I bought some stencils months ago, maybe March. Anyhow I had read about using stencils in Free Motion Quilting with Angela Walters. I figured for the cost of the stencils to try it out wouldn't be drastically expensive. So back in March, I purchased a few things while I was away at a fabric store including stencils. So after finishing the Free Motion Quilting for the center of hubby's quilt (and breaking my first needle ever!), I decided to be a little more daring and try out the stencils. I purchased a different kind of chalk marker which I am totally in love with! It is called the Chaco Liner by Clover. AMAZING! I have bought so many chalk pencils but this does not even compare. It has small little teeth at the tip that move when you mark your fabric and released a small amount of chalk powder. They are also refillable. I bought the white one to try but next time I'll be purchasing one to use on white fabric and refills for this amazing tool. I'm just extremely excited about it! Here's a picture of what it looks like.
So so easy to use! Just love it. One of the best quilting tools, I've purchased in a while. Here is a picture of the chalk outline from using the stencil.
I used Countess Machine Quilting Thread in the Dolphin colour. First time I've ever used this thread. It seems quite nice and the price was good, 500 yards for $4.99 at one of my local quilt shops. It's the closest one to my work so while I was on lunch break, I took a peek in to see what thread I could find that I would like. It is a medium gray which I think went perfect for the inner border. Light enough to see but dark enough to blend :)
So that is my progress so far. Not sure what to do with the outer border yet. Any ideas? I am liking the FMQ but not sure if I should continue that for the outer border or not. I do have a feather stencil but I'm not sure if I'm daring enough for that one yet :)
Julia
Looks great - did you find it easy to trace on your chalked line? I've only used a template once and didn't think it might help me with my spirals! We were told on our class over the weekend that white chalk comes off, coloured can leave a mark with yellow being the worst offender!
ReplyDeleteI found it really easy to trace using it. It does come off easy but that's what I want. But I didn't find that it came off while I was quilting. I had chalked up about a quarter of the border and then I just stencilled as I went around the rest of the border. I only did a quarter at the beginning because I was worried about it coming off. Next time, I'll try doing the whole border and see if it comes off. I also tried the chalk on a scrap piece of fabric from the inner border and had no issues before I started chalking up my quilt. I also tried doing spirals free hand which worked out well but they weren't as nice as the ones with the markings :)
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