Practice Makes Perfect–or at approaches
I have been diligently working on converting all the tops I have sewn over the past years into completed quilts. I started with over forty and have halved that number–of course there are more projects to be completed. I did a lot of quilting on my faithful 7570 and before that my Sears machine. The hardest part was basting–I had to clear the dining room table, and set up popsicle sticks in the center, clamp down the edges and then safety pin in three inch spans. It was time consuming and not very much fun. I enjoyed the quilting part–and didn’t mind wrestling the quilt through that arm space—
I tried batting on my mother’s frames–that was hot work and hard on my back as I did it in the upstairs of my shop before I had air conditioning up there–and the frames were sit down ones–not stand up ones for a tall person.
Now I have Vivian–with those lovely metal solid frames all adjusted for my height.
I’ve put on many tops and backs–and it goes pretty fast. I’ve learned to drape the batting from the top down–not pull it up like the directions say–and I always float the top–saving one pinning. And I pin the backing to the top roller, roll it up and then pin the bottom–and then re-roll—this is pretty technical but somehow I don’t seem to have a problem with wrinkles in the back.
Here are two traditional tops–the HoneyBee is custom quilted and the Christmas Stars constructed from my mother’s fabrics is for a great niece–I am trying to make a piece of her fabrics for all her great grandchildren–I still have a few to go.
Sylvia Weir Art 