Showing posts with label SEWING. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEWING. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

RUFFLED ROSES PILLOW

Still pinching myself.  There are buds on our rose bushes.  We never had roses before so we feel all grown-up here, especially since we haven't killed any yet.  My cold climate friends, you need some roses to remind you Spring is right around the corner.  How about a rosy tutorial instead?   Remember the Seriously Fun Quilt tutorial here?  Well, here's how I made the pillow on the quilt.

RUFFLED ROSES PILLOW





The finished size of this pillow: 30”w x 13”h

SUPPLIES:

2 pieces of fabric, 31”w x 14”h each
¾ yard quilters weight cotton fabric 44”-45” wide for roses
2 pieces of cotton muslin 31” x 14” each for pillow insert
Large bag of polyester fiberfill
Sewing machine, thread
Needle and thread
Rotary cutter and cutting mat
Ruler
Scissors
Straight pins
Iron, ironing board
Marking pencil or pen
Thimble (optional)

GETTING STARTED:

A note of possible interest:  I decided on the white solid fabric for the roses partly because both sides of the fabric are the same color, whereas a printed fabric will have a noticeable right side and wrong side.  The roses will have a raw edge, which will cause some loose threads.  Don’t be concerned; once the pillow is complete and you trim all the loose threads, you’ll see that the lacy, delicate roses are quite appealing.  

1    Ready-made pillow inserts come in several sizes, but it’s easy to make your own custom-sized inserts.  First, take the two muslin panels and place them right sides together; pin together.  Stitch a ½” seam around the panels, leaving an 8” to 10” opening in the center of one side and making sure to backstitch both the beginning stitches and the end stitches.  Clip the loose threads and turn the muslin form right side out.   Firmly stuff the form with the fiberfill.   Fold under the ½” seam allowance and hand stitch closed.

2    Lay the front panel of the pillow out on your work surface.  Use a ruler to measure in 10” from either the left edge of the panel (or right edge, if you prefer).  Use your marking utensil to lightly draw a straight line from the top of the panel to the bottom in from either the left or right.  This will be your center guide when you begin attaching your roses.  Set aside.

MAKING ROSES:

         
 3    I used 44"-45" wide quilt weight fabric for the roses.  Keep the fabric folded in half along the natural fold line as you lay the fabric down on your cutting mat, which will give you two strips per cut.   Measure and cut 1” strips through both layers of fabric.  Cut 20 strips, and then cut those strips in half along the fold line.  You will end up with 40 strips.   You might need more or less depending on how tight you gather the flowers and how closely you place them, but that’s a good estimate. 


4     Using a basting stitch (a wide stitch) on the sewing machine, sew a ¼” seam down one side of each strip making sure to leave at least 3” of thread on both ends of the strips and DO NOT backstitch.    Gather the strips by pulling gently on one of the long threads on the left, then one of the long threads on the right until you have about 7” of a gathered strip.  Continue this process.  



5    Take one of the long pieces of thread from the gathered ruffle, use it to thread a needle, and start rolling the gathered fabric on the same end as the threaded needle.  As you roll the fabric, stitch all the way through the layers at the basted seam line.


6    Keep rolling and stitching until you come to the other end of the ruffle.  Knot the thread at the end to secure the finished flower.  Continue this process with the remaining ruffles and make a stack of roses as you watch your favorite movie or listen to a musical.  




PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

 7    Lay the front panel of the pillow down on your workspace right side up.  Place a flower 1” down from the top edge of the fabric over the center of the line you previously made.   Sew the flower in place from the back of the panel through to the bottom of the flower.  Once the first flower is sewn in place secure with a knot and sew another flower closely to the left and right of the center flower.   Move one row down and continue the process of securing each flower, using the centerline as the guide.  Make a total of 3 rows close together across and three rows down until you get to the bottom of the panel, leaving 1” of panel fabric free at the bottom.



8   Complete the three rows of flowers down the front of the pillow panel, then place the back panel of the pillow fabric over the front panel, right sides together.  Pin right sides together making sure the flowers will be out of the way of the seams.  Sew a 1/2 “ seam leaving an 8’-10” opening at the bottom length of the pillow, making sure to backstitch both at the beginning and end of your stitches.


9   Insert the pillow form. Once the pillow form is in place if the corners still need to be filled out just stuff extra fiberfill directly into the four corners of the pillow.  Turn the open seams at the bottom of the quilt under and blind stitch closed.

10   Pull and trim off loose threads from the roses.



 SPRING IS COMING.  ENJOY THE ROSES


On to other newsy things; I am having oral surgery as you are reading this.  Three implants, plus some other things I shouldn't discuss if you're eating, or even if you aren't.   Hoping I'll be up and about before you know it.    

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

MAY 12 IN TWELVE TUTORIAL

Yes, a May tutorial in September.  I made this quilt for my granddaughter before we moved.  Hopefully, this one is worth the wait?

SERIOUSLY FUN QUILT


Have you ever wanted to try your hand at making a quilt, but think it’s too difficult a task?  Then you are going to love this project.  By purchasing a ready-made quilt in the size of your choice (available in most bed and bath departments for a bargain) you can make this appliqued beauty in a weekend.  Easy. Fun. Done.

Supplies
½ yard cotton quilt weight fabric for stripe
Cotton quilt weight fabric scraps for approx. 15 circles
1 yard lightweight fusible interfacing
Purchased ready-made cotton quilt in either twin, full/queen, or king size
Circular items for tracing circles in a variety of sizes
Sewing machine
Iron
Scissors
Cotton thread to match quilt color
Thread for basting
Hand sewing needle
Ruler
Pencil, pen or fabric marker
Pins

Let’s get started!

Making the Stripe

1   Cut the ½ yard fabric (18” x 44”) into three strips 6” x 44” each 


2   Sew the strips together end-to-end, right sides together, using a ½” seam allowance.  This will result in one strip 6” wide by about 131” long 


3   Press seams open.



4   Lay the long strip of fabric wrong side up.  Fold each long side ½” and press.  Press top of strip under ½”.  Finished strip will be 5” wide.


Set aside.

Making the Circles

5    Gather a variety of round dishes, saucers, drinking glasses, etc. to trace around for the circle patterns.  The circles on the quilt shown are anywhere between 2” to 8” for a total of 15 circles.  Hint: If you have a fabric with a printed pattern you’d like to center inside the circle then use clear glass, as you can see through it.
   
6      Trace around one of the circles onto the wrong side of a fabric.  Hint: Use larger circles for large prints, smaller circles for the smaller prints and solids.  Cut the traced circle out and pin it wrong side up to a piece of fusible interfacing fusible side up (bumpy side).  Pin and carefully sew all the way around on the traced line.  Cut a 1/8” seam.

7     Turn the circle over and cut a slit into the middle of the interfacing.


8     Pull the fabric through the cut slit in the interfacing.  Now you have a circle with the front of the fabric on the top-side and the fusible (bumpy) side of the interfacing underneath.   Finger press and voila!  Cool, huh?  Make the remaining circles.



Putting it all together

I designed this quilt so the long fabric strip and circles can lie either on the left
side or the right side of the bed by merely turning the quilt around and you can do the same.

9     The best way to begin placement is to lay the quilt on the bed and place the strip approximately 10” in from the edge of the bed.  Align the pressed top edge of the strip right under the binding of the quilt; pin in place.  Working from top to bottom start pinning both sides of the strip to the quilt, making sure to keep the strip straight.  Cut off any excess length of the strip left over at the bottom of the quilt, making sure to leave ½” to fold under right above the quilt binding; pin in place.   Baste stitch (large stitches) with a contrasting color thread ¼” in along the edge of both sides of the strip and remove pins.


Lay the circles randomly along the inside edge of the strip and pin to the quilt. Either slip a board under the quilt on the bed or lay the quilt out on the floor to press the circles.  The iron setting should correspond with the fusible interfacing directions.  Remove pins before ironing each circle 


10    The final step is to hand applique the strip and circles using the amazing blind stitch technique (one of my personal favorites).  The stitches are almost invisible and one trick to achieving invisible stitches is to use a thread color that matches the color of the quilt exactly.  Normally, you would stitch by coming up through the back of the background fabric, but since you are appliqueing onto a finished quilt you can easily make all your stitches without going through the back of the quilt.  

Here’s how:

Choose a short hand-sewing needle, usually called “sharps”.  Thread the needle and knot one end of the thread.   Roll the edge of the applique back slightly, just enough to grab a bit of the quilt fabric with your needle without going all the way through to the backside, and pull the needle and thread until the knot stops.  The knot will be hidden underneath the applique edge.  Start the first stitch by letting your needle catch a few threads from the folded edge of the applique fabric.  Bring the needle back down directly opposite and take a tiny stitch from the quilt fabric just at the edge of the applique.  Slide the needle through along the inner edge of the applique and pull it out approximately 1/16” to 1/8” beyond where you went in.  The smaller the stitch is the better, as you want the stitch to disappear.




11   Continue taking tiny stitches until you have completed sewing the applique on.  Notice the circles will bubble up slightly, which I find quite desirable.  However, don’t pull the stitches too tightly to avoid puckering.   Knot the thread off very close to the applique.  Insert the needle in between the applique and the quilt at the knot and push the needle into the center of the applique about the length of the needle.  Pull the needle and thread up and out the top of the applique taut and snip the access thread close to the applique.  The thread poking up will instantly disappear.  Amazing, I know!  Remove any basting stitches and relish in your accomplishment.  


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