Quilting?

So, I’ve begun to wonder about the Quilted in QuiltedPig. Honestly it’s because I have not been having a nice time with my quilting machine.

See all those awesome skipped stitches? They do not make for a nice quilting experience or a pretty quilt. This has been going on for a long time, and my solution has been to say I was going to get it fixed and then just start on a new quilt top instead. The good result is that I have completed five quilt tops this year, but the bad result is that they are beginning to overrun my sewing room.

So I’m working on getting the machine fixed. It’s still under warranty for parts, though I suspect the hook timing may also be off, making the problem worse.

Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping myself busy with other crafty projects to distract from the fact that I really just want to start a new quilt. One of the big projects is something I’ll have to show you later as I’m still working out the kinks, but here’s a little something I whipped up to solve a problem I’ve had with labeling the stuff I make.

I was looking for paper-backed fabric that I could run through my printer to create a label that could be sewn into the back of a quilt, but at the same time I knew I also wanted something small that I could just add to little crafty projects.

In my search I found a blog post where someone printed her name on t-shirt transfers and then ironed them on to twill tape. Interesting and cute idea. Unfortunately what I brought home from the craft store was actually a printable fabric that can be ironed on to stuff. The good news is that it partly circles back to my original desire for printable fabric.

I’ve also discovered something about printers this summer. Most new ones are being made with cartridges that use pigment ink rather than dye ink. This is a great thing! No more purchasing an extra product to “set” the ink, which was honestly what has held me back from really pursuing the printable fabric.

On to the fun part…

I played around on the computer with my name and website in different colors and different sized fonts, then printed some test pages on paper. When I was happy with the layout, I printed them on the fabric.

I was going for something about 1” high. Next I taped the sheet to my cutting mat because it was too slick to hold still.

Then I used my ruler and rotary cutter to make sure I got some straight lines.

Lickety split, I had a whole pile of labels to iron on the stuff I make.

I ironed one on to one of my semi-finished projects to test it out. Since this is a bag that I’m sure will get washed a lot, I went ahead and sewed it down.

On to the next project!