2
more tips you should know for perfect couching
Jennifer Houlden
The 3 easy steps to perfect couching we just covered
previously are essential to achieving perfect couching.
As a bonus, here are two more tips that will assure
you great and hassle-free results for all your couching
projects.
Bonus Tip 1
Sewing machines have become very streamlined and
sleek in their looks with no extra pieces sticking up on
top which makes it hard to guide the wool or yarn over
the top of the machine into the couching foot.
A piece of a wide diameter straw such as a milkshake
straw works wonders as the yarn guide.
Placing the straw on the top of the machine with a
piece of tape allows for the yarn to be guided through
the straw and down the front of the machine into the
couching foot.
The straw as a yarn’s guide only works with the couching
foot as the yarn is fed from the back of the machine.
Bonus Tip 2
Couching results will be much improved if the
couching is done on a stabilized piece of fabric.
The stabilizer can be one that stays in the quilt or is
removed after the couching is completed. By using
a stabilizer the zig zag stitches have more layers to
attach themselves to resulting in a nice even and
smooth stitch which means the yarn will lie evenly
along the fabric.
I personally prefer to use a leave-in fusible non-woven
stabilizer when a stabilizer is used. No extra work of
tearing off the stabilizer after the stitching is done.
Heat N Bond has a great product that comes in three
different weights – light, medium and heavy depending
on the project and type of fabrics being used.
It can be purchased by the yard or in a package.
But for this project I chose to use the three layers
of the quilt sandwich as the stabilizer because I
decided that the couching would also act as the
quilting. When a piece is this small a