Liberty Tana Lawn Cotton Quilting Fabric

by Judy Cozon
(Charlotte, NC)

Do you have any suggestions on what thread, needle size, pins, you would use for Liberty Tana Lawn fabric?

I have heard that because it is very fine it can "slip" and then I started wondering how it would react to piecing???? I also thought that perhaps curved quilting safety pins could damage the fabric......any advice would be gratefully received!

Reply

For fine cotton quilting fabrics I use a quality cotton piecing/quilting thread, either Aurifil or Masterpiece (both are 50 wt 2-ply threads) with a Size 70 Microtex Sharp needle. Its very sharp point makes nice straight lines of stitching, but because the point is so fine, it is easily damaged. You may need to change the needle more frequently.

IBC Super Fine, glass head silk pins are my first choice for pinning. They are fine and sharp, and do not distort the seam allowances as other, thicker, pins will. To make piecing even easier, I starch quilt fabric just before cutting for even more precision.

As far as curved safety pins go, make sure they are sharp. Dull pins won't go through ANY fabric, and safety pins do seem to dull quickly. In fact, as you come across dull ones pin basting, throw them out. I have the hardest time doing just that, but the dull ones need to go.

With that said, I have never used Liberty's Tana Lawn, so I went to an expert.

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Our expert contributor, Dorothy Brown, has graciously supplied us with the following information for you. She owned both the online and brick and mortar store, International Fabric Collection, and imports fine fabrics, including Liberty Tana Lawn, from abroad for quilters.

She writes...

Liberty Tana Lawn is 100% cotton so it will launder and iron just fine. We use regular sewing thread and a normal size needle that you would use for any quilting project. Make sure you have a new needle if it hasn't been changed in awhile! We also use fine silk pins for all of our sewing projects. We have no problem sewing with Liberty, in fact, it is a dream to work with and is excellent for hand or machine quilting.

We have made flying geese quilts, colorsplash trip around the world and even use it for paper piecing projects so piecing is not an issue.

We hope you enjoy working with Liberty.

Dorothy and Sue
International Fabric Collection

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Thank you, Dorothy for your help with this question!

Judy, it sound likes you got some beautiful fabric to work with! Have fun with it and do come back and show us what you've made!

Piecefully,

Julie Baird
Editor

This article was printed from Generations-Quilt-Patterns.com