Читать книгу Cathedral Window Quilts - Lynne Edwards - Страница 40

To give the window a smooth, slightly rounded finish I sometimes cut a smaller square (about 1¹⁄₂in × 1¹⁄₂in/3.8cm × 3.8cm) of thin wadding and place it on to the background square before laying the window square on top of it. This is especially useful when the window is a fine fabric or silk, which tends to sink into the centre seam and show a slight crease along it.

4 Starting at the top centre corner (the corner that has the seam joining the two folded squares underneath it), roll the surrounding border on one side of the window over it, stretching the bias edge to create a curve. Don’t be afraid to really stretch that edge so that the curve measures at least ¹⁄₄in (6mm) in the centre. Pin the curved edge at the centre as in Fig 28.

Fig 28

5 Beginning about ¹⁄₂in (1.3cm) from the corner, stitch the rolled edge down with a hemming stitch or tiny spaced backstitches placed close to the folded edge. I prefer backstitch but choose whatever stitch gives the best effect (Fig 29). The trick with the backstitch is to place the needle virtually back in the place where the thread is emerging, but just behind it, so that the stitch made looks like a tiny pinprick without any real length. I do not take my needle through to the back of the work, just into the background fabric below the window. Every few stitches I dig a little deeper to fix the curved edge on to the background layers to make it more secure and less vulnerable to wear and tear.

Fig 29

6 Since all raw edges of the window fabric need to be covered, stop stitching about ³⁄₈in (9mm) from the corner and bring both bias edges over the window. Some of the corners can be quite bulky and resist being pulled over the window fabric. I use the side of a fine pair of scissors or the edge of a hera (a Japanese marking tool) or even the blunt edge of an old butter knife to press a central groove in the layers to encourage the rolled edges to meet in a balanced way when pulled over the window. Don’t be gentle with this – place the piece of work flat on a work surface and push very hard with the side of the scissors or hera to flatten the fibres in the layers of fabric along the centre groove.

7 When you are happy with the look of the rolled edges at the corner, stitch a bar stitch a good ¹⁄₄in (6mm) from the corner (Fig 30). Stitch straight across both rolled edges from side to side, not through any of the underlying layers. Often quilters stitch too near the corner before making the bar stitch, which risks the window fabric fraying out. I think ¹⁄₄in (6mm) is the safest distance from the corner to keep the window fabric in place and protect its raw edges. Pull the stitch firmly and repeat it, this time bringing the needle up into the next rolled edge ready to begin stitching this side of the window in place.

Fig 30

8 Stitch all four sides of the rolled edges around the window, treating each corner in the way just described. When the final corner is reached, the original stitching began ¹⁄₂in (1.3cm) from the corner, so there is room to make the final double bar stitch ¹⁄₄in (6mm) from the corner to match the others.

9 Bring the needle to the back of the work in the joining seam between the two blocks. Make a couple of tiny stitches into the back layer of fabric only and run the needle into this layer for 1in (2.5cm) before cutting off the thread.

10 Turn the work over to the right side. Of course it won’t be perfect – a first attempt never is, and of course it takes so long at this stage to do just one window. Remember though that anything learned for the first time takes about four times as long as when you are comfortable with the technique. You may see poor corners and flawed stitches, but no one else will.

‘I defy you not to pat the window fondly and give a sigh of contentment at the way the window fabric is framed so nicely by the curved edges. I shall now say what most quilters say when anyone admires their work – “Don’t look too closely…”.’