We are excited to have Eileen Roche, Editor of Designs in Machine Embroidery share this content with you, which was originally posted on Eileen’s Machine Embroidery Blog:
Piecing blocks in the hoop is fun, easy and accurate. The first color of a piece in the hoop quilt block is a numbered outline. The outline tells you where to place the individual fabric patches and frankly, I’d be lost without it.
I learned early on to use a thread color that blends with the fabrics to avoid thread bleed-through. The outline above was stitched in black so you can see it more clearly.
I’ve tried two different stabilizers for this process. The first was fusible poly mesh, a permanent addition to the blocks. Then I tried Piece & Stitch, tear away wash away stabilizer. I liked the idea of removing it after piecing but I noticed the stitched numbered outline hindered the removal of the stabilizer. I couldn’t quite remove all of it from the seam allowance areas. Ugh.
Then a light went off – what if I stitched the outline without thread? I removed the thread from the needle and turned off the thread sensor on my machine. Then I stitched the outline sans thread. I could see the numbers and the outline and it was easy to add the fabrics in the proper order.
Now, removing the Piece & Stitch stabilizer was easy. Those small remaining fibers will dissolve once the finished quilt is laundered.
Now all my blocks are flat and the seams are crisp. Love that!
Thanks for reading!
Reprinted with permission from Eileen's Blog.