Hitomi Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 What do you do when you get a quilt and the borders are long and as you are quilting it, the borders get gathered? How do you quilt it down? Do you put a pleat in it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gail O Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 I'm certainly not an expert, but piano keys or wavy piano keys "suck" up friendly borders. When all else fails, take a tuck. g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Gail offers good advice, but if you need to take a tuck, I would check with the customer first and let her know that you are having problems with a "full" border and this is what you would suggest..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Hitomi it sounds like you are already into the quilting process, yes? I try to avoid tucks as much as possible. Try to starch and steam it flat before you tuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniemueller Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Piano keys work wonders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewcrazy4quilting Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 I too am a big fan of piano keys or bead boarding for the unruly borders. I have also taken a tuck or two with the customer's knowledge. Good luck to you taming the wild beast :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seakitten Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Starch & Steam!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitomi Posted April 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Starch and steam while the quilt is on the machine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gail O Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Hitomi yes you can startch and steam while on the frame. I lay it out the way I want it and then give a spray of starch. Then steam it. I usually let the starch dry some because that sucks in the extra. Hold a towel under your quilt. Bonnie Botts has a dvd on how she does the starch and steam method. I know she is traveling right now but she'll respond when she gets home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Around Thanksgiving last fall, our favorite LQS moved into a new, larger, and wonderful space. The owner, Steve, is always very supportive of our Guild functions and is a pretty nice guy. Anyway, several of the Guild members decided to made a quilt for him to present to him at an open house reception. Great idea, but there were some flaws in the piecing. The gal who took the lead in the project, designed the quilt with a version of EQ, but had to guess at at some of the piecing. There were sides that had extra bits of fabric sewn into it to make it fit, other blocks were very stretched on one side to made them fit together...and the borders, well that was another story. They were so wavy I called her to ask if they were supposed to be ruffled, as they certainly were. She knew there was a bit of fullness in the borders, as she just made them work. She finally said that if I didn't know how to quilt them without pleats, I could take a tuck if I really couldn't figure out how to do it without any tucks. Here are a few pictures: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 #2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Piano keys quilted. There are tucks in every stippled section. Unless you look very closely at it, they are not very noticible. Fortunately, Steve was thrilled that people would make him a Harley (he has several Harleys) quilt. He has it hanging on the wall in his store for everyone to see. My name is there as the quilter. That's the good news and the bad news. I'm not sure what that says about my quilting that there are so many tucks in the border. On the other hand, if they had seen the before and after pictures, they would certainly understand. But, nobody would see the before pictures to know what I went through to get it to look like that. The wavy border pictures are "AFTER" I did the starch & steam method! Also, the quilt hangs wavy. (: I know it's not my fault, but I wonder what customers think when they see the wavyness and the tucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Overview of quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MastiffMomQlt Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Great photos, Sandra! You've really shown how well the piano keys with some extra quilting handles that friendly border. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyT Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Might I say, Sandra, that is one awesome Harley quilt! I better not show it to DH though! You definitely had a wild ruffle border to tame on your hands. I am a firm believer in the starch and steam method and have Bonnie's DVD, too. I had a quilt with 7 borders all waving different directions that this method helped tremendously. I still had to take only two tucks in the middle of the borders, but they weren't even noticeable when it was all said and done. Bonnie wrote in another thread about using Heavy starch, and that's what I used. I do have quilts that the piano keys tame the not-so-wild wavers that I don't have to starch and steam. Good luck, Hitomi. You can do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Thanks! The quilt is pretty cool, and a rather simple quilt to piece. The "flames" shooting out from the star are fussy cut fabric so those blocks weren't pieced. I stippled the black part, and outlined the flames in the the fabric. The effect was pretty good. I used a CL Sunburst template in the silver fabric blocks, and used silver embroidery thread. I used 1/2 of the Sunburst template in the orange star points and used orange embroider thread. Teh rest was free hand and rulers, and numerous thread changes. I have Bonnie's S&S CD, too. It is a great resource! Hitomi - Are your borders any worse than the ones on this Harley quilt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 A very striking quilt Sandra!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seakitten Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Sandy, honey, that is awesome!! and you are very brave to take it on. Good going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitomi Posted April 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 I quilted it leaving the section of extra fabric on the sides. One side had about 1" of a puff, the other had about 3/4" puff. Because I free motioned this quilt, I quilted up to the puff on one side then went around and quilted the other side. I left the extra fabric there. I didn't know about the tuck until another quilter told me about it. I had to bind this quilt also, so I ironed down the extra "poof" and after binding it, you really couldn't see it (except I knew it was there). It's a bargello and it's busy already. Catherine, did you notice the "poof"? I thought I had these wavy borders because I floated this quilt. But afterwards, people told me that if you just sew on the borders without measuring the quilt, the borders will be longer than the quilt and you will come across this problem. So I didn't feel bad, I know the owner of the quilt, just sewed on the borders. Now I got my long tape measure on the machine to guide me that the sides are even on both sides, don't pull in the middle as I roll the quilt up. It's all a learning experience for me. Next year, I hope to have all these obstacles behind me. OK, moving on....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seakitten Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 No, I did not notice the "poof". The quilt looks FABULOUS, especially since we know it it the piecers' first quilt, and a husband-and-wife team effort at that. I am pretty sure those borders were not the only unique aspects to that quilt, although Hitomi is too nice to ever point them out. It's a great job of quilting, and binding too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 SANDY!! You did an AMAZING job quilting the Harley quilt. BEAUTIFUL!! Hitomi, another option that works well with fullness is to layer some higher loft batting in that area and quilt it down. The loft takes up the fullness and after it's quilted you cannot tell it has that extra batting in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anniquilter Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Sandra That's an amazing job you did on the Harley quilt. I really thought the before outer border pics featured a ruffle!!! Your stippling method was a great solution. BTW we missed you at Fire & Ice this year :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Thanks everyone for the kind words about the quilting. Anne, I missed you and Heidi and Charlotte and everyone else at Fire & Ice. I just couldn't justify spending the money this year. Hopefully, I'll get there next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Hitoni, Your quilt turned out great. From looking at the picture, it doesn't look like you had any issues with it at all. I got a small pleat in the backing of a queen size Civil War quilt recently, and of course, I didn't know it until I had it all custom quilted and off of the frame. So, I finger pressed the pleat flat and used a needle and matching thread to very carefully stitch it down. The next day, I couldn't find it! We all learn little tricks to help us with our quilting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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