Using decorative stitches effectively to enhance a quilt block by Jean Boyd April 20, 2017 written by Jean Boyd April 20, 2017 805 Yesterday on QUILTsocial I showed you how I used the PFAFF Expression™ 4.2 to make an improv wonky house block with a window and a chimney. Today I get to play with some of the wonderful decorative stitches on this PFAFF machine and use them to embellish my house block. The decorative stitches are all displayed on the flip-up lid. And of course, all the stitches can be made longer, narrower, wider, denser, etc, just by touching the + or – buttons. The possibilities are endless on this PFAFF machine! Decorative stitches shown on the flip-up lid When using decorative stitches, it’s always a good idea to put some type of stabilizer under the fabric. My favorite stabilizer is a page torn from an old telephone book. It’s readily available and is easy to remove after stitching. But of course, you can use your own favorite product if you wish. I used stitch 65 with a variegated thread to go around the roof outline. With the paper stabilizer underneath and the integrated dual feed foot engaged, the stitch came out perfectly. The large graphic display screen shows your chosen stitch and it’s easy to change the width and length by using the plus and minus buttons. Stitch 65 shown on the graphic display panel Stitch 65 used to outline the roof I used stitch 2, which is a triple straight stitch, to go around the window. Stitch 2 shown on the graphic display panel Stitch 2 used to outline the window Next, I used stitch 14 on the door and stitch 56 on the grass. It’s so easy to change between stitches on the PFAFF Expression™ 4.2. Just press the number of the stitch as shown on the flip-up lid and everything is ready to go! And here’s my little improv house with all the added stitching. Improv house with decorative stitching Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you how to sew the improv houses together and quilt them on the PFAFF Expression™ 4.2 to make a little wall hanging. This is part 4 of 5 in this series. Go back to part 3: Making a house a home out of the improv quilting wonky house block Go to part 5: Machine quilting improv houses makes for a very pretty quilt Print this page or save as a PDF 0qs151decorative stitchespfaff expression 4 2 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinRedditWhatsappTelegramEmail Jean Boyd Jean has been designing and publishing patterns since 1997. For the past several years she has been designing patterns for new fabric collections by Northcott Fabrics. Her work has been published in several magazines in both Canada and the United States. Jean holds a Fiber Arts Certificate in quilting and has taught extensively throughout Canada, including six national Quilt Canada conferences. She was named "Canadian Teacher of the Year" in 2003 by the Canadian Quilters Association and has won numerous awards for her quilts. previous post Making a house a home out of the improv quilting wonky house block next post Machine quilting improv houses makes for a very pretty quilt YOU MAY ALSO LIKE... Machine quilting improv houses makes for a very... Making a house a home out of the... Improv quilting – what’s it all about? Getting to know the PFAFF Quilt Expression™ 4.2 Binding a Place-mat is like Binding a Quilt Quilting the On-The-Go Place-mat Sewing the Fabric Pieces into a Place-mat, Part... Sewing Fabric Pieces into a Place-mat Easy Quilt Pattern: On-the-Go Place-mat 2 comments Marie LoPresto October 13, 2017 - 7:26 am What weight and brand of thread did you use? Your block is adorable. Thanks Reply Jean Boyd October 14, 2017 - 9:56 am I used Rainbows 40 wt #814 by Superior Threads. Glad you enjoyed the post! Reply Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
