SWN2910 Transcript
Laura Wasilowski:

Everyone in the sewing and quilting world has their own specialty and Laura Wasilowski, my guest and friend, combines the slow quilting method with the quick quilting method. And slow quilting being embroidery, hand embroidery. And quick: working with fusibles. Welcome back again to Sewing with Nancy, Laura. 

Thank you. 

Thank you for inviting me. 

And we're gonna give a quick little demonstration on some of your unique combinations of our quilts. And you start with fusibles? 

I fuse everything. When I make a small quilt I cut, free-cut usually, the shapes and I'll fuse them and once they're fused into place then I steam set them onto batting and then I do the hand embroidery. 

And the embroidery really sets it off. I love the combination of the dyed fabrics and the embroidery. So, let's show our viewers one of your little mini samples here where you have free-formed cut some of the elements. 

Yeah, this is a small little quilt and the idea behind this is to start with freeform, free-cut shapes, and then I'm going to put it onto the batting before I stitch it and any time I do that I always put it onto the non-scrim side of the batting. Now, this is really important. Scrim, you know-- 

Some batts have scrim on them and what will happen with a fused quilt because the glue is directly touching the batting is it will ripple the quilt. I don't know if you can see that. 

Oh, yeah, not so good. That is not what you want. 

There's flat. There's scrim. Scrim is this little network of fibers that goes on it. 

Can mess things up. 

It certainly does. So you make sure you get the non-scrim side. 

And this little quilt is gonna have a wrapped binding so what I'm gonna be doing is: I have a really stiff interfacing that goes behind the quilt and the batting. So, it's kind of the sandwich, like that. Can you see that stiff interfacing? 

It's very stiff. 

Yeah, and that's gonna give it a nice flat shape. Make sure the not-- You're not gonna write on your batting, 

[Nancy laughs] 

but something like that. And I have 'em stacked up. And then, often, what I'll do once I have 'em stacked up is I will cut them with a wavy edge. I like kinda' that wavy edge. 

Yeah, it adds a nice dimension to it. 

So, I'm gonna cut it in that wavy edge and then I'm gonna separate that stiff interfacing from what's in the back of the quilt. 

So it's only one layer. 

So this is what you end up with: something like this. 

And you can see the threads knotted because on this side-- 

It's all the stitching. 

All the fun stitching. And Laura dyes yarn. Not yarn, excuse me; thread. 

These are some of the-- looks like size 8 and size 12-- threads I dye. And, so, I do all the hand-stitching, just through the batting and the top layer. And, then, once all that's done... 

And then I'm gonna-- You're gonna put that stiff interfacing-- 

Yeah, I match it up. See how it kinda' matches that same shape? And, see, I left this extra fabric around the edge so I'm wrapping it. 

Now, this has fusible web on it? 

Yeah, it does. 

Paper backed fusible web. And then you wrap it? 

I wrap it. So, I always start at a corner. I form sort of a 90 degree angle at the corner there. 

And you'd use an iron, not your fingers. I always use irons, I don't know why. And then, I'll fold it down like that and then I'll kinda' fold it and iron it, as well. 

Tuck-- so it creates the shape. 

Yeah, it follows that wavy shape around the edge. And I'll do each edge, and then what you do after that, Nancy, is you're gonna fill in that background. 

Oh, I like this part. 

Yeah. So, the back is filled in with... Sometimes, I'll do kinda' of random acts like that. 

Often, you use leftover fabrics. 

Yeah, leftover fabrics. You could even maybe-- I'll show you this one, as well. You could even make, maybe, a reversible quilt. And the best part about the stiff interfacing is that it keeps it nice and flat, hang it up, 'cause all you need, these little loops on top to hang them up. 

So, my, what a lesson in a couple of minutes. 
[laughter] 
That was fast. 

Combining... fusible applique, embroidery working with craft interfacing, batting the non-scrim side and then wrapping the fabric around the stiff interfacing and you don't have to do a lot of the binding techniques. 

Yes, it's really a nice way to trim 'em out. 

Your specialty is multi-faceted and you execute it well. Great job, Laura. 

Thank you, Nancy. 

Thanks for joining us. 
[Laura laughs]