Stabilizer update

For context, here's what I've done with my New from Old challenge block so far.



What you can't see is the fluffy wool batting that is giving the center a nice pouf and filling out the blades of the plate, so that it makes a circle that appears flat and will show my quilting. The background blue cotton, dyed by Diane, is brighter in real life than it appears here.

For an update on the silk stabilization process: The Sew Perfect treated portion dried to a darker color:

The treated silk feels very much like paper - it's not going to ravel a bit, as the Sew Perfect really seems to be like a thin coat of dried on glue.

I wouldn't have minded the darkening of the fabric, if it were even, but at lower right in the above photo, you can see where the sprayer left larger drops that created stains. But wait, that's not the end of the story! After you make whatever you are using it in, you are supposed to rinse the product out. The cut out corner below had a dark line of the stuff angling up and to the right - now that I've rinsed the small piece, you can't see it any more.

The small sample of fabric I rinsed is still rather stiff. I will try another rinse or two to see if I get closer to the original hand of the silk. For this application, it won't matter if it does not come out completely .

Here's how I intend to border the Dresden Plate - for the first time ever, I made a mockup of my piecing in muslin to see if I was going to be able to get a nice 90 degree angle at the corners. The pieces on the left show fabrics I'll be using for the blades. I modeled my border design on one in Jinny Beyers' Quilters Album of Patchwork Blocks and Borders. (I have the original edition.) There were no measurements or any kind of schematic for this border, just a simple illustration. I'll have to modify the corner in order to sew it, but I needed to be sure I could get this to be 90 degrees, because my drafting was totally by guesswork.



The triangles will be in the dyed silk, separated by three cotton print blades. I'm cutting the center blade of each set so that each one has the same color motif. I had exactly enough of this fabric to get the number of blades I will need.


I put the holey fabric on top of the silk so you can see how I'm cutting each blade with a scissors - like our grandmothers used to do it!