LMS

I have received numerous questions recently about using Perle Cotton for quilting whether by hand or by machine.  So, I thought I’d talk a bit about the two techniques.

The Faux Sashiko pillow(pictured above) that I designed for the fall issue of Stitch magazine was machine quilted using Perle Cotton.  This is a great time saving trick, but one I would really only reccommend on smaller projects–my machine gets a bit cranky when using the heavier weight thread and I certainly wouldn’t want to attempt it on a larger quilt.

When I machine quilt using Perle, I only use the Perle for my top thread–the bobbin thread is regular thread.  I use 8 wt. Perle cotton–although 12 wt. might make my machine a bit happier with me.  I always lengthen my stitches–I usually set my stitch length as long as I can on my Bernina.  And I manually pull the thread off the Perle cotton spool so my machine doesn’t have to work so hard.  I leave my tension at the same setting I would use for regular sewing.

My Fall Petals Pillow is hand quilted using 8 wt. Perle Cotton.  Hand quilting with Perle Cotton is essentially the same thing as hand quilting with quilting weight thread.  The technique is the same, but you take longer stitches and you get to use prettier thread. =p

There are a lot of great resources for hand quilting–one of my favorites is from Mary.

Appliqued Pillow

 I almost exclusively use Finca Perle Cotton which I can now purchase locally.  Prior to purchasing locally, I purchased online from Yarn Bazaar.  I was able to purchase a color card from them which is a wonderful tool if you are unable to view the thread colors in person.

Machine Quilted Journal Cover

 Hopefully this answers some of your burning questions about quilting with Perle Cotton! =p

Thanks so much for your input in regard to my last post!–It definitely gives me some things to think about. =)  Today, I do have something I can share with you…from start to finish–pretty exciting. =p

The family and I got back yesterday from a weekend of camping.  I had taken along my boring old composition book which I have taken to using for writing notes, inspiration, patterns etc. in order to wrap up a few projects.  But the notebook was so dreary, it definitely needed some jazzing up–yesterday afternoon, jazzing up became my Sunday project.

I swapped some fabrics with Aneela awhile back and in with the fabrics she sent she included some Liberty of London fabrics.  I decided to use those and I added some Liberty prints from my stash in with the mix.  Then I threw in some Anna Maria Horner prints that worked well with the Liberty prints.  AMH’s voile prints are similiar in weight to Liberty fabrics.

I decided to use the same Linen that I had used in my Stitch Magazine pillow—a great chocolatey color.

I new the basic design idea that I wanted to use…Perle Cotton stitching with a cute little Dresden.  I found this free pattern on craftsy.com which provided a mini dresden template so I didn’t even have to draft my own pattern.

The stitching on my journal cover is all done using 8 wt. Perle Cotton on my sewing machine(regular weight thread in my bobbin).

I used a fun blue flower print to finish the edges on the inside of my journal cover.  And a perfect stripe for the binding on the top and bottom.

The back of the journal features the straight line stitching.

If I had more time, I would have added a little pen pocket or an oversized pocket to store a calculator/cell phone.  But, since I was after a quick finish project, no pockets were added.

All in all, so much better!  And the nice thing is, is that the journal cover can easily be removed and used for my next journal once this one is used up.  Perfect!