Introduction to Foundation Piecing DVD
In her Introduction to Foundation Piecing DVD Janet will show you the basics of Foundation Piecing and how to make perfect “Flying Geese”, “Twisted Log Cabin” and “Palm Leaf” blocks.
Foundation Piecing is a technique where fabric is sewn to a foundation medium.
Usually a design is printed or drawn onto the foundation medium.
This design then acts a guideline when sewing.
The foundation may or may not be left in place after sewing.
So what can we use for the foundation?
The cheapest option and a good way to get started is to use PAPER
It is best to use fairly light-weight paper so that you can see through it.
However, you may find that you’ll have to hold some paper foundations up to the light in order to see through them.
Paper is fine for machine sewing but not very good for hand sewing as it tends to get creased and is awkward to work with.
However, one big advantage of paper is that it is very easy to generate multiple copies of a template using a photocopier or a computer and printer.
When using paper it usually needs to be torn away after sewing on the fabric.
Then there various commercially made materials, such as Vilene® Stitch-n-Tear.
This is easy to draw on but more flexible than paper, and is good for hand sewing as well as machine sewing.
It’s semi-transparent so you can easily trace designs on one side and see them from the reverse.
As its name implies, it can easily be torn away or left in place, as required.
Vilene make another product which can also be used, this is called Sew-In Vilene®
Sew-In Vilene® comes in various weights and is nice and soft which makes it good to work with for hand sewing.
However, I have had a few problems with it stretching and creasing when using it for machine sewing.
It is not as easy to draw your template designs on Sew-In Vilene® as it is with Stitch-n-Tear® but it does give you a much softer finish if you want to leave it in place.
Finally, you can use Calico or even thin wadding as the foundation medium.
Using these materials you can still draw you design, however it might be difficult to get it accurate.
But they are good for quick projects using ‘Crazy Piecing’, where fabric is pieced at random.
When deciding which medium to use for your foundation it’s important to think about what is most suitable for your finished project.
I recommend that you experiment with various types of foundation medium and see which works best for you.
Other Patchwork Quilting DVDs Available...
Cathedral Window and Secret Garden Blocks DVD
Making Kaleidoscope Blocks DVD
Trip Around the World and Bargello Quilts DVD