Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Satin Stitch

Satin Stitch

Ever wonder how to satin stitch a tight circle? My king sized quilt, Little Cities, has about 1000 of these little half inch beauties. It was a bit obsessive, I will admit, but the more I made, the more I loved the way they looked with the other blocks. There were times I couldn't work on it. Not surprising, it can be a bit tedious. Perhaps that's an understatement.
Anyway, I have a new camera, and it has video. So I have made a little video to show how to make one of those little satin stitched circles. Check it out if you are curious.
You can also see the link at youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X7eMGCnv8g

23 comments:

shellysquilts said...

Hey Kathy, Great video! I have been looking at your quilt on my calendar this month. You certainly perfected your satin stitch on Little Cities. Happy Holidays!

Norma Schlager said...

I remember seeing your quilt in Houston and loving it for its vivid colors and all that satin stitching. Your video was very good! Have you ever tried free motion sating stitching? It doesn't give quite the same effect, but there's not all that turning.

Kathy York said...

Thanks!
Yes, I have tried free motion satin stitch. I love it too, but it didn't have the look I wanted for these circles. Unfortunately, I also do not have a machine that does free motion satin stitch. My quilting machine is a Juki, and it does either straight or reverse. My Pfaff is a lower end model and it does fantastic piecing and satin stitch, but the free motion leaves a lot to be desired.
Kathy

Kay Koeper Sorensen said...

I am VERY impressed with the quality of the video. It is easy to see what you are doing. Your stitching looks beautiful and even. I'm impressed.
K

Quiltrobin said...

The video is great. I am totally wowed by your patience in stitching all those little circles so very carefully. It was very much worth your effort because the quilt is AMAZING!!!!
Years ago I made a very tiny quilt with lots of fused circles. After stitching the first few, I felt a sort of zen rhythm to it. However, being a gadget girl at heart, I fell in love with love the circle embroidery attachment I purchased for my Bernina. It makes the circle finishing so easy, and you can use just about any decorative stitch. There are generic models as well, but I haven't even test driven the "flower stitch foot" I bought recently.

Anonymous said...

Great video Kathy. Thanks for posting this.

Karen Newman Fridy said...

Great video! Of course, now we'll all want to see more...
:-)

Lindsay Jean said...

That was a very good tutorial - I had not thought to use tear-away stabilizer at all, never mind two sheets at right angles to one another. BTW, obsessive is my favorite kind of quilting!

marge said...

Kathy, Great video! I am also curious how you managed the large concentric circles in the quilting. Did you manage this on your home sewing machines?

Kathy York said...

Marge,
I started in the middle. I have a large neck Juki for quilting. The very center circles, I was able to just roll up the edges of the quilt, and quilt around the first 15 or so. For the rest, I had to turn the quilt all the way around for each circle. It was a real pain. The outer circles were easier to quilt because there was less of the quilt under the neck of the machine. I only quilt 30 minutes of each hour because the quilt was so heavy and exhausting to move around. I think it would be even more difficult to quilt these huge concentric circles on a longarm. I quilted the whole quilt in 15 days.
Kathy

Laura T said...

Great video! I can't imagine quilting all of those circles but i love your quilt and it sure makes it!
Laura

Harper said...

Your video is fantastic. You did a great job putting the camera in the right position and your speaking style was very natural. Thanks so much for sharing your technique. My first introduction to Little Cities was at the AAQG show this year and I was completely in love with it.

Karoda said...

Hello, I stumbled back to you blog by cleaning out my favories files and I'm glad I did...a great tutorial, so much so I wish my machine was accessible so I could go play. What type of camera do you have...the quality of the video was a lot better than much of what I've seen on you tube.

Martha Tsihlas said...

Great tutorial Kathy, I'm working with circles (my favorite)The timing of your video is perfectl. Happy Holidays and keep on stitching.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the video Kathy. It is so clear and so are your verbal instructions. Have a great Christmas!

Diana said...

Hi Kathy. I am Diana Bracy and left a comment for you thinking that you were another friend.

I have to say it again, I loved your video and it was so inspiring that I will attempt to try a circle.

This time, I followed your Blog from your description of your son's quilt. It is beautiful and I love the idea of you using real cracks in your quilt. The beads are beautiful and I will go and look at the site.

Your quilting is absolutely beautiful. I love the spirals on your son's quilt! One of these days, I will quilt something that I can show. I may not get to your level, I only want to do nice meandering or maybe a spiral or two.

It's nice to meet you. Wonderful quilt! Diana

Lisa Walton said...

I have always loved this quilt from the moment I saw it in Houston. Thanks so much for sharing your technique.

Denise Felton said...

Brilliant! I've scheduled a link to this post to go live on my blog tomorrow morning (Central USA time). I hope it brings you a few extra clicks.

Denise
http://needlework.craftgossip.com

Anonymous said...

Great way to show the satin stitch for a circle! Never tried to do a tiny little one, but I'm sure I will succeed now, thank you!

Christine Thresh said...

That was a very good tutorial. Thank you.
What kind of camera do you have?

Kathy York said...

Sorry,
This was asked before and I forgot to reply. I have a Pink camera. That's why I bought it, Pink and small. I was going for the Blue one, but it cost more. This one was about $140 on sale at Best Buy. What a deal! Its a Fuji, FInePix Z...whatever that means. I say it's a pink camera... you can see it in dark places, like the pits of your car, or the bottom of your purse. Very useful feature...
Kathy

Helen said...

Hi Kathy

I've just watched your video - great production! I see everyone else is asking you what kind of camera you have (pink is good!). I would like to know what kind of thread you were using. I've just finished quilting a quilt where I had to go around circle blocks. Certainly is a pain to turn the quilt 360 degrees every time. I wish I had the pleasure of seeing your quilts in the flesh. Thanks for sharing them electronically.

Kathy York said...

Helen,
I use Madeira thread for satin stitch, unless I don't have the right color on hand, then I might use something else. It is about the right weight, the colors are shiny, and I rarely have tension problems with it. I used to use invisible in the bobbin, but now, I use Bottom Line. Madeira does have one disadvantage, if you sew over it very much, it will break, an annoying feature.