I finally got started cutting my squares for the Super Mario Bros QAL on Tuesday and yesterday I managed to whip up the first two blocks: Mario and Luigi.
Each square starts at 1 1/2" square so when it's all sewn together the block is made up of 324 1" squares-- crazy! I decided that to make the future blocks easier on myself I'd cut all the fabric at once and put it into zip-lock baggies. It didn't take me that long to get all the cutting done. I did it while watching the first two Harry Potter movies.
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| Cut squares ready to go! |
The method we used for piecing all the squares together fantastic. The process was new to me but I've seen it before on Oh! Fransson and Angela does a great job explaining it in the post about block construction for the QAL.
Instead of the stabilizer she recommends (which is hard to find and pricy) I used Pellon 541 Wash and Gone along with basting spray to get the squares to stick. After reading that another QAL member had problems drawing her grid on the stabilizer I was super careful and opted to use a washable felt tip marker rather than a pencil and had no issues with it.
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| Mario squares on the stabilizer |
My only tips for using the basting spray it to shake your can well to get an even spray and to spray only a line or two at a time. If I tried to spray and then lay down three lines of squares I found that the stabilizer was only tacky instead of sticky, so I'd have to re-spray to get the square to stick.
When it came time to sew I also discovered that it's best not to wait. I laid down all the squares for Mario and sewed immediately and had no problems. I laid out the squares for Luigi and then waited a few minutes to sew and by the time I was finishing up I was noticing that some of the squares were starting to lift off the stabilizer.
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| Mario drying after having the stabilizer washed off |
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| Luigi drying after having the stabilizer washed off |
You can check out everyone else's progress in the Flickr group.
I feel like I could cry with happiness after reading this post - I heard someone say something about using the washable stuff (the stuff that isn't fusible) with basting spray, but I wasn't sure if it would work. VIOLA! You are amazing! I used a lightweight fusible interfacing and the block is SO stiff and heavy, I was ready to give up. I can't afford the real wash out stuff, so the fact that you were able to make this work is HUGE! :D
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