BLOG 466

Blog 466

I am in my play room most days now; it is a pleasure to be in there with all its newly organised space and cosy warmth. I am just entering my busy creative time but there are some things I need to get out of the way before I start. So I have finished the cushion from last week but instead of binding round the outside edge, I chose to sew the front and the back RS together and then turn it through. To give the appearance of a binding, I sewed a seam ¼” in from the folded edge. I thought it was very effective and will certainly repeat the process, especially if it saves preparing and sewing on a binding strip and hand sewing it down.

 

            Finished cushion

 

 

            Edge detail

 

 

Binding the Poinsettia wall hanging was the next task.  I always use the Clover iron-on bias binding because it is easy to use, effective and saves so much time. It is used to cover the lines of stitching which are holding the fabric pieces in place. It is ironed in place and it stays there until it is sewn by hand or machine. This particular one is the narrowest that they do and it required accuracy of placement. There is a ¼” tape which would have made life easier!

                 Bias binding

 

 

The bias is ironed on and sewn in sequence, with all the underneath lines sewn on first. I ironed the tape on generously, making it slightly longer than I needed to. I sewed it in place and then trimmed it so that the cut edge followed the angle of the line which would cover it. Sometimes I used a straight stitch, sewing on both sides of the binding; other times I used a zigzag stitch across the width. They are equally effective as sewing methods and, from a distance, an untrained eye wouldn’t notice the difference! I should also mention that because I was sewing by machine, I added a layer of wadding underneath to give body to the fabric and to allow me to quilt it at the same time.

             Sewing the bias

 

            Sequence

 

            Overlapped ends

 

 

              Trimmed ends

 

               Covering the ends

 

            Border strips

 

               Completed binding

 

 

All I need to do now is add some decorative stitching before I finish the edges.

 

And finally for this week, I have darned all I want to do to create my scene. I would do it differently next time … although I know there won’t be a next time! … and use more variegated threads and gentler transitions between colours. I am going to silhouette a tree over the top and make it into one of my labels to cover all the mistakes!!!

 

 

        Darned scene