Creased Wrinkled Fabric

Wrinkled fabric
How to avoid this when you're washing your fabric. 

Deep wrinkles with hard to get out creases

Okay now I know some of you don't wash the fabric before you start working but I do. Here's why I do:
 1. Eliminate shrinking
 2. Avoid having dyes running and ruining my fabrics
 3. Remove chemicals put on the fabrics in the process of making and/or shipping.
Some of those chemicals are harmful to us and so we need to remove them from the fabric.
Now if you'd like to keep the crispness of the fabric then you can always starch it as you iron and restore that crispness.
Okay so when washing the fabric how do I avoid getting all those nasty wrinkles? Well the first I always cut the corners of my fabric or pink the raw edges or surge them. This is just to eliminate any fraying that might occur in the washing and drying process. After I've done that I will take my selvedge edges and stitch them together to make a loop of my fabric. If I don't have selvedge edges then I just take two of the shorter raw edges and stitch them together again creating a loop of fabric.
Then just throw them in the washing machine. Don't forget your color catcher if you think you have some fabric that might bleed a little bit. Wash and dry them. You're ready to go. This is what they look like afterwards.

Very few wrinkles and no creases

Once they are dry all you have to do is trim off that little sewn selvage edge or the raw edges and you're ready to start creating.

Whatever wrinkles left are much easier to iron out of the fabric. Use starch if you wish.

Happy creaseless sewing!

Rose

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Here We Go Again!

Oh goodness I've been missing in action for so long.  I have been busy, I have been doing things. Here are some of the blocks that I've made for our guild monthly block exchange.

Red and White Block for April

Flower Basket Block for March

This is a little card that I worked on for another on-line exchange I participated in. I was late with it as I forgot what the deadline was and thought I had longer to work on it. Oh dear. But I did get it done.

Postcard for online swap

The project was to do a postcard that included paper and embroidery so I designed this little card. I had some postcards for my inkjet printer that I had purchased a long time ago and then never used. Perfect. Then I remembered my sketchbook with a little flower design I had worked on, again some time ago. I thought it would look great as a card. The other part of the challenge was to focus on the word create so I added some words to the card. After I printed the design I decided to color in the flowers with some markers.  Then came the fun of deciding what stitches to use and then piercing the paper. About halfway though I remembered I like to keep the first of any new idea I make. So I printed another card and this time added the hummingbird to it (another one of  my little sketches!). When it came time to embroider the hummingbird I opted for some metallic thread. It was a little tricky to work with but I love the results.  I received this one from my exchange partner who lives in England.

Postcard Exchange from England

I'm still trying to straighten up and get somewhat organized in my "studio room". I may have a new idea to share later about fabric scraps. Testing it out now. 

I've been rather busy with my quilt guild lately, mainly working on promoting the show that took place May 1 and 2. It was a good experience for me and I also got involved in the take down. What a lot of work goes into putting on a show! I still have some things to finish for the guild and we are already talking about next year's show.

I haven't done any Finish It Friday posts because I haven't finished anything on Friday lately. (Well I haven't started anything new on Friday either!)

For my 15 minutes a day project I've been concentrating on this vest.

Butterfly Denim Vest WISP

I've blogged about it before here. One thing that I keep reminding myself of is to keep track of the thread colors I'm using. I started this about 15 years ago - what!!?! I can not find the blue thread that I used on it to begin with. I have found a DMC light effects thread that comes close but that thread is a little more difficult to work with than the regular floss. But I'll manage. Right now I'm concentrating on doing an irregular running stitch on the lines within the butterflies. Here is a view of two butterflies, one has been stitched and the other one has not. I think doing the stitches adds a lot to the look of the butterfly. Why an irregular running stitch? Because I don't seem to be able to keep my stitches perfectly even in length! Plus I think irregular is more interesting than perfect. 

I keep thinking I need to add some flowers among the butterflies but that will mean an even longer time before this is finished. I do wear this vest every once and awhile just because I can.

Well that's just some of what I have going on at the moment. 

Happy Stitching!

Rose