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Comment by Connie Frankenfeld on April 12, 2013 at 11:29am

Have you seen this: http://www.naturesface.com.au/2012/07/11010/

A fine arts photographer selling his photos as fabric precuts for quilts. Gorgeous!

Comment by Lemmah on April 1, 2013 at 9:55am

Joy, thank you for taking the time to take us through the steps to beautiful wholecloth work - these tips are so valuable.  Nothing like hearing it firsthand.  I want to learn more about longarm quilting; since I'm back to quilting after many years away, there are a lot of newer things to catch up on.  Which makes me sound old...but I'm not so old that I can't learn a few new tricks!  (and buy some new equipment!)  A couple of decades ago, machine quilting wasn't as fondly looked upon, it was more of a convenience.  I'm glad that's changed but I want to catch up...

Comment by Joy Voltenburg on March 27, 2013 at 2:20pm

Lemmah, I designed this during a Karen McTavish wholecloth design class in Milwaukee. It's not perfect, but I love it anyway.  It measures out finished at 69"x69".  I definitely learned a lot about the process (how easy it really is) from Karen.  I had already experimented with trapunto once before so I tried it again on this wholecloth and I'm really glad I did.  It adds another texture to it that you can't get with a double batting.  I used Quilters Dream wool batting for both the batting and the trapunto. 

I marked the entire top (muslin) in blue water-eraseable pens.  Make sure you have enough pens.  Also get a blue pen eraser.  I had to order mine online as they're kind of hard to find around here.  And be sure to store it in an airtight container and out of the sun.  The sun will make the blue pen markings permanent and humidity in the air can erase all of your blue pen markings.  I used a few store-bought stencils and used pieces of them in different positions.  I also used a very long ruler and T-square. 

I used Superior Vanish water soluble thread to stitch the trapunto design and then sat with a pair of small embroidery scissors and cutaway all the batting to leave just the trapunto design.  You can do this on either a longarm or on your domestic machine.  You layer the marked quilt top on top of your batting and pin it together to keep it in place. Load it on your longarm without the backing fabric and stitch with the Vanish thread (any thread in the bobbin - I used Bottom Line white thread).  Once you stitch the design with the Vanish, you take it off and cut away the extra batting.

Once the cutaway trapunto is done, then you load it as you would normally to quilt it on your longarm (or domestic).  I stitched all the design motifs in one pass on my longarm and then went back and filled in the background fills.  Roll and do the next pass.  If I were doing it on a domestic, I'd stitch the entire design first to stabilize the quilt and then go back and do all the fine detail work.

When you're finished and have bound it, wash it in the washer on gentle (or soak in a tub).  Agitation and water will remove the Vanish thread and leave just your final stitching.  Use cool water to remove the blue pen markings.  If the Vanish doesn't disappear entirely using cool water, fill the tub with tepid water and agitate for a few minutes.  I then lay it on foam board and block it in place.

Thanks for your comments, Lemmah, and everyone else.  I appreciate it a lot.

 

Comment by Barbara S on March 26, 2013 at 9:03pm

Gorgeous, Joy. What a thrill that it is to hang in Paducah. Congrats. I've never been but it is on my someday list.

Comment by Joy Voltenburg on March 26, 2013 at 6:53pm

Thanks so much! I took a class with Karen McTavish in 2011 on wholecloth quilt design. I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow as I just got home from the dentist. my wisdom tooth was pulled last week and today I had a dry socket packed and I think I'm going to vegetate a while. :-)

Comment by Lemmah on March 26, 2013 at 4:13pm

Joy, that's BEAUTIFUL!  I am very impressed and I will be watching for it.  It must have taken a very long time - care to share the story behind it?  How long did it take?  When I feel confident enough in my stitching, I would love to do a wholecloth quilt.  (Of course, that's in a line with about a dozen others...!)  The trapunto work is gorgeous.

Comment by Joy Voltenburg on March 26, 2013 at 4:09pm

Thanks!  I'm thrilled it got accepted.  Here is a pic.  If anyone else is going to be there on Saturday, we could meet up!

Comment by Lemmah on March 26, 2013 at 4:07pm

I'm planning to be there on Friday and I will certainly look for your quilt, how exciting for you!  (any chance you'd share a photo so I/we don't miss it?)

Comment by Joy Voltenburg on March 26, 2013 at 4:05pm

I went last year and am planning on going again this year.  One of my quilts will be hanging there this year (Winter Garden - a wholecloth).  I'm planning on driving down with my cousin on Saturday and just spending the day. 

Comment by Lemmah on March 26, 2013 at 3:55pm

Hi Joy - I've never 'checked in' here but I'm from farther south, down by Carbondale and YES I am going to Paducah!  :-)  I haven't been for years.  

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