra work, right? Mind you, if the lady is 80 and doing beautiful work like this, I'd probably just give her a hug instead of a bill! This is a beautiful quilt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyc Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 could you recommend the quilter take out at least two of the "piano keys" per border, that would most likely take away the fullness...a bit of work for her, but much less painless for you and it would save the border. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Darlene, I don't know what the starch does, but I know when I just sprayed the starch on a problem border, I watchec the fullnes go down even before I applied steam. So, I really believe it does something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnHenry Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Where's Bonnies "Starch and Steam" DVD? Is it out yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebm Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Originally posted by Darlene Epp Hi Jane, I've dealt with LOTS of borders that had much more fullness than this one has. Steam will do wonders! I've never used the starch before, and quite honestly, I can't compute in my brain why starch & steam would work better than just plain steam. For one thing, the starch stiffens the fabric. The steam softens it so you can "pat" it into place. One of the problems with this quilt is that there is no stay-stitching along the outer edges. This is something I insisted my customers do before bringing me the quilt. Lay the quilt out, get lots of steam going and steam and coax the fullness out, and let it dry in place. Then stay-stitch before mounting it on your machine. You'll be amazed by what a bit of steam can do! I've transferred all my workshop pics to another computer to save space on this one, or I'd show some pictures that would have you gasping! In the end they turned out nice and flat. BTW, you ARE going to charge extra for this extra work, right? Mind you, if the lady is 80 and doing beautiful work like this, I'd probably just give her a hug instead of a bill! This is a beautiful quilt! Yes, I will charge her, but not what I probably should--I think this is an anomoly (SP) because she's tired. I know it's not nearly as bad as it could be--what worried me was that it wasn't the average border--all kinds of space for things to get out of whack with all those pieces! I really think if I take the corner blocks out--and one stone and key at each end, and reassemble that area--I might be able to fix the remainder of the problem with steam. I think the last key she added on each side was extra--and then the corner block is way extra! If I can square it up that way--then the fullness will probably work out of the rest--and I know what you mean about stay stitching--I was even thinking about running the poly hem tape around the outside edge--but stitching ought to do the trick. Thanks! Jane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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