Hey everybody, this is Rob from Man Sewing. And you won’t believe what I found in the
mail today. Now I knew we have a lot of fans out there and this is really exciting so thank
you all for following along on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and the newsletter.
We love that you’re out there. But years ago I had received this awesome thank you
note. Now this one came to me in an envelope, right? It’s made on a card. But it’s pieced
and quilted. And what a really nice thank you note that was. And this was when I did
a presentation at a quilt guild. So that’s a really nice touch. Thank you for that. But
look what else I received in the mail recently. This is so cool. It is a little fabric post
card. That’s right. This thing could be shipped to you because it’s got a cool stabilizer
timtex inside. So let me tell you what the fans are saying. Alright, ah! Much better.
Now, Dear Rob. Thank you for Man Sewing. We think it rocks. Can you join us for a quilting
camp out? Love, Your Fans. Ah! Isn’t that wonderful? So, yes I would
love to join you for a quilting campout. As a matter of fact, we’re going to make a
quilting campout postcard just like this one, right now for you here at Man Sewing. So let’s
get ourselves started.
One of the fun things you’re going to want to start with is something like this. This
is called a timtex. Now timtex is an extra thick heavy stabilizer. But it can certainly
still be stitch through. Most postcards are four inches by six inches. So I’ve pre-cut
this. And that’s going to kind of be my template as I work all of us through this
demonstration, right? There’s another product you should know about. And I believe this
one is called peltex. And if I move it just right in the light, you might be able to see
there’s a little bit of a sheen on there. And that sheen is a fusible product so you
could actually iron to that. Different reasons for different stabilizers as always. I prefer
this really thick one there. I’m going to use this. I’ve got one I haven’t marked
on so let’s trade that out. I’m also going to need a little bit of scraps of any kind
of batting will do. The batting is going to add some of that fun loft and texture. Of
course we’re going to want that cool camping fabric. So I had to go hunting and Quilting
Treasures had it.
So I’m going to open this up right now because we’re going to cut this in just a second,
ok? And when I cut this I actually look for the motif that I really like. So I’m finding
these trees and these mountains and, and little teepee right there. And I’m laying this
on the print side. And I’m going to cut larger, watch this. Ok. Didn’t need a ruler
but I kept my hands out of the way. Didn’t want to get hurt. Ok? We can set this aside
for other cool projects later. So now what we’re going to do is we’re going to prepare
to do some of the free motion machine quilting. And the free motion machine quilting on this
is so fun because all you’re really going to do is you’re going to follow these little
lines around the teepee and the hills. So when looking for something like that, you
want to find something that is going to be fairly achievable for your style of machine
quilting, right? So you can see here where we stitched all around the fantastic stuff.
So what we’re going to do is we’re going to take our timtex or our stabilizer. We’re
going to put another piece of that batting. Then I’m going to position my fabric, and
I’m looking for my motif and I’m kind of using my hands to make sure that it’s
fairly centered. And once that is all like that, I’m just going to take it into the
sewing machine, drop the feed dogs, put on the free motion foot. And I’m going to stitch
around the edges like I did here on this prepped out sample. And this one’s cool. I like
the little red tent on this one too. So anyways I stitched around the edges. I just did my
best job. Just do what you can here with it, right? And now that gives it a little bit
of texture, a little bit of loft and just a little bit more creativity in there.
Once that part is actually done, what I’d like you to go ahead and do and the batting
I have in here in a couple of different layers. So I am going to cut this using that as my
marker again from the top side. Now you’re probably wondering why the batting is on the back of the timtex. I was playing
with multiple layers on this sample but you can do with one layer or you can do with two
layers. So ya it looked a little bit different in both of those and I wanted to show you
the different approaches. But I apologize, I probably didn’t make that super clear,
right? But now that’s trimmed down just like that, ok?
And the next thing we’re going to do is we’re going to take just our backing fabric.
And I recommend that you do your sewing work first. And then you set up your label portion
or your “postcardish” graphic there because that makes it so you don’t have to work
so hard to get it just squared out. So what I’m going to do then is I’m going to take
this piece here. And now this is my template. And again I’m cutting. You want to go nice
and slow here because you can easier cut into that timtex and the fabric and the batting.
And then as soon as I have this trimmed out, we’re going to satin stitch to finish the
edges. And satin stitch to finish the edges, there’s a special trick that some of the
machines have in their feet. If you look closely I bet you have it in your tool tray as well.
Check this out. Now this foot here has this little bar. So you should be looking at it
like it’s facing your machine or like you’re facing the machine, right? It’s got this
little bar inside the opening where the needle is normally going. That little bar is going
to lay right on the edge. See if I can hold still there for you. That’s going to lay
right on the edge as I’m stitching along. So that my needle is zigging in the fabric
and zagging on the other side of that bar. And that’s what gives a nice finished edge
for our satin stitch. So as I’m setting this up, I’ll lay this here so you can see
what we’re doing. And I literally took two complete laps around the card just to lock
in all of the fiber. My satin stitch is set at a 4 ½ millimeter wide for the zig zag.
And it’s a pretty short stitch length. It’s a .5 stitch length. Now every machine is slightly
different even though that’s supposed to be a standard measurement. What I’m trying
to say is do a little practice run, make sure you like the way it looks.
Now I have that specialty foot on there and there’s no faster way that I can think of
to break a needle than to just hit the gas. So I’m going to literally hand crank. And
I’m making sure that I’ve come clear of the needle on one side and I’m now diving
into the fabric on the other. I’m going to give one more test. And now let’s go
ahead and take it nice and slow. And we’re just going to go ahead and satin stitch by
machine around the edge. Now it’s kind of dense in there so I’m kind of pushing and
that’s where that nice timtex is really a benefit. Because I can use the timtex like
a, a wedge and help give myself a nice little push through the machine that way. And that
way I also don’t have to do such a dense satin stitch because I’m going to go around
this twice. That’s one of my tricks there. I have a nice cotton thread on the top. And
I also have the matching thread in the bobbin so that if I were having any tension discrepancies
you wouldn’t be able to tell it. So I’m going to go ahead and enjoy sewing around
the edge of this while you start thinking about what you’re going to write as you
send me a fantastic postcard, right? I think this will be terrific. Last thing, like I
said, I want you to think about doing, and you don’t actually have to put the lines
on it. But you do want to make sure you have a place for your stamp. You’ve got a place
for your address and there are some also clever little backings and labels that you can find
out there that add a little decoration to the back of your fabric as well.
Ok, one last tip for you here. This, as awesome as it is, will not do very good if you put
it in your DVD wrong and try to email it to me.So put a stamp on it, send it through the
local post. And remember, your computer best serves you on YouTube here at Man Sewing.