Quilting linen

I find it exciting to go to the thrift store, strange but true. I went to a quilt shop last week and just could not get excited about that fabric...take me to a thrift store and see all kinds of possibilities.So last week I saw a linen skirt and didn't buy it, just thought about it...Monday I went looking for the linen skirt to experiment on. The skirt was till there but it wasn't 100% linen so I kept looking and found a pr. of beautiful 100% linen pants. I washed them and then started ripping them apart. I was surprised by

• how easy they were to rip apart. Linen is stronger than the thread holding it together, so starting the seam with a seam ripper then grabbing it and pulling it apart worked very well, fast too.
• The crease down the center of the pants did not come out, would not press out either. I decided to ignore it hoping once they were quilted it would not be noticeable.
• They ironed very easily, some steam and the wrinkles were history.

I drew a grid since I knew I wanted to try a background fill I'd seen here.(Imagine my surprise when I went and looked at the pattern and it was different than I remembered. I like my version too. I'd seen this one too and crossed the two, completely unaware of doing it though.) Below you can see the very faint lines my water soluble marker made. I layered cotton and wool batting scraps and started quilting the new to me pattern. I loved it. But then I started the other direction and realized that the linen was causing some problems. You can see it here;

Doesn't the bottom part look cool? But I think because the linen didn't cling to the wool batting it was easier to push it up and I got these funky lumpy spots. Like this;

So I went to a different pant leg and drew the grid again. I used a child's washable marker this time. Before quilting I sprayed the back of the linen with a basting glue, hoping it would stay in place better. Then, because if one correction is good 2 is better, I pulled out my water soluble thread and basted all over it, particularly covering the intersections. The lines were bold and easier to see;

Although the basting lines were annoying and distracting it was easy and quick to quilt up again.

Here it is rinsed...I laid it in the tub with cold water for an hour and could still see the marker and the basting so I put it in the washer with some other things and ran it through a cycle on cold with no soap and it all came out.

 It is ready for the next step...which I can't show you until after Christmas.