BLOG 378

BLOG 378

I have had a pretty decent tidy up of both my studio in the garage and the loft room where I sew. There is still much more to do as per usual but I have done sufficient that I can see the cupboard tops and I know where most of my ‘stuff’ is. One day, I will enter the rooms in a more thorough frame of mind and have a really, really, really good sort out, getting rid of all the superfluous items I don’t need any more. I have already done this around the house resulting in 5 black bin liners going to the charity shops already. ‘Keep life simple’ is my motto for this year.

This week, I have been catching up on my daily squares. These are 4” ready-fused squares of batik with a motif on top. I am using a positive/negative method so that nothing is wasted. The shape that is cut out (e.g. heart) is stuck onto another 4” square (positive applique) and the square with the hole cut out is backed by another 4” square (negative or reverse applique). This means that for 3 squares you end up with 2 appliques. I am using simple applique motifs: hearts, leaves, bare tree, Xmas tree etc. and changing them often for visual variety.

                Daily squares

                  Batiks

                 Motifs 1

             Motifs 2

               Neg/pos motifs
 




               With backgrounds
 
Hint: use a pin to score the paper backing of the fusible to make it easier to remove.
 

                Score with pin 
 
METHOD

The motif is traced onto a 4” square of fusible and ironed onto a 4” square of batik. It is cut out accurately along the lines drawn on the paper backing. A rotary cutter is used on the line to start the cutting so that you don’t have to poke the scissors into the fabric.

Step 1 Place the negative square, with the paper still in place, over a background square. Take the paper off the cut-out motif.

Step 2 Place the cut-out motif back in position and use the toe of an iron to lightly stick it in place.

Step 3 Remove the negative square to leave the motif in position on the background (positive) and press thoroughly. Remove the paper from the negative square and stick it onto another background square to complete the two appliques.

             Step 1
 




               Step 2
 
                              



                Step 3

                 Ironed squares
 
 

                Stored
 
During one of the holiday sleep-overs we had a modest fall of snow. In the absence of a sledge, we devised a new sport: that of ‘bag dragging’. Grandad was the coolest man alive for a short while!!
 






             Bag dragging