Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Quilt Along #6 - Making circles for Applique

 Hey there! I bet you thought I forgot about the quilt along? Well, I didn't. I have just been busy a bit. We have some sort of virus in out house hold that has really ravaged us all. I don't think I have done this much laundry in years. Nothing like waking to the scent of vomit...I would share details, but I am pretty sure you don't care to read about them.


So for this little technique you just need to gather up your supplies. We will be making them by hand, so you can give your machine a nice little rest. What you will need is the fabric you want to make your flowers out of, something circular to trace (I used my spool of thread), strong hand sewing thread, #9 needle, pencil, some scissors.
 Trace your circles. You don't need any fancy sort of fabric pen, or magically dissipating ink, just a good old pencil. I borrowed mine from my 7 year old. You can do a whole bunch at once if you like and then next time you have to sit for an extended period of time you will have something to work on.

 Knot one end of the thread. Stitch a little running stitch around the inside of the circle.
 Pull the stitching taunt so it gathers the circle up into a little hat like looking thing.
 Knot off the thread and clip it.
 You will have a whole bunch of these little yo yo looking circles. Now when you applique them down you don't have to worry about fraying edges or doing needle turn. You just perfect little circles every time.

You don't have to gather them all the way in, with my bigger circles I just gather them enough so that the edges turn under to make them easier to sew down.

Here are some that I have already stitched down. I did needle turn the leaves. So if you want your plant to have leaves you will need to cut out some leaf shapes and needle turn them. Lately I have found hand sewing so very soothing. I do wish I would not have made my plant quite so leggy....It sorta look like snakes trying to slither out of a bucket. I wonder how I am going to fix it?


Circle making is fun if you are on aircraft. It is a nice little project to while away the miles. Have a lovely time making circles. I think I need to go clean a toilet again.

xo,
Tia

3 comments:

soggybottomflats said...

Oh don't try and fix it...I love it just like that! I like it because it is so different than most I have seen. And, admit it, it gets a bit mundane, same old, same old. Keep it just the way it is..Elaine

Hoola Tallulah said...

OooOh this is a handy little tutorial, but what is a needle turn? Sorry, I am such an amateur!

the Campfollower said...

Thanks so much ladies! I shall show a quickie needle turn demo in a bit. It is cool because once you get the hand of it, you can applique just about any shape you decide to cut out.

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