Friday 28 December 2012

She thinks its all over.... it's not.

 Remember this one?  My attempt at the Soda Pop Quilt by Katy Jones?




You might remember me moaning about my issues with the fusible batting not sticking.   Or my issues with the bonda web on the white bubble parts not bonding.   But then I do moan rather a lot so maybe not...  
Mum helped me get all the bubbles done in a couple of mammoth quilting sessions before she left, and its been sitting on the sofa waiting for me to hand stitch the binding down on the back.  Boxing day seemed like the ideal day to get that finished. 

As usual, I wish the photos were better.. but believe me these were the best of a whole big bad lot!



Looks aaaaright eh?  Looks like a finish eh?  I bloody wish.  This quilt is not done yet... it has yet more "issues" to wind me up with.




Poor wee soadypop, the faults are entirely my own.  As you can see, there are a few bits where my stitching has come too close to the edge of the petal bits.  Or the stitching has missed the edge completely...  This is only four of them.  Unfortunately there are decidedly more than four in the quilt.  
Unfortunately the bondaweb stuff didnt work, so they arent even stuck down.  So...
How the hell do I fix it?  Is it just a "grin and bear it cos there's no simple way" situation?   Frankly right now I'd rather just pretend that it is finished and forget about it!  But, it needs a wash, I am hoping that the failed fusing crispiness will wash out and I would love to feel it soft and drapey instead of its current cardboard nature.  If I washed it just now though I'd lose half the petals - and if that happened I think I'd seriously loose my temper with it!   Answers on a postcard please....  

19 comments:

  1. Oooh, it looks gorgeous. Sounds like its been a rather frustrating project though! I think you are going to have to go back and stitch down the petals that are missing stitches. Whether you do it by machine or by hand is probably up to you. Given that you already have plenty of machine quilting on the quilt, I don't think it will really warp or shrink more if you add a little bit more machine quilting, so you wouldn't have to take the binding off, or if you hand stitched the petals, I don't think you would need to use a hoop or anything like that. Maybe someone else will have a genius idea that involves much less effort, but it's not springing to my mind. I think it will be worthwhile - it's too beautiful not to be used!

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  2. Does your machine have a blanket stitch? Are you up to going over all the petals round their edges with that stitch? Because that would help make sure they were all secured down and then you could throw it in the wash, cuddle under it and use it and abuse it.

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  3. My idea would be to either blanket stitch them as Canadian Abroad says or zig zag stitch. They're not going to survive the wash, trust me. Sorry but it's bite the bullet time and think of how lovely and soft it's going to be when it's washed and you're cuddled up under it! Good Luck!

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  4. Oh I prefer not to say...you know I have my own issues with things that go bump in the wash. Lol

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  5. It's really not that bad Sarah, just go back and fill in the bits you missed.
    You cab do it ! It looks brilliant in the photos - still think it looks 'upside down' though ;) x

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  6. Big deep breath, fill in the gaps, and the wash will definitely take out the crispiness :o)

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  7. Don your big girl pants, go back and fill in the missed bit, wash, dry and enjoy!

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  8. Oh its really pretty! If it was me I would get out my needle and thread and hand stitch down the bits that you missed. You could just do a little bit of backstitching on the missed bits and you could do it while you were snuggled up under it on the sofa? Then pop it in the wash and it'll go all soft and lovely :)

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  9. I am with your mom. Just restitch the ones that need it and then if any come loose in the wash restitch them too. If you don't want to use the machine, a bit of random hand stitching will look good too. (I would blanket stitch if I was doing it by hand but just do a straight stitch inside the other stitching if doing it by machine.)

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  10. I,m with Fiona, just hand stitch it down, shouldn't take you long. And it looks fantastic, well done!

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  11. I'd say just do a little bit of hand stitching as and when bits drop off! Call it a permanent WIP! But it is a lovely quilt. I hope you haven't gone off it forever.

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  12. It looks gorgeous! Finish it and you'll appreciate the gloriousness :) I'm with Fi too, a bit of hand stitching would work wonders! XX

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  13. Have just spent a while looking back on this Soda Pop saga - had missed it before - your almost finished quilt looks gorgeous Sarah, and on first glance looks like real Cathedral Windows. The colours are super, and I love the design with the petals fading as it grows. Sorry you had such a chore with the fusibles, I tried spray basting a baby quilt and found it a bit crispy to work with, will use it for smaller projects in future.
    Can't offer any better advice than what has gone before, but, tell me you didn't stitch each petal separately...

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  14. No words of wisdom or help from me but I feel your frustration. Di x

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  15. Yep, I was thinking a bit of hand stitchery magic too! If you felt up to it you could machine stitch them down, but I appreciate it would be like wrestling a walrus! The edges of the petals are going to fray a bit anyway when it's washed, so as long as they are stitched down securely, you won't notice the difference. It looks amazing and definitely worth the effort to get it finished! jxo

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  16. Oh, I love the quilt. I can imagine how frustrating the issues might be and I'm afraid I don't have any better advise than what has already been said about either machine or hand stitching the missed bits, but the quilt is so lovely I'm sure it will be worth it. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

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  17. Wash it and love it - it's gorgeous and all the imperfections will be invisible.

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  18. It's looking great - love the colours! I don't think I could face putting it back through the machine and finishing off all the ends I'd get from jumping from petal to petal so I'd add some hand stitching to the naughty/defiant petals - not all through the layers, just through the petal and the fabric behind it (and maybe catching some wadding if I could). Or you could do as Susan suggests and go back over all the petals with a zigzag or blanket stitch (work your way across a row at a time) but that would involve a huge feeling of 'I've already done this for hours and now I'm doing it all over again' - you'd need a really good audio book to listen to! I hope you find a solution 'cos it's gorgeous!

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  19. Blanket stitch was my first thought, in a sort of S wave from end to end , but your have to change from E to 3 every petal. I came down to two thoughts - ifyou can't bear to lose petals, a zig zag stitch in a S wave, if you don't mind losing a few (and after all they are randomly placed) wash it and sort out whatever came loose after.

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