Mary Vaneecke

This last quilting tip calls for some perspective on quilt show judging.

Quilt show judges have a very difficult job, and no one will get rich doing it (one told me she accepted payment for judging county fair quilts in pie!).  They can assess over 300 quilts in 2 consecutive eight-hour days.  That’s enough to make anyone cross-eyed.  While they honestly strive for objectivity, judges are human beings with biases and preferences.  Since only one quilt can win Best in Show, someone is ALWAYS unhappy with EVERY decision a judge makes.

When I submitted Homage to my local guild show, it won a blue ribbon in its category, but did not win the professional quilting ribbon here in Tucson.  From there I submitted it to several state and national shows, where it was  juried in but never got more than an honorable mention.  Its last stop was Paducah, and I was THRILLED that it got accepted but figured that would be the end of it because of its showing elsewhere.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that it had won one of the biggies!  Now, Homage faced different competition and different judges in each show, so one explanation for the Paducah ribbon was that Homage was up against some really crummy quilts that year.  I prefer to think that it won because the judges were the most astute, brilliant, and tasteful on the planet…but whatever the reason for the Paducah win, I have learned that judging–and jurying–is really a roll of the dice.  Always take it as it comes and remember that you asked for it–the judging process is voluntary.

So, are you feeling lucky?

I am one of those people who hate to follow the rules blindly.  Tell me to jump, and I will not ask how high?  I will tell you I am busy and life is just too short to deal with capricious requests.

Did you ever wonder how quilt show judges came up with all those picky, seemingly arbitrary rules for judging quilts?  As in, “If the binding looks good, is straight,  even, and securely stitched, why do we care if it is full of batting?” (roll eyes here for emphasis).

I asked this question of an AQS certified judge who gave me this answer:  We know from looking at antique quilts that those with full, evenly stuffed bindings wear best over the years.

And a light bulb went off in my brain:  There is method in their madness.  The judging criteria are not arbitrary at all.  They are designed to ensure that the most beautiful quilts last as long as possible.  Well, that is a goal we can all support, isn’t it?  So while I might not like all those rules, I can understand why those rules exist.  They are not arbitrary….  And because I want my work to last, I try to play by those pesky rules, whether my quilt will be judged or not.

When I first got my longarm machine, I spent a week at Longarm University and signed up for as many classes as possible.  It was a great experience, and I learned a LOT.  There were three classes on machine maintenance by three instructors, and I attended every class.  I learned such gems as:

• Never use a brush to clean out your bobbin lint; always blow it out with your breath.  And:  
• Never use your breath to clean out your bobbin case; use canned air.  And, of course,
• Never use canned air, always use a brush.  

What’s a newbie to do?  Advice like this can be very disheartening for a beginner.  Just be aware that everyone has little ‘good luck charms’ that seemed to work for them in the past, and so they stick to them.  Take the advice with a grain of salt, and remember it is okay to try something else if that doesn’t work for you.

What conflicting ‘rules’ have you heard?

Invisible Starts and Stops Part II:  Burying the thread ends.

My first show quilt was my own bed quilt and it has been washed several times (sadly, cats will make you do that to a quilt).  The thread ends have never come loose and I attribute that in part to burying the threads.  When you bury thread, you put the knot between the quilt layers.  It doesn’t get catch or rub against anything.

To do this, you need a highly specialized tool, the self-threading needle (available at Joann’s).  Instead of a closed eye, the needle has a V at the top, which allows you to slip the thread ends through the V (your thread ends will have to be longer than your needle).  You can see the notch above the eye of the needle the photo below.

Then you pull your needle through the fabric starting where the thread ends come out of the fabric.  In some cases, when it is hard to get your needle through the fabric, use a hemostat ($3 at the hardware store) to grab the needle and pull it through.

A link to a short video on burying the threads is here.

Pressing matters: We are taught early when we learn to piece a quilt top to press our seams in the opposite direction.  This allows us to ‘butt’ our seams for precise, pointy points and square angles.  I call this pressing for construction, and it make perfect sense when you are piecing.

That same pressing, however, means that your seam ‘ditches’ will alternate all over your quilt.  Your Stitch In the Ditch (SID) lines will have to alternate from your blocks to your sashing, from one fabric to another.  This can be a real headache when you layer the top for quilting.

Before you quilt, consider pressing all your blocks’ seams either in the direction of the the blocks, or to the sashing, whichever you prefer.  You get extra points if you press your seams to the darker fabric, where they won’t show on the light areas of the front.  This will allow you to use one color thread and SID on the block or sashing fabric, whatever you choose.  So you want to press your top for quilting after it is finished.  It makes your quilting task that much easier.

Skipped stitches?  Skipped stitches are a problem because they will catch on anything that moves across the quilt.

If you are quilting a batik quilt (or some other odd fabric), it is possible that your needle is not large enough to go through all the layers and seams of the dense fabric.  If this is your problem, you will have skipped stitches over seamed areas, but not in other areas.

Try increasing your needle size.  When I started using a #18 top stitch needle, I stopped having this problem on batik quilts.

You could also spray a light coating of silicon spray onto the backing (I do this onto the inside of the backing so that if at some point in the future the silicon discolors the fabric, it will not be on the top.   This is not my preferred method because I don’t like the idea of putting chemicals on a quilt, especially a customer’s quilt.

Check to see how tightly the quilt is stretched on your machine.  It should not be so taut that you could bounce a quarter on it!  Check by ‘poking’ the quilt from below with one index finger.  With your other hand, you should be able to grab the tip of your index finger through the quilt from the top.  If you can’t do this, loosen the quilt a notch or two.

Otherwise, check that your machine is threaded properly and the needle is installed correctly.  If that doesn’t work, check your timing.

Then you can skip along your merry way…

Before you begin quilting, you have to know if your needle and thread like each other.  Do they have a good relationship?  Can they play nicely?  Will they get along all the way through your quilt?  Or do they play nicely for a few inches, and then tear each other apart?

It is very important to follow the thread manufacturer’s recommendations (if they are offered) regarding needle size for the different threads you use.  For ‘quilting’ threads, which are thicker than most piecing thread, and metallics with a polyester core, a topstitch needle (sizes 18-21) will often be your best bet.  A size 18 will accomodate most, but not all, threads on the market.

If your needle has too small an eye, your top thread will shred.  If you are having this problem on either a domestic or longarm machine, get a larger needle.

As a bonus, the bigger your needle the less ‘deflection’ you will have.  Deflection is the tendency of the needle to flex while moving, especially when you are changing direction as you stitch.  It can mess with your stitch quality, too.

Some people (I am talking about you, my fellow Type As) notice that larger needles leave larger holes, and finer threads don’t fill those holes as nicely.  I suspect those people don’t wash their fabrics before quilting.  The sizing in fabrics make them papery and the holes won’t ‘heal’ as readily.

One reason I like Superior Threads is that they have a recommended needle size for EVERY thread they sell printed right on the thread cone for both home and longarm machines.  How convenient is that?

What size needle do you use?