Finishing: Applique a Pocket

This project comes from a visit to Camp Wannasew (The Silver Needle) from 2010. This project is practically fresh compared to some of the things I've been finishing! I hesitated to finish it this way because my hand sewing capabilities leave a lot to be desired. And I've heard applique is hard.

Now if you looked at just this side, you'd say, "hey, that's a great job." "Exept your blanket stitch is for shit." But let's go in for the wider shot, shall we?

Not horrible, but those curves just aren't as smooth. Sigh.
To learn this finish, I found this video which has a certain kitschy charm. Her tip to pull the stitches tight every third stitch or so is spot on. Stitches disappeared like magic!

For this project, I ironed on interfacing that was about the size and shape of the stitching. If I did this again, I would make the interfacing about 1/4"-1/2" larger than the stitched piece. I think it would help prevent the linen from fraying.

You can see in my original post about this project, that I clipped the curves. You definitely need to do this, but I would wait until I was upon the curve to do it, again the fraying problem.

Here are a couple of other tutorials to help you:
All about applique here and here.

Once you've appliqued the stitching to the wool, you need to sew the wool together. The good thing about a pocket style finish is that it's pretty simple. sew up three sides of a rectangle or sew two shapes together leaving an opening at the top. So simple, I can't even find a tutorial on the internet.

Still, you might be in the market for help with blanket stitching.
Help handsewing felt using a blanket stitch from Future Girl. You could also look to the Red Brolly.

Some of you may have seen on Pinterest the picture with the person who had marks on her finger to get even stitches. I've not linked it here mostly because it didn't really work for me. If I put my marked finger near the edge I was stitching, I wasn't getting the length of the stitches right. And if I moved it further back to mark the length, I couldn't really see how far over the stitch should go. That's probably clear as mud, but it's neither here nor there. In the end, I prefer my blanket stitches to look homemade.

Lest you worry that this took me four days to do, fear not! Overall it only took a few hours but I just couldn't make the time for it.

Applique: Goodbye to All That

Last night was my last applique class. Sniff! What will we have to talk about on Mondays and Tuesdays from now on? I'm sure we'll think of something; especially now that I can sew! Maybe I'll start finishing some of those 78 projects, and I'll be able to show you those.

The teacher asked if we will be in the class next semester, and I think I shall. I'm going to need help finishing this silly overnight case--last night, I started step 3: make cording. I cut and started sewing the bias binding. There are about twelveteen more steps, and I'm not sure I've got the fortitude.

I did manage to finish this for my dad, the beer wholesaler:


And this for my MIL:


It's an eyeglass case made from felted wool sweaters. But it didn't come out nearly as cute as Betz White's stuff. It did only cost about $4. And I made it with love...

Just in case you are keeping score, all the presents showed up: Cariboo for the little one and two Gryffendor hats and scarves for the Potter-crazed nephews. (Yeah, I paid a lot but I couldn't have whipped those up in 3 weeks.) So I'll be going away soon, but I'll try to stay in touch. I mean, it's only England. I think they even have the internet.

Applique VIII

I shouldn't even call this applique any more. I'm still working on the Frenchy bag. All I have left to do is sew in the lining. I might try to finish this on my own because it is taking so damn long. I definitely want to have the overnight bag cut out for our next class, which isn't for two more weeks. I should be able to manage that.

After class, I worked on Summer Place for an hour. Camera...blah...blah...blah...sorry.

Applique VII

Ah suppose man, ah'm just too much ay a perfectionist, ken? It's likesay, if things go a bit dodgy, ah jist cannae be bothered, y'know? --Trainspotting

I thought I was going to finish the Frenchy bag tonight, but I have discovered why sewing's not such a good fit for me: it requires too much perfectionism.

I made pleats. They were such nice pleats. I made the handles. I wished again that I could sew a little straighter (and iron straighter). I sewed the handles to the bag, then I went to sew the top bit to the main bag panel. One fit. One needed a lot of "ease." The teacher was trying to get me to ease it, "that fabric has a lot of stretch," "it'll be fine." Then it occurred to me to measure both main bag panels. One was 11" and the other 11.5". Could the pleats be moved without repositioning the handles? No, handle location was measured from the pleats. So I had to take apart one half of the bag. Only when "ah jist cannae be bothered," it's not my perfectionism that's gotten in the way. It's what sewing demands that I cannae manage. (It's okay, my mil talks just like this. Just for proof: when the dude takes off his shirt, he glows; he's so pealy-wally. Shoogle the pot when you're making popcorn. If you stop and burn it, you might seem glakit. )

Applique VI

I still can't find the camera, so I scanned the placemat, which is too big for the scanner. You'll just have to imagine that it is octagonal. Maybe when we find the camera (where? ideas welcome...) I can take a photo of them in situ so you can see how really adorable they are. And that little pucker that is all you can see in this scan hardly shows irl. It's weird but the stripey white fabric shows through the plain red cherry in the scan. The fabric is sort of mottled red on red. No stripes. I started cutting out the Amy Butler Frenchy Bag that I am making (and should I be offended that it's "Frenchy"? Or does she mean the character from Grease?) I am making it for one or another of my aunts (two would like it) from gold and royal blue toile that features chickens. I still plan to undertake the overnight bag, don't worry!

Applique V

I am almost done with the placemats. Last night, I was able to finish the applique (one looks like practice and the other is brilliant) and sew up to the point where I turned it. Now I just need to do some hand sewing and add a spot of quilting! I should finish that next week. I'll do the photo then, because they aren't going to look much different.

Then we're going to make a pocketbook. I think after that (shouldn't take too long) the instructor and I are going to make Amy Butler's weekender travel bag together. That's the plan anyway.

I'm starting to have a new-found respect for the GF. Last night, as they were packing to go to DC, I actually heard her say this sentence: "That's not my sweater; those are your underpants." I can't even imagine the circumstances under which that would need to be said. The dude says his father is a dufus (he's a brilliant former classics professor, but he can't get himself across the street without help). I think the dude finds it a little wearing to be with his father, but the older his father gets the more time he wants to spend with his son. (For example, this trip here, now. The dude and I are going to England in December. FIL wants the dude to go back in the summer.) I suspect he wants to make up for the time he was being a brilliant classics professor and ignoring his family, but he's not the only one who gets to make that decision... Or maybe not. I just don't get the English. I sit quietly by and observe, but I am so steeped in my own tradition, I find it difficult to offer other interpretations of their behavior...

Applique IV

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Very kind of you.

I've got nothing to show from applique class--we're using Janomes at the high school and no one has a manual. So we spent an inordinant amount of time last night trying to make a blanket stitch. Then trying to make a buttonhole stitch work like a blanket stitch. Oh, you think they're the same, until you try to sew it on a machine. Usually on a machine, the straight edge of a stitch would be on the right, with the decorative bits pointing left. But with buttonhole stitch it's the opposite, so you have to "stitch backwards" which is easy enough until you have to turn a corner. (Or you're me and can't rotate shapes in your head.)

So I spent most of the time in class using the seam ripper. I think I'm going to work on the placemats on my machine at home and just use a satin stitch...if I can fit it into the cleaning schedule. FIL arrives Friday. Boy, time flew! They are arriving Friday night, leaving Tuesday for DC and coming back Friday to spend another weekend with us. They seem to think that this is somehow better. But really, it's all the togetherness that I find so difficult. I wouldn't give a crap one way or the other if they were in Philadelphia so long as I got to go to work. But being trapped in a two door Honda Civic driving to some local tourist destination is going to suck the very life from my soul...

Applique III

Last night we finished sewing the background and began cutting out the applique pieces. I hardly noticed time passing and before I knew it, it was time to pack up and go home. I was trying to finish cutting out my pieces, but I had to pack it in with just one branch left.

And everyone really liked the new bag that I was packing it into (on sale at Joann.com--not available in the store--with free shipping). It holds my 17x24 cutting mat and has little pockets for everything else. Perfect for class. And I can store everything in there so I can just grab it and go.

When I got home, I finished cutting and fused the pieces so next week, I am ready for the buttonhole stitch. Maybe I should make and fuse some shapes onto scraps so I can practice next week. Okay, that's my assignment for next weekend, because that's a really good idea.

The women in class continue to surprise me by being so supportive of each other. Last night, I sneezed. You have to know I have this sneeze my mother says sounds like a kitten. (I do let it all out!) Someone said, "You have such a cute and little sneeze." I said, "It's the only thing cute and little about me." Several women objected; one said, "I don't know your personality, but why would you say that about yourself?" Wow. And that's just one example.

I don't know why I feel such surprise. I went to women's college so I am very used to this compassionate behavior. I think it's this woman at work who is warping my sense of women's community. She's very anti-woman; always badmouthing someone. She makes me think of something Madeleine Albright told a group of girls at a high school she visited, "There's a special place in hell for women who don't support each other."

Applique II

These are the fabrics I brought with me to applique class Monday night. I managed to get everything cut out and do a tiny bit of sewing.

I actually picked (most of) them out right when I got back from the first class. I gathered all the supplies I needed that I had hanging around the house. Then as soon as I had a spare moment, I went and got what I didn't have. Do you think I'm excited?

I'm sorry to disappoint Lee by using the machine, but the point of taking the class was to become a better sewer, which is on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days (#40). There are a few absolute beginners in the class--never taken their machines out of the box. I have it all over them: I can actually thread a machine.

It's a 10 week class. I think you're going to be sick of me by the time we're done!