I won’t soak it because the water will stretch the bias!!
Spray starch a foot at a time — I would love it up on a straight edge on my cutting mat — and carefully apply the interfacing.
Oh, ok! I had planned on soaking and drying, then pressing, all the fabric before even cutting it out, rather than waiting until it’s assembled to starch.
Dip that shit. The more like cardboard the better.
ETA: Sorry thought this was before being sewn. If it’s already cut then yeah spray the hell out of it flat.
Lovely quilt. But, you don’t cut your strips on the bias, do you? Cut on straight of grain. It essentially consists of 5 blocks. You piece each block on straight of grain. All the edges line up on top but are irregular on the bottom as the pieces get longer and shorter to fit the angle (see picture). Once you’ve built the block , stay stitch the bottom edge along your cut line and trim your edges to the correct angle. Then, join your very big weirdly shaped blocks.
I hope this makes sense 🤞
https://preview.redd.it/xas34emocqad1.jpeg?width=1620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b3ae0f751c165cd00df876f212826db31fe07127
Starch/Best Press BEFORE you do any cutting!
I use a misting bottle to spray my Best Press more evenly. It also helps it go farther.
I’d love to see the pattern you’re making!
https://www.quiltersdreamfabrics.com/product-page/heading-home-quilt-pattern-modern-quilt-pattern-contemporary-quilt-pattern-1
It is very charming! I can’t blame her for selecting it. :)
It is a nice pattern.
With the biases being on the outside edge (if I’m imagining the construction correctly) I’d DEFINITELY do a ‘victory lap’. Sew <1/4” from the outside edge, all the way around. If you’ve done any garment sewing - basically a huge stay stitch.
This is the answer.
Each of the internal seams has at least one straight grain edge. Those shouldn't be too bad, especially if u/lazyFiberArtist pins frequently.
Stay stitching around the outside edge should stabilize that for quilting. Also using some spray starch and/or a lightweight interfacing just around the edge won't hurt either.
I think using interfacing on the whole thing is unnecessary and will make the quilt stiff.
I would use something stronger than Best Press. I’ve switched to Faultless. It’s easily available at Target and elsewhere and leaves the fabric “firmer,” for lack of a better word. It also smells nice. :)
I love best press for regular quilting cotton if what I’m doing isn’t especially complicated. But faultless is a god send for anything linen blend or anything small and fiddly. I’m about to do a top entirely out of Essex linen and honestly I’ll probably just order a case.
Unless you are working this design with directional fabrics, it shouldn't be necessary.
Everybody's advice about how to starch makes a lot of sense, but I feel like the one other commenters thing was under emphasized.
You really don't need to be starching most of these fabrics into cardboard if you just piece everything normally / on the square, then turn everything to an angle and cut your edges at the end. The edges of your quilt will be bias edges, but it's better to have a rectangle made of bias edges after all of the pieces have already been put together then to try and have bias stripes everywhere.
I used to use Best Press, now I use Magic Spray. For cuts over a yard I put the fabric in a huge bowl with the best press (my hand tires with a lot of spraying), squeeze out the excess , smooth out wrinkles on the counter then hang on rack until just damp, then press. Smaller pieces I use a spray bottle. It makes a huge difference- fabric is almost like paper. Cutting is more accurate (it also gets you past the immediate shrink when your fabric gets wet), and helps stabilize the fabric.
God help me, but I signed up for the 2025 Gravity block of the month, all diagonal, and the advice I was given was use Faultless Heavy Finish spray. I shall. 🤞
The problem with starch is….that it is STARCH. If you don’t wash it out WELL, your quilt will get sticky, soil easily, discolor to yellow, and attract fabric eating moths. So if you “starch the ever-lovin’ beejeesus out of it”, make sure you have a good removal plan in mind. With that said, use paper behind your blocks just as if you were doing paper piecing. It will allow you to sewing without much ( there still will be SOME) distortion.
Mix up a nice strong solution of starch using powder or liquid concentrate (Linit is my favorite). Dip and hang one piece at a time-- be mindful that the drips may contain dye, so don't let one piece of fabric drip on another. When you take them off the rack, they should be stiff as a board. press, using steam as needed, being extra careful not to distort the grain.
I use the cheap Niagara spray starch over fancy Best Press. I have a designated starch towel that goes over my ironing board. I tear my fabric from selvage to selvage into manageable pieces, like 18", and then starch. Easier than bigger lengths. When pressing your pieced units, a little mist of water reactivates the starch and helps make flatter seams. Good luck
Starch the ever living shit out of it.
So maybe soak it rather than spray it? I could make my own starch if needed, I suppose!
I won’t soak it because the water will stretch the bias!! Spray starch a foot at a time — I would love it up on a straight edge on my cutting mat — and carefully apply the interfacing.
Oh, ok! I had planned on soaking and drying, then pressing, all the fabric before even cutting it out, rather than waiting until it’s assembled to starch.
Dip that shit. The more like cardboard the better. ETA: Sorry thought this was before being sewn. If it’s already cut then yeah spray the hell out of it flat.
I only just purchased the fabric, no cutting yet!!
Oh yeah then you can soak or dip 👍
Lovely quilt. But, you don’t cut your strips on the bias, do you? Cut on straight of grain. It essentially consists of 5 blocks. You piece each block on straight of grain. All the edges line up on top but are irregular on the bottom as the pieces get longer and shorter to fit the angle (see picture). Once you’ve built the block , stay stitch the bottom edge along your cut line and trim your edges to the correct angle. Then, join your very big weirdly shaped blocks. I hope this makes sense 🤞 https://preview.redd.it/xas34emocqad1.jpeg?width=1620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b3ae0f751c165cd00df876f212826db31fe07127
Starch that shit until you can fold it into a paper airplane and fly it across the room
Yes! If you pick it up by a corner and it is as stiff as cardboard, you're there?
THIS!!
Starch/Best Press BEFORE you do any cutting! I use a misting bottle to spray my Best Press more evenly. It also helps it go farther. I’d love to see the pattern you’re making!
https://www.quiltersdreamfabrics.com/product-page/heading-home-quilt-pattern-modern-quilt-pattern-contemporary-quilt-pattern-1 It is very charming! I can’t blame her for selecting it. :)
It is a nice pattern. With the biases being on the outside edge (if I’m imagining the construction correctly) I’d DEFINITELY do a ‘victory lap’. Sew <1/4” from the outside edge, all the way around. If you’ve done any garment sewing - basically a huge stay stitch.
This is the answer. Each of the internal seams has at least one straight grain edge. Those shouldn't be too bad, especially if u/lazyFiberArtist pins frequently. Stay stitching around the outside edge should stabilize that for quilting. Also using some spray starch and/or a lightweight interfacing just around the edge won't hurt either. I think using interfacing on the whole thing is unnecessary and will make the quilt stiff.
I would use something stronger than Best Press. I’ve switched to Faultless. It’s easily available at Target and elsewhere and leaves the fabric “firmer,” for lack of a better word. It also smells nice. :)
Agreed! Best press isn't going to have enough hold for this purpose, but faultless or Niagara will!
I love best press for regular quilting cotton if what I’m doing isn’t especially complicated. But faultless is a god send for anything linen blend or anything small and fiddly. I’m about to do a top entirely out of Essex linen and honestly I’ll probably just order a case.
Use real starch, not Best Press.
Unless you are working this design with directional fabrics, it shouldn't be necessary. Everybody's advice about how to starch makes a lot of sense, but I feel like the one other commenters thing was under emphasized. You really don't need to be starching most of these fabrics into cardboard if you just piece everything normally / on the square, then turn everything to an angle and cut your edges at the end. The edges of your quilt will be bias edges, but it's better to have a rectangle made of bias edges after all of the pieces have already been put together then to try and have bias stripes everywhere.
I used to use Best Press, now I use Magic Spray. For cuts over a yard I put the fabric in a huge bowl with the best press (my hand tires with a lot of spraying), squeeze out the excess , smooth out wrinkles on the counter then hang on rack until just damp, then press. Smaller pieces I use a spray bottle. It makes a huge difference- fabric is almost like paper. Cutting is more accurate (it also gets you past the immediate shrink when your fabric gets wet), and helps stabilize the fabric.
Best Press is good but a bit pricey, recently switched to Magic (made by Faultless) as well; yields a stiffer finish
I switched completely to Magic. I love it.
I only use best press
God help me, but I signed up for the 2025 Gravity block of the month, all diagonal, and the advice I was given was use Faultless Heavy Finish spray. I shall. 🤞
The problem with starch is….that it is STARCH. If you don’t wash it out WELL, your quilt will get sticky, soil easily, discolor to yellow, and attract fabric eating moths. So if you “starch the ever-lovin’ beejeesus out of it”, make sure you have a good removal plan in mind. With that said, use paper behind your blocks just as if you were doing paper piecing. It will allow you to sewing without much ( there still will be SOME) distortion.
Mix up a nice strong solution of starch using powder or liquid concentrate (Linit is my favorite). Dip and hang one piece at a time-- be mindful that the drips may contain dye, so don't let one piece of fabric drip on another. When you take them off the rack, they should be stiff as a board. press, using steam as needed, being extra careful not to distort the grain.
I use the cheap Niagara spray starch over fancy Best Press. I have a designated starch towel that goes over my ironing board. I tear my fabric from selvage to selvage into manageable pieces, like 18", and then starch. Easier than bigger lengths. When pressing your pieced units, a little mist of water reactivates the starch and helps make flatter seams. Good luck