Finally I have started work on the big quilt that has been lurking in my head for some time. The first step in sewing the central panel has been sewing some stems, using my favourite method - some lying parallel to each other and branching away...
and other stems actually branching out. There isn't much colour yet, that will come later, but I find this shade of pale brown strangely relaxing. I could never work out why until the day I suddenly realised that this the shade I like my tea, with just the right amount of milk.
Linking up with Esther's blog for WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays
Here are the stems and leaves of the daffodil before I added the flower and bud. The leaves are worked in exactly the same way as the stems.
For the stems, I cut a bias strip half an inch from the fold and kept the width consistent all the way to the top. The tops of the stems can be left with raw edges because they are later covered by the flower or bud.
The leaves are slightly wider. They are three quarters of an inch at the base and taper gently to about half an inch at the top. The fun and games come when rounding the top of the leaves.
To do this I put in tiny gathering stitches with tacking thread at the top to set in a curve.
A teaspoon handle was just the right size for the next job, pulling the tacking thread to make the end of the leaf fold under in a gathered curved edge.
Once the raw edges were aimed in the right direction, I put a tiny drop of water at the end of the leaf and pulled the gathering thread again to tuck the edges underneath.
All it needed then was a good pressing with a hot iron from the back, and the folded edge of the leaf was ready to be hand sewn into place. The gathering threads don't need to be pulled out - they can be tucked out of sight underneath the leaf when it is stitched down.
Linking up today with Lee's blog Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday,
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.
This is the doll quilt that I sent to my partner Diane in Minnesota, my July partner for the Doll Quilters' Monthly swap. She told me that she liked purple, and I have been meaning to do a pansy for ages, so here it is! I posted a photo of the centre of the pansy a little while ago to see if Diane might guess what was coming.
All the straight stitch machining was done with the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine - the detail on the flower, the piecing and the binding. For the stem I used the method I describe here, and for the outline quilting I used the hand machine with the cording foot attached, also as shown in the previous post here.
The free motion quilting was done on the 1945 Singer 15K treadle. For the background quilting in the central panel I did my favourite meandering infill. For the border I did a curving stem with curled back leaves. Luckily, I didn't run into too much trouble going round the corners, but I'm not too brilliant at stitching over the guideline stitching so the stem is a bit fat in parts.
I really enjoyed this project, and it was lovely to hear from Diane how much she liked it - she took it out into the garden to take photos of it.
This post is being linked with Leah Day's blog for FMQ Friday - lots more projects to see there!
Welcome to the latest followers, Angel Momma and Lizziebeth - thank you for joining!
Appliqué stems are easier than I anticipated. This is how I do mine...
First, fold and iron the fabric on the bias and cut a folded strip. Decide how wide the stem is to be and add approximately an eighth of an inch for the seam allowance.
Pin the strip to the background fabric. I use tacking stitches to plot the position of the stems, but the stems themselves are kept in position just with pins. Lay the pins over, not through the strip. Because the strip is cut on the bias you can lay it in a gentle curve and the material will ease itself along under the pins.
Machine stitch an eighth of an inch from the raw edges.
When you have done that, all you need to do is iron it over and sew down the folded edge by hand.
Hello to Jo Waterhouse - thank you for following!
