What to use for Samples

With all the videos and classes, comes the question of what to use for samples and demonstrations.  The shear volume I do precludes having just the right quilt top ready to go for any given topic.  So what's a girl to do?

Well, I would imagine that answer will be different from teacher to teacher but I can tell you what I do. :)

If I happen to have the perfect top lying around, then of course I use that.  But most of the time that does not happen unless it's a project class. In that case I will be making it as we go along.

If it's a techniques class, most likely I won't be using a completed quilt top. So that leaves plain old fabric.   I don't want to use the really good stuff because it seems like such a waste of expensive fabric.  But I don't want to use plain old boring white muslin either.

So my solution involves using up excess dyes.  When I dye the good stuff, I always have extra mixed dyes left over. While you can keep them for a while in the fridge, they do lose their strength over time.  I certainly don't want to throw them away, so I use them to dye fabric for class and video samples.

I buy the 36" wide muslin at JoAnn's using one of my coupons.  That brings the cost down to 49 cents a yard.  I tear off random lengths, wash them in synthropol ; soak them in soda ash. Then dry them.  I just ball them up and stuff them in plastic bags where they stay until my next dye day, when I'll just dump the  leftover dyes right in the baggies with the muslin pieces.   It's not high quality muslin, so I wouldn't use it in a quilt, but for teaching it's perfect!

Here's some I pulled out to use last week...



Much prettier than plain old muslin, don't you think? Almost makes learning that new technique more exciting. At least you'll have something pretty to look at while you learn.