More Appliqué

Hi Everyone 

I’ve another little appliqué sample to share today. This is part of the Stitch Story series of patches (read back on my blog for more about this project) developed over the last few months. I mentioned, yesterday, some of the shapes prepared for appliqué working. I took one of the bird shapes to work on, at random. I’ve no particular story in mind for the bird patch, I just liked the fabric and started working on it. As I looked and considered colours, the fabric leftover bits from other prepared shapes presented themselves and somehow I thought about flowers. So, flowers seemed to be the right thing to add. I made a little pencil sketch on the back of some of the leftovers and cut out the simple flower-like shapes.

             

I really enjoyed working on this patch. I’ve a little more embroidery to add and I’ve committed the ultimate sin of working too close to the edge again ! I will need to add a backing patch to allow me to sew the patch into place, when I’ve decided where it will go.

I have my trusty Stitch Dictionary by Betty Barden sitting next to me throughout and look (often) for ideas and inspiration re the Stitch choice. I love this book, so well presented and each stitch has a great little step by step instruction with a diagram. I also have a little voice in my head (from my sewing guru Grandmother) telling me to ‘take my time’. This is the best advice ever !

Hopefully, I can finish my patch today and possibly start one more. Check back tomorrow for more news.

Thanks for calling in today. 

Appliqué Developments

Hi Everyone 

I’ve started another range of appliqué samples for my Stitched Story Projects. These new ideas will probably form the basis of a new story rather than adding to Miss Mitchell. You can read all about my Stitched Stories and Miss Mitchell if you look back over the last few weeks.

My new work involves testing out various methods of creating my fabric images using the Sizzix cutting machine (Big Shot). I’ve used a variety of fabrics for the little shapes, mostly fine cotton, and applied Bondaweb fusing fabric to the back before cutting out. 

I did experiment with different ways of cutting the layers, some are cut fused and some separate and fused after cutting. The most effective way is to fuse first but some fabrics were a little too thick and caused problems with intricate cutting designs. However, I have a range of samples which have crisp appliqué shapes, which is very pleasing. I’ll create a little step by step photo tutorial (as per the last appliqué experiment) when I’ve completed this mini project.

                  

I’ve chosen a bird and cage design, a wasp, some picot boarder (bottom right) and a couple of birthday cakes (bottom left). My next job is to fuse the shapes to my patches and start to develop some embroidery designs. I’ll work on one of the patches today, not sure which. Call in tomorrow to see my results.

Thanks for visiting today.

Miss Mitchell Appliqué

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing my finished Miss Mitchell appliqué today. As described last week, I completed my planned tasks (read back last Thursday for more on this). Miss Mitchell acquired her hair bows and her ballet shoes as well as a little red heart. The red heart features in all Miss Mitchell images, so that was quite important to add. 

I found myself, yet again, in the position of working too close to the bottom and top of my patch. This is something I’ve talked about before and I mention it in all my Making Workshops. I should have planned the size more carefully. I managed to embroider Miss Mitchell so close to the bottom of my patch, at one point I did wonder if I could get her ballet shoes into the piece. As all the stitches were so close to the top and bottom, I used a piece of bondaweb (a iron on fusing fabric) to keep all the stitches fused together and added a second patch to enclose the whole piece. This gave me a chance to add a stitched seam all around the edge, containing any frayed edges. I finished the two sides with a red Whip stitch and I like how it looks at this point. I’m thinking a little more embroidery on the boarder would add something interesting. I quite like the idea of something like the writing in my image. I need to think of  something suitable to write (in embroidery).

                      

I like how the patch developed and it’s perfect for my Stitched Story. The original inspiration came from Pinterest and is lovely. I’m quite keen to make another. I love the curly hair version. There must be lots of options for more hairstyles.

                  

Thanks for calling in today.

Fibre Friday (25/5/18)

Hi Everyone 

Another Fibre Friday has arrived from ? I’m not sure where my week has gone, it’s just flown by. Sadly, my ‘fibre makes’ for this week are rather meagre again. I’ve been working, mainly, on my Coinneach Cardigan by Kate Davies. Read back on Fridays for more on the project. I’ve managed to finish the yoke part and have spent lots of time sorting out the steek section on the centre front of the cardigan. Ive not worked a steek so I’m a little apprehensive about the whole thing. The section where the steek is happenening is also where all the different colour strands meet and I wanted to make sure everything appeared neat and tidy. I’ve learned lots about how colours need to be joined into a yoke so hopefully next time (my next colourwork sweater) I will be able to make a much better job. However, I’m actually quite happy with how the cardigan looks. It fits reasonably well. The slightly cropped length is good and the arms fit well. The yoke area is a little bigger than I would like but it’s fine.

                 

The colours work well together and I actually like the unsteeked look. I’m almost wondering if the Coinneach would make a good sweater. The steek section has a cute little pattern of colourwork which gives a rather interesting feature. I like the collar - it tends to stand up slightly and is a good size for my neck. I need to make a decision of what to do. I will sleep on it for a few days. Do I keep the Coinneach as a sweater of do I steek into a cardigan ?

My other little knit project is another pair of socks. I always have some socks on the go, so it’s not a surprise ! I did consider another pair of Fragment Socks (look back last week) but I’m going for another pair of my own Miss Mitchell Socks. This time, I will add a cuff inspired by the Coinneach bottom band. My plan is to use the main striped yarn for the toe up Miss Mitchell pattern with a contrast heel and the colourwork cuff. 

                            

I’ve just started and am about four rows underway. My plan is to develop two toes, add both to a single circular needle and knit both together until the colourwork cuff and separate again for the colourwork.

Thanks for calling in today. Have a great weekend. I’ll be back on Monday.

Appliqué Miss Mitchell

Hi Everyone 

The Miss Mitchell doll appliqué is well underway. You can read back yesterday for a little more on this. I shared my pencil sketch yesterday and have been using the sketch as my guide. The appliqué patch is almost there. I’ve identified a few extra features to add, which I will work on today.

As suggested, yesterday, I’ve made a little photo collage of the stages involved in my make.

           

             


I’ve numbered the sequence of steps used to develop the patch. I started (1-4) by  making the mini pattern for cutting the fabric used for the appliqué element. I used an iron-on fabric called bondaweb to prepare the Miss Mitchell dress for attaching/stitching to the background patch fabric. This makes the embroidery stage so much easier as the appliqué element is in place and doesn’t move around. The whole appliqué element is quite small and the sleeves of the dress are very thin, so it was important to choose the right embroidery stitch which would allow the fabric to be attached as well as looking pretty. I used a simple small Back stitch around the sleeves with a single stitch developing a stripe across the sleeve (5-7). The main part of the dress was attached using Blanket stitch.I chose to use some of my hand printed fabric for this project and I’m happy that it seems to be working well.

Miss Mitchell acquired some red legs (10) and will eventually acquire blue ballet shoes. I had thought about striping the legs (I may still do this) as in the original Miss Mitchell painting.

Until, this point ie (10), the appliqué patch was very simple. From (11-15) I worked on the head which is the most challenging part of the make. The hair seemed to be one of the most important characteristics which identifies the doll as Miss Mitchell. Miss Mitchell’s hair style makes her immediately recognisable and I was undecided for some time about the colour of her hair. Ultimately, I decided to go for a multi shaded idea with a hint of red throughout. The thread I used was striped and allowed for a random but rather dramatic hair colour. The main part of the hair was created with simple Satin stitch creating a parted line down the back of the head. The curly ‘pig tails’ used a Couching stitch to fix the curled lines on each side of the head.

That’s where I am, at the moment.

I will add a little polymer heart to the dress (another Miss Mitchell feature) and some embroidered bows to the pig tails. Initially, I did think of using some of the dress fabric for the bows. However, I’ve decided to use an embroidery stitch (16), I think the fabric bows would be almost impossible to stitch in place because of the very small size. The Stitch I’ve chosen for the bows is something called a Sheaf stitch. This stitch gives a good impression of a bow and I’ve practiced on a piece of scrap fabric to develop the right size.

I’m almost there with my appliqué patch. The extra little tasks will be completed later today and I need to decide how to finish the patch. At the moment, I’m thinking, I will add a backing layer to finish the edges of the patch. I also quite like the idea of developing some embroidery edges to the patch, so this approach will work well. I’ll wait and see what happens when the embroidered Miss Mitchell figure is complete.

Thanks for calling in today. More next week on this mini project.