Tear Away Quilting Designs from Urban Elementz

If you shy away from free motion quilting because you're not sure how to mark your quilting design onto your quilt top in a way that you know will be easily removable. Then tearaway quilting designs from Urban Elements are the perfect solution. These quilting designs which can be used on blocks, borders, corners or all over edge to edge quilting are printed onto a lightweight paper that is specifically designed to hold up to the process of adhering the paper to the quilts and quilting while still tearing away easily afterwards. Urban Elements spent more than five years from concept to finished product creating exactly what quilters are looking for. To use these designs, first decide what it is you want to quilt. Urban Elements has several designs that perfectly pair with Dream Big panels by Hoffman, which can be quilted on their own or blocks and borders can be added to make a larger quilt. The all over edge to edge designs can be used as either a pantograph to cover the entire quilt top or as a single border strip. These strips can be cut or extended to fit any quilter project. With dotted lines and easy to see through paper, lining up multiple pieces is simple. You just want to make sure that you have your pattern repeat perfectly lined up before you adhere this down onto your fabric using some temporary spray adhesive. One package will quilt most baby quilts with an all over design. For larger quilts multiple packages would be required. As each design size and interlocking area is different the package requirements would depend on the size of the quilts and the design chosen. Urban Elements has tearaway quilting designs for all levels of quilters. So whether you've never done any free motion quilting before or still consider yourself a beginner, they've definitely got something for you. Urban Elements has easier designs to start out with and practice, and of course, more complex designs for those more advanced. Once you've selected your design you're going to want to temporarily adhere the design onto your fabric using a temporary spray adhesive like 505 spray. Now, if you can find 505 spray at your local quilt shop you can get it directly from Urban Elements. That way you can get your temporary spray adhesive and your quilting design at the same time and be ready to start quilting as soon as everything arrives. The temporary spray adhesive allows you to reposition the quilting designs if needed before you start stitching. Now, if you're using the all over designs, be sure to line up the dotted lines and ensure that the pattern overlap is correct before adhering. If using one of the designs that pair perfectly with the Dream Big panels, again, ensure that you are lining up those dotted lines of the tearaway sheets and placing the panels in the correct order as they are numbered. First, second, and third. Once you have adhered your quilting design onto your fabric quilting should be done fairly soon since it is a temporary spray. But you can always add additional spray adhesive later on if needed. These tearaway quilting designs are designed to be used with any type of machine whether it's your domestic sewing machine or a long arm machine. Now with any type of free motion quilting the type of foot you choose to use is entirely up to you. Whether you want to use a regular piecing foot or your free motion or hopping foot. Now, while you're the quilting staying exactly on the line shouldn't be your main focus. Keeping your movements fluid is more important than tracing the design exactly. Go at your own pace when using these tearaway quilting templates to quilt your block or your border or your Dream Big panel from Hoffman. If you're struggling when it comes to direction changes, I always recommend stopping with your needle down. You may have to use your presser foot to get that to stop down. That way nothing moves or shifts when you are repositioning to get ready to start quilting again. I love using these blocks as ways to practice my quilting. Even if I don't have an entire quilt, I'm ready to quilt but I want to sit down and do some practice. You can get a package of these tearaway quilting designs just for blocks, multiple in one package. And you have lots of different small areas where you can do some free motion, quilting practice. Urban Elements recommends using high quality quilting thread and a slightly shorter stitch length than you might be used to with your regular free motion quilting which will just help you tear that paper away easier in the end. It's always recommended that you try out your stitch length and your thread on an area such as the blank label area or anywhere out in the outer edge. Try that out first, before you do your entire project. Once you finish quilting, whether it's your panel, your quilt, or your practice block, it's time to tear away that paper. Tearing away the paper should be done firmly and quickly. Just grab a corner and tear. Now when I'm starting to tear I like to keep one of my fingers from my non-dominant hand right along the edge of the thread. This is going to help sort of lessen the pull on that thread when I actually tear away that paper. And it's going to help make sure that some of those threads don't get lifted up or accidentally torn away while I'm tearing away the paper. But just grab an edge and pull. So tearing away, the paper is one of my favorite parts. You sort of either love it or you don't, but it's very, very easy to do. Just put on your favorite movie sit back and start tearing away that paper. Or if you've got young kids interested in quilting let them help. Now, as you get into sort of the center of the design there's going to be areas where some of the paper might get stuck in the actual stitching. So you can tear away smaller sections. If you need to, you can always come in with a pair of tweezers to get any of the little bits of paper left that might be stuck in the thread. Or if this is a project that you're going to wash, simply wash you quilt. Wash your project and all the little bits of paper will simply come right out. Urban Elements specializes in creating quilting in whatever format a quilter prefers. Paper, pantograph, stencils design boards, and computerized quilting formats. They have been in the quilting business specializing in design for 20 years. So no matter your design preference or skill level they have something for you.