Saturday 28 May 2011

Crochet again…

Recent projects have definitely had a sewing theme, however i have not abandoned my crochet and always have several projects on the go. most of my knitting and crochet is done on the sofa in front of the telly or at the moment on the commute into work.
My current mission is to use up the spare yarn I have from previous projects. The first completed item from this grand de-stash is a crocheted cushion cover.
The yarn was James Brett 100% merino which is a lovely soft yarn. It was simple to work just chained to the width of the cushion and then single crochet until I had enough to fold over and seam.

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Monday 23 May 2011

Spoilt

Yes that has been me this week  -thoroughly spoilt for my birthday.
Check out the amazing cake and my fabulous new yarn.


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Wednesday 18 May 2011

Completed!

After teasing you with some half finished appliques of a teddy bear and a rocking horse I can now reveal the finished article!

This is how it looked with all the squares laid out. This stage is a bit like a jigsaw, trying to find the right colour combinations and repeats can be difficult (probably something I should do before I cut up the material!)





So I sewed everything together and then quilted it withal wavy square pattern – this is how it looked after it was bound….




I then added in the embroidered details for the appliques




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And the rocking horse?


The final quilt looks like this…..So are you ready? TA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

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It is backed with pink polka dots hearts and bound in Cerise with white polka dots. My Binding is getting neater with practice which makes the perseverance worth it!



Monday 16 May 2011

Teddy Bear Applique

This is what you get if you apply the rocking horse tutorial to a teddy bear…..

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Quilt reveal soon – just waiting to hand it over

Friday 13 May 2011

How To Applique a Rocking Horse

One of my friends recently had an adorable baby girl. As a Christmas present I promised her a baby quilt (Yes I know I’m running late with it!)

when asked what was wanted she said….

“anything really….oh I would like it to have some pink in it….and a teddy bear…oh and a rocking horse please!”

A tall order for anyone new to applique so I thought I’d show you a little how-to of how I went about the hardest one…so here goes HOW TO APPLIQUE A ROCKING HORSE!

Step 1: The Template

The very first step is to find your applique design. I searched the internet, books and packaging for a rocking horse image I felt would be right. for an applique you are looking for simple shapes that can layered to give the desired effect – are arty and can draw freehand straight from your imagination then go ahead!

Once you’ve found your inspiration draw your design onto a bit of card


I drew my rocking horse inside an outline of the 6.5inch square template I used for my blocks (to make sure it fitted in!). Rough lines don’t matter at this point as the next job is to get another piece of paper and trace each separate shape onto different parts of it. This gives you your pattern pieces. so the whole horse body will be one shape, followed by a separate shape for the base and the saddle…etc..

Once the individual shapes have been traced and cut you can practice layering them to get the right effect. I numbered each shape in order of sewing to help me keep track whilst at the sewing machine. The template is now ready. Place each shape on the desired fabric and cut. You can see the final layering of the fabrics below.

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See how it compares to the paper templates

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layer your fabric pieces in order onto the fabric base. In my case this was a square

Happy with the effect? Ready for the next step??

Step 2: Bondage!
If you are confident with pins then go ahead – pin the pieces and skip this step. When it comes to small pieces I am very much an advocate of fusible web . Place a small piece under each shape in turn and iron according to the instructions. I did this in layers to avoid mistakes.


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Once all the pieces have been fused and ironed into place your applique should look something like this


Step 3: SEW SEW SEW!

I can’t lie this bit takes practice but keep at it!  I used a zigzag stitch to outline all the pieces and secure them to the fabric. The fusible web will hold all the pieces in place. I used a stabiliser behind to add some extra stability. Here is the front view after sewing.


and now the back……




Handy Hint: Play with the stitch width and frequency to obtain the desired effect…and then when approaching finer edges decrease the stitch width to get a tapered line.

Step 4: Tidy Time!

This is tedious….no escaping that fact! All those messy threads need to be removed. For an extra tidy finish I like to thread them through to the back before cutting. The stabiliser on the back can also be removed.

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The applique is now ready for finishing and incorporating into your patchwork masterpiece! I’ll show you how mine turned out at the grand quilt reveal which will hopefully follow soon!

Happy Stitching!

Sunday 8 May 2011

Kwazi Cat

Following the creation of Peso Penguin a problem arose…..apparently Peso is a big scaredy cat and feels much better going out on adventures if Kwazi the cat is about. So I set about making Kwazi. He can be seen first here as two unattractive orange blobs.

                                           
The final details were added at my local knitting club so unfortunately the only photos I have are one’s without his blue hat.

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Kwazi turned out a little too fox-like for my liking and there are certainly things I would change if I were to make him again…but hey…a four year old doesn’t notice these things!