BLOG 435

Blog 435

 

One day last week, I was looking at one of my favourite cushions in our sunroom. The background is made up of lozenge patchwork sewn over papers, a process which I remember seemed to take forever! An embroidered foxglove has been sewn on top and I really love the over-all effect. I wanted to make something similar but I also wanted to find a quicker way of constructing a ‘painterly’ background.

            Lozenge patchwork cushion

 

 

This time I thought I’d use squares for simplicity and I thought back to one of the processes I had tried and taught many years ago when water-colouring with fabric was all the rage. First I needed to work out the sizes for cutting and so I scribbled down a ‘masterplan’. You will see that it involved Vilene, the iron-on light-weight variety, and this was to provide a stable backing.

 

 

 

            Master plan

 

I ironed some suitable fabric off-cuts and then started to cut them into strips. I cut them into long lines first and then across those lines to make the squares. The trouble was that I cut them all at 1½” instead of 2” as I had written down! This was a basic error and very annoying but knowing this was a practice piece, and rather than wasting the squares, I decided to continue. I had to mark the Vilene with a 1½” grid to accommodate the smaller squares which would end up 1” after being sewn!

             Iron-on Vilene

 

 

                       

            Fabrics

 

 

            Cutting to size

 

 

 

           Palette

 

Once the fabrics were placed beside the marked Vilene, I was ready to start. The adhesive side of the Vilene was placed uppermost on an ironing surface because the squares were going to be stuck to the surface eventually. The squares fitted into the grid and I created a pleasing blush of colour from darks through to mediums. When I was happy with the effect, I used a pressing sheet and stuck the squares to the Vilene with an iron.

           Squares onto Vilene 1

 

 

            Squares onto Vilene 2

 

 

 

           Squares onto Vilene 3

 

 

            Pressing

 

At this stage everything looked very flat. The sewing process to secure the squares together followed. I started with the vertical seams and folded the first seam along the length of the marked line. I sewed with a ¼” foot and neutral thread. Once all the seams were sewn, it was pressed lightly to sharpen the fold on the seams.

           Fold and sew

 

 

          Fold and sew continued

 

  

 

          Fold and sew final seam

 

 

           Pressing the seams

 

And then the horizontal seams needed to be sewn and, to do this, the vertical seams needed to be clipped up to the stitches to facilitate the fold along the marked line. Once that clipping had been done, it was easy to butt up the seams so they alternated. Once all the seams had been sewn, the background patchwork was pressed thoroughly ready for the next stage. I just wish that I had cut the squares to the right size as small isn’t necessarily beautiful!

            Clipping the folded seams

 

 

 

         Alternating seams

 

 

          Sewing the horizontal seams

 

 

 

          Completed patchwork

 

 

 

Pros and Cons of the method:

 

+It is very quick compared to patchwork over papers.

+It is very accurate because you are working within a marked grid.

+The squares are held securely whilst they are being sewn.

-The method adds an extra layer to the patchwork.

-The seams are accurate but very bulky with the extra layers.

 

We were away at a family funeral in Cardiff on Monday and Tuesday and then we had the littlies for the day on Wednesday and into Thursday. After they departed, I immediately got out another jigsaw and indulged myself. It is only now I have seen this picture that I have spotted that there is a piece missing right in the middle. How could I have missed that …. And, more to the point, where is it? ….

 

 

            Another jigsaw!