Midas Touch mini quilt – 2023.08.06

I belong to a local group of fibre artists called FYBR 2RT. A recent challenge, called Midas Touch, was to use gold foil in a 12 x 12 inch quilt.

I haven’t used foil much in the past, so a lot of experimenting was involved. I wanted to use fusible web to adhere my foil because I thought it would give a crisper line than glue. Here are some of my experiments. I found that if I applied the foil twice over the fusible it gave a more solid result. I used Steam a Seam for my design.

Here’s the finished piece – Untitled for now. Two of the quadrants have foiled square spirals. The other two square spirals are stitched with gold thread. The edges are straight-stitched three times with black thread.

Here are some of the techniques I used.

I cut a black piece of fabric 13 x 13 inches, and applied 2 square spiral designs cut from paper-backed fusible. I pressed them to the background fabric, then removed the backing paper to expose the fusible web. The next step is to press the foil (shiny side up) to the fusible, using parchment paper to protect the iron.

I did minimal quilting, just around each spiral with black thread. I had to cover the foil while quilting, as the bottom of the presser foot sticks to the foil. I experimented with tissue paper, then Solvy Tear Away, then Pellon Tear Away. They all left little bits under the stitches that need to be picked out with tweezers, but the last one was the easiest to remove.

In the other 2 quadrants, I added stitched spirals. I drew the shapes on freezer paper, pressed it in place and quilted around the freezer paper with gold rayon thread.

I’m not sure if I will use foil much in the future, but I’m glad I experimented with it, and that I recorded my techniques for future reference.

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I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.

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