BLOG 194

 

It must be spring! At this time of the year, with the lengthening of the days and the warmth of the sunshine, I can’t resist having a good and thorough clear-out. It’s as though I am cleansing my environment after the gloom of the dark days of winter and de-cluttering my space and therefore my mind (bless that one little brain cell!) I have more or less accepted now that I am retired (after 8 years of doing less and less teaching!) and will not be getting back onto the teaching circuit again. To that end, I have thrown away 2 huge bin bags of paper patterns, workshop hand-outs, visual aids and magazine cuttings.  Instead of cramming stuff precariously into the nearest cupboard, I have bought more storage boxes, one for sheers, one for felting wool, another for fancy fabrics and yet another for silk and the workroom looks much tidier.

During this drastic sort out, I came across some ‘historic’ (done over 15 years ago!) pieces that were too good to chuck out because I had spent too much time on them already. So this week I decided to start to complete them in preparation for selling them at the Gresford show in June (unless I get a good offer before then!) The first is a Tiffany-inspired stained glass with Hollyhocks which I used to teach as a workshop many moons ago. This is how I had left it and you can see that it is worth completing. I just need to add the stems and the bias binding, sew on the bias binding, and quilt the picture and trim and bind it …. Not much to do then …!!

                   Hollyhocks

To construct the picture, I use a method where the design is drawn onto the WS of a piece of calico and the fabrics are pinned RS up onto the unmarked side. From the WS, I sew on the lines to trap the fabrics in place and then from the RS I trim away the excess fabric right up to the sewing line. This is how I added the stems.

                                    Pin onto the RS

 Sew from the WS to trap the fabric and turn back to the RS

                   Trim away the excess fabric up to the stitches

 

The bias binding comes ready prepared with a fusible backing and is a wonderful product to use.

 

                                              The product

If I am working on my lap, I use a tacking stitch to hold the bias binding in place before ironing it to stick it down. If I am in my workroom, with an iron handy, I iron all the pieces in place. It is fast and efficient and the pattern is defined in no time at all. The binding needs to be placed in sequence from background to foreground so I often have a couple of lengths on the go at any one time.

                                  Sequence for placement

                Fused binding

The binding needs to be sewn down and this can be done by hand or machine. I chose to machine sew on the edges of the binding with a straight stitch. I placed the picture onto batting and backing to give extra body during sewing and to quilt it at the same time. I add quilting texture to the background spaces prior to binding the edges. All I need to do now is to add detail and texture to the flowers and leaves and a hanging strip on the back and it is finished! Finishing this project has refreshed my interest in stained glass so keep looking into my blog to see  more of it sometime in the future.

                                      Stitched binding

               Bound edges

 ASIDE: I have inadvertently deleted the email I had from Suzette ‘one pin’ Smart with the picture of her winning embroidery at the NEC. If you google her name, you can now see her winning piece on her blog.