Monday, November 3, 2014

Stash Augmentation

Last month I posted about my dilemma regarding Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion mystery. Buy more green fabric, or change the colour scheme?

I bought fabric.
I visited four different shops and picked up some pretty greens. It was interesting to compare the shops' cutting techniques. I won't name the shops I wasn't happy with, but my best experience was at Patchworks Unlimited in Pascoe Vale. Their "quarter metre" cut was generously nearly 2cm longer. So even though I overlock all my fabrics before pre-washing them, the pieces from this shop still have more than 25cms of usable fabric.

At one of the other shops, the fabric was measured and snipped at exactly 25cms, then torn across. The result was a loss of at least a centimetre of fabric due to the distortion of the fabric at each edge, even before I overlocked it. I probably won't go back to that shop.

At another I purchased a couple of pre-cut pieces, but was surprised to discover later that they were not quarter-metre pieces, but quarter-yards. They weren't labelled as such, so that was disappointing. However I also purchased one piece off the bolt, which was cut nicely at just over a centimetre beyond what I asked for, so I don't know why the pre-cut pieces weren't metric (or at least labelled).

So with all these, plus the blacks and whites, I have plenty of fabric ready for the mystery. But there's still nearly four weeks until it kicks off.

5 comments:

jacaranda said...

I would hate to climb the roof to trim the geranium. Happy and bright colours for your mystery quilt, love them. Fingers crossed the wild flowers will grow after being stomped on by the builders.

Terry said...

I remember buying fabric and the cutting was always 3 or 4 " longer. Sometimes the clerk would just look at th 1/2 yd and leave the piece whole charging for the amount you requested. I don't know when it changed. I must be getting old. Like your color choices.

I' m sure lots of flowers will grow with your attention after the building.

Julierose said...

Love your colors--they should make that quilt sing. I have had fabric cutters do that, too. Surprisingly, at one of our local "generic" sewing centers they are always generous with their cuts by at least 1/2 inch ... and with fabrics getting so expensive that does make a huge difference...I do go there often....hugs, Julierose

Cherry said...

Glad you opted to shop for greens! Love your fabric range. It's getting tough to wait for GI to start.

Joy V said...

I also don't like shops that 'tear the fabric - it never tears straight!
Love your colours for Bonnie's next mystery - I'm thinking about it, thinking, thinking. thinking.