Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Foundation by the Yard...part 2

Alright so here's the scoop... The quilt in the previous post is made using "Foundation by the Yard". Same idea as "Foundation Piecing" or "Paper Piecing" except the foundation by the yard is printed on a heavy muslin fabric and is left in the quilt instead of torn off like the paper versions.
The panel is cut up into the individual blocks and borders, which are sewn using the same techniques as foundation piecing. Sounds great...right???

Hmmm...not so much!! Why, you might ask??? Well, the best way I can describe it is to compare it with a printed panel. Great idea if you leave the panel and quilt it as is but try and cut the panel apart and sew together using your own design and you soon find out that the panel fabric is not square nor printed square. That's enough to drive a quilter crazy!
So after you get all your blocks pieced and your border strips pieced and go to put it together, you soon find out that each block is not perfectly square, and to set it together with another one, the printed lines don't match up. You can't even square up the blocks on your own as some are made completely wonky and you'll cut off or sew off your points. I tell you this thing drove me nuts and if I hadn't been commissioned by the LQS to make it, I would have pitched this thing in the garbage long ago! So, if your thinking Foundation by the Yard sounds like a great idea....DON'T DO IT!!!!!

6 comments:

Michelle said...

I've never seen that product before...thanks for the review!

BTW, I tagged you! Check out my blog for details! :)

Paula said...

I'm sure it was horribly irritating...but the quilt looks wonderful!! So...all's well that ends well????

QuiltNut Creations said...

that does not sound like fun. it looks fabulous though!

Vicki W said...

I've always wondered how well this product would work - now I know!

Myra said...

Never seen that Foundation by the Yard before. Awesome! I shall have to watch for it!
The quilt looks awesome too! 8-)

Lila Jones said...

I am a comparatively new quilter, but I love Foundation by the Yard.
My 5th quilt was a wall quilt using the Foundation by the Yard Square in A Square and it turned out beautifully. I entered it in our local fair and won a blue ribbon for my perfect points! The muslin foundation is light weight and when the quilt is finished, you don't know it is there.