Quilter Leah Fischer shows Kitty Bartholomew how to transform treasured children's artwork into a quilt:
- Select drawings to be transferred. Fischer recommends using simple designs and cautions that they should all be in proportion to each other. For the demonstration , Fischer made a quilt square using a face her daughter had drawn.
- Experiment with the layout and determine the placement of each image before starting sewing.
- Select colors, keeping the background solid so the images don't get lost.
- Trace the art onto tracing paper.
- Using old-fashioned carbon paper (instead of transfer paper or sewing carbon which may disappear as it is handled), re-trace the image onto the fabric square, placing the carbon paper under the traced image(figure A). This will help with the placement of the shape on the square.
- Cut the shape out of fabric, using the original transfer as a pattern (figure B). Leave an extra half-inch all around the edge.
- Pin the shape onto the square, folding under the fabric for a no-ravel edge ( figure C).
- Blind-stitch the shape onto the square, using cotton thread the same color of the shape so that it disappears.
- Reposition the carbon and tracing papers onto the secured shape and re-trace the features onto the fabric.
- Using embroidery floss (Fischer uses three strands) to sew in the features with a stem stitch or stitch of choice (figure D).
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