BLOG 325

BLOG 325

My commissioned table runners were very well received; it made me very proud to know that someone sees the real value in my work (thanks Chris!) Now however, I need to get on with the things I like to make for Xmas presents. I only make for people who I know will appreciate them and the process of deciding what to make and how to go about it always gives me great pleasure.

The first project is for the parents of a family who have everything, including a second home by the sea. A small wall hanging of boats seems the right thing to hang on the wall ….. even if it does end up hanging in the loo! I won’t know, will I? So, the shelf unit I bought from a charity shop for the bargain price of £6 has now been converted to an ironing table placed beside the sewing machine.

               Bargain unit

The fabrics have been chosen to represent an atmospheric sky, neutral sails, an inky sea and colourful hull.

              Fabric

The 2 boat patterns are taken from a Carol Doak book on ‘foundation piecing’ and this is the method I am going to use for these small 4” blocks. The last thing I want is to spend hours preparing tiny templates and so I strongly recommend this technique for small scale sewing. You can see that the pattern is numbered and this shows the sewing sequence. The marked side is where the sewing is done along the lines; the unmarked side is where the fabric is placed.

              Pattern

I rough-cut some generous triangles for the sails (1 and 2) and placed them RS together on the unmarked side of the paper, over the place where #1 sail is going to be.

              Pin

Using a neutral thread top and bottom and a tiny stitch (to perforate the paper and make it easier to remove later) I sewed on the marked side, along the line between #1 and #2. I sewed from one end to the other and not beyond to make it easier to fold the paper

pattern for trimming.

 

   

 

 

 

     Sew

This is now ready for trimming on the cutting board using a rotary cutter and ruler.

            Cutting board

It is very important to fold the paper pattern out of the way so that you only trim the seam allowance from the edge you have just sewn.

          Folded pattern

Once trimmed, it can be pressed open to produce 2 sails. And that’s the method: place, sew, trim and press. I usually rough-cut squares and rectangles much larger than I need so there is no unpicking but some people like to cut to size and risk it!

             Pressed open

              Pinned corner

I carried on working through the number sequence until it had all been sewn and then trimmed the edge to a ¼” seam allowance.

           Trimmed edge

               Completed blocks

               2 designs

I intend to make this as a long strip so I need to do one more to complete it. And so folks I have started my Christmas preparations, it’s official!