I am getting started on making my first block for the Joseph’s Coat Quilt-Along, and i have only one thing to say…
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
OK, so it’s not going as easily as i was hoping it would go. I had some major difficulties trying to use a glue stick to baste the edges of the melon shapes to the stabilizer. no matter what kind of glue stick i tried i always ended up with way more glue on me than on the fabric. This created a very sticky situation as the fabric started sticking to me instead of the stabilizer. I could not get nice sharp pointy corners that are needed to make a perfect block. (or at least as close to perfect block as i can get!) I tried and failed to get the glue stick to work, so i went to a product that i had not used before but had heard great things about. This morning when i was at the local quilt shop i picked up a bottle of Roxanne Glue-Baste-It. Another customer in the shop had used it before and give me a couple of tips, be sure not to use to much, less is best. And to keep a damp cloth handy to clean off the tip of the bottle and to remove any extra glue from my finger nails. Well after a couple of practice runs i was able to get a pretty good looking, ready to applique, melon piece!
I know they aren’t perfect but trust me when i say they are WAY, WAY better than the glue stick attempts! And no, i am not going to show you any photos of that first atempt. You will just have to trust me that it was really bad!
I also varied from the directions a bit when it came to getting my sharp point. The pattern calls to do both sides of one tip at once, but for me i got better result to do it like this:
#1 Glue & fold back the very end tips and let them dry before moving on
#2 Trim away any extra from the sides of the tips. it was easier for me to get a more accurate measure from the stabilizer at this point. If i tried to do it sooner i would always leave to much fabric behind making it impossible to get a nice sharp tip.
#3 glue one side of the fabric only! Then starting at the top tip, fold the fabric over the stabilizer all the way down one side
#4 repeat #3 on the other side of the melon shape. By doing one side at a time i got much better results than doing both sides of the tips then working in to the middle. Don’t know why but that what worked best for me.
Well, here you can see my “first usable” block, Its not perfect but i think its close enough to give a first try at hand applique.
Be sure to check back for more updates on this project!
Stumble It!
Your melon slices look good to me, and you know there isn’t a hard & fast rule as to the only way to achieve success on the glued edges. Hey, at least you are giving a try to what is obviously a challenging pattern! Good luck!
Thanks! o just had so many issues with the glue sticks, could have just been me but in the end the glue baste just worked better for me. I posted the information how i got the edges to work in case someone else was having a problem, if my ideal helps at least one other person I’ll be happy!
Your block is coming along great! I love Roxanne basting glue.
I think its looking pretty good myself! I finally got a chance to try and do a little hand applique this evening and so far so good. I also LOVE the Glue Baste! A friend of mine uses Elmer’s White School Glue with great success but it leaves the fabric a bit stiffer in my opinion, and i thought for hand applique that might not be a good thing!
I found that the glue stick didn’t work very well for me either although I have used it in the past and can’t recall having a problem. Perhaps it is just trying to get the very precise sharp points. I gave up on glue and have gone to using spray starch painted on then ironed and that seems to be working better for me. Maybe I’ll have to see if I can find some of the Roxanne’s Glue Baste and give it a try.
So glad to hear that you resolved your problem and your melons look real good. Love your colour choices. I just finished block #3 …..