A Butterfly's progress

Work continues on my butterfly quilt. Seems there is always something that is a bit more urgent than sewing. I work a little at a time, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes an hour or two. Right now I am finishing up the edges.

Just getting started with satin stitch edge finishing.

The applique process that I use leaves the edges raw. The edges could unravel or pull away from the stitching if they are not secured. I use zigzag and satin stitch in this step to finish the edges.

For this edge finishing I have found the fastest way is to work free-motion. Most quilters understand free-motion sewing with a straight stitch, because for many of us it is how we do most of our quilting. But quilters are sometimes surprised to learn that free-motion sewing can also be done with a zigzag stitch.

I cover or encase most of the edges with free-motion zigzag stitching. This prevents raveling.

This process changes the look of the quilt. Before the edges are secured with satin stitching, the edges are softer. The whole quilt does have a more painterly quality, but is extremely fragile. After the stitching, there are visible lines that delineate each piece. The soft painterly edges become stronger lines.

Most of the stitching is done, just the butterfly left to go.

As I was working through my finishing stitches, I found some areas that needed changing. The values needed adjusting on some of the petals. Although the contrast in the original photo is rather high where the light is striking the petals, the light yellow I used to try to create this effect in my quilt was too intense and the transitions were too abrupt. I softened the contrast, and worked on creating softer transitions. I am much happier.