The last time we were together, I told you about my wool appliqué session with Karen Miller of Redbird Quilt Co. After lunch, we filed back into class for some machine quilting. And not just any machine quilting, but McTavishing! I am always looking for ways to improve my machine quilting skills and was of the impression that I couldn’t possibly tackle something as beautiful as McTavishing, a technique created by Karen McTavish that combines echo quilting and travel stitching.
To create the quilt sandwich for the class, Karen Miller used two layers of batting – cotton on the bottom and wool on the top. She stitched in the middle of the quilt (green thread), starting with a basic “S” shape and began to echo quilt around it. Echo quilting is when you stitch a set distance – 1/4” or 1/8” – around the motif or quilting shape. This stitch is meant to enhance the section being quilted around.
Travel stitching is done for two possible reasons. First, by stitching directly on a line of stitching already in place, it allows you to move to another section of your quilt without the whole stop/start again process. The second reason is one of embellishment, where you add depth to the stitching by repeating the stitching. This over-stitching may also allow surrounding areas to “puff up”, to be more prominent and noticeable. McTavishing can be as dense as you’d like. When filling in the opening areas, Karen used “Cs” to fill in the open spaces, repeatedly travel stitching so as to present this beauty. The work around Karen’s is mine and while it is certainly nothing to write home about, I was pleased with my first try and look forward to practicing in the future. For the Bernina users in the class, she suggested open foot #9 (which she let me borrow) as being less cumbersome as other feet. And when my tablemate’s machine just refused to play nice, Karen moved said tablemate to her own machine and set down to fix the unruly machine. All of this while attending to each one of the dozen or more in the class. Karen was delightful, helpful and most of all, FUN!
If you have the opportunity to take a class with Karen Miller, take it. Better yet, get your local quilt guild bring her in for her lecture, “Aurifilosophy” and then a day of classes. You can reach Karen at www.redbirdquiltco.com or on Facebook @Redbird Quilt Co. A good time will be had by all.
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