Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Freezer paper applique WARNING!!

After yesterdays internal struggle things didn't get any easier in the studio.  By the looks of the picture below you'd never know expletives were bouncing around the studio walls like a flock of birds trapped in glass house.  Oh yes, the foulest of words with a few paper crumbling, foot stomping, scissor slamming temper tantrums.   Normally I'd just fix the issue and move on, but with my time being so limited it just...well...got the better of me.  So what's my problem?


Shrinkage!  The little red arrow areas I can live with.  Once in the quilt no one would know there was shrinkage on the scallops.  But that circle area, that's another story.


It's a critical area, these HAVE to be perfect in order to meet at the corners with no gaps.  That's almost a quarter inch off.  Now I bet your wondering how many I made that were too short.  TWO!  And the only reason I caught it was....


When I tried to line up my template with the edge of the fabric... I couldn't.  They started out straight as an arrow, cut with my handy dandy old rotary cutter and ruler.  I've been using freezer paper applique for years with no issues, but I've never needed such accuracy in my applique pieces.  A little shrinkage or distortion on an appliqued leaf, who's going to notice?   Templar would have been the better option for these pieces, but all my pieces of templar were to small.  And going to the closest store that carries it is a 30 minute drive.  I'm way to practical(cheap) to do that. 


Now this is where the foul mouth really comes into play.  I used my last piece of Studio stash freezer paper to make the incredible shrinking templates.  $#@!  And I knew the roll in the kitchen was almost gone.  $#%!!  Luckily Mr. Podunk keeps a roll in the garage for processing deer during hunting season.  Yeah!  Using a template only once seems wasteful to me but it's cheaper, and quicker than running into town.


It all worked out in the end, and I felt rather silly for getting so upset.  My goal for the day was getting all the border pieces made, and I accomplished it, along with all my other Podunk chores.  So a good day can come with it's valuable lessons on shrinkage.


Linking up with some great bloggers today!  There's always tons of inspiration even if you don't link up you should hop over for excessive amounts of eye candy.  It's a good thing eye candy is calorie free otherwise I'd gain 10 lbs a week from all the sweet projects!





~ Lea Anne ~
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18 comments:

  1. How we do stress ourselves. I find going out on the back porch and letting out a loud scream or two clears my head (we are on a farm away from normal people and my Mom is deaf). Fresh air in the lungs and head clears things up. But when this beauty is done, you will have forgotten that tantrum.

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  2. I love using freezer paper too. You quilt is lovely and the colors are so fun!

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  3. I love using freezer paper too. You quilt is lovely and the colors are so fun!

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  4. Ugh! That would have made me nuts too (well more nuts than usual)! Glad you got it worked out!

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  5. You can pre-shrink freezer paper. Iron it to your ironing board before you cut it to size.

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  6. Wow I didn't know freezer paper shrinks. I am still trying to work up the courage to applique, so that is a good thing to know. I do love those elegant scallops.

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  7. The foot stomping etc. doesn't help, but it feels good at the moment. At least you checked the size before attempting to sew it all. That would have been truly frustrating and it is looking so pretty.

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  8. Quilting can be so knit-picky and exact! Freezer paper does shrink in one direction. If I know it's going to matter, I iron it first before using and that takes care of the problem!

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  9. Now we need to preshink freezer paper? Huh? We need to have a talk with those people. I bet quilters are their primary purchaser. If it weren't for use, they'd be out of business. Who uses freezer paper for freezing? Sometimes it is even hard to find.

    Anyway the quilt will be a beauty--my favorite fabrics.

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  10. Freezer paper does shrink in 1 direction. I spray it with my water bottle and steam it. You can watch it shrink, much like fabric shrinks more horizontal to the selvage. I took a class from Carol Armstrong years ago and she showed us how much it shrunk. I was amazed.

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  11. what a pain all that shrinkage but yiu have corrected it and the scallops are so worth persevering with. I do have a roll but never used it but have taken note and will "pre shrink" if and when I get to use it.

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  12. Not only are the linky parties full of eye-candy (I came through letsbeesocial), they are great places to learn. Your freezer paper dilemma is not one that I have come across before, but the discussion in the comments has not only alerted me to the potential pitfalls, but also provided some solutions! Your quilt is looking beautiful - as always!

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  13. Lea Anne, your quilt project is looking beautiful! I am sorry that you had such a stressful time. It happens to us all and we do all deal with it differently. I try very hard not to use per say bad words, yet stress can certainly bring them flowing like hot cakes out of my mouth every so often. LOL. What excellent information to know, like a few others, I did not realize that freezer paper shrinks. So by all means take a bow for creating this lovely quilt that we are all anxious to see and for teaching that little known fact and helping us avoid a similar problem. I hope that you have a wonderful creative day!

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  14. I love what you are doing! And I certainly can see why accuracy in this project was important! Love the visual of the birds in a glass house...oh how we let loose when things go wrong!! I am looking forward to seeing so much more...its beautiful!

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  15. Those borders were certainly worth the effort, they really look great.

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  16. Wow - what borders. They are beautiful and well worth a few expletives now they're done!

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  17. Only one word to say about the shrinkage: PIFFLE. Only one word to say about the borders: PERFECT.

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