Submitted by Ann U., Secretary
Noemi B called the meeting to order at 6:02 pm.
Paulina from Wonderfil Specialty Thread introduced Bernadette Kent, who presented her lecture, “Enriching your Quilts with Hand Embroidery and Embellishments.” Highlights included photos of many quilts she has embellished with hand and machine embroidery. She stated that 12-weight thread is the heaviest that can go through the sewing machine needle, and that you can use a much lighter weight thread in the bobbin- she recommends their 80-weight Deco-Bob. She noted that you must use a larger needle when using heavy-weight thread. She recommends using size 100/16 Top Stitch or Super Non-stick needle for 12-weight thread in the sewing machine.
Wonderfil offers 12-weight cotton, 8-weight Perle cotton, 5-weight Perle cotton and 3-weight Perle cotton; the 8, 5 and 3 are for hand work. The lower the number, the thicker the thread. The size of the thread affects the boldness and visibility of the stitches. Bernadette explained that traditional hand quilting uses 50-weight thread and much smaller stitches using a very short needle (quilting between needle), and has as many as 12-14 stitches per inch. Big stitch quilting uses a longer needle, such as a milliner’s or chenille 22-size needle and approximately 4-5 stitches per inch. Milliners needles are good for wrapped stitches such as French knots, and Chenille is good for running stitches and stem stitches. Other stitches she uses on quilts or Boro visible mending include Fly stitch, blanket stitch and couching stitch. Chain stitch is good for letters and writing.
Kantha is lines of big-stitch quilting but the lines do not have to be perfectly straight, just free-hand. Boro is visible mending of clothing and can use a variety of straight stitching, cross stitch, stars or random stitches going different directions. She usually adds stitching to quilts before they are layered and quilted, and will use a fusible stitch enhancer to stabilize the hand work, then layers and quilts it. She also uses Rinse Away, a Wonderfil product to transfer stitching designs, as it can go through the printer (even a laser printer if you only do a few sheets, since the drum can get too hot). Wonderfil offer many types of thread-cotton, rayon, rayon with metallic, and a wool-acrylic
blend for a variety of looks. Eleganza comes in 8, 5 and 3 weights, Razzle is shinier rayon thread, Dazzle is rayon with metallic and Starry Night has two strands of rayon intertwined with a stand of metallic. Many of their threads come in variegated and Bernadette stressed that these have shorter change lengths that make the variation show up more. She also stressed that Wonderfil uses a technique called “double gassing” to eliminate lint on their threads.
Bloomington/Normal Modern Quilt Guild 