THE BLOG IS HAVING TROUBLE WITH COMMENTS! SOMETIMES THEY DON’T GET PUBLISHED, AND WHEN THEY ARE I AM UNABLE TO REPLY TO THEM. IF THAT HAPPENS, JUST EMAIL ME AT stitchlore@gmail.com.

Looking for something specific? Check out the Topic Index, or the Search bar, just below, on the left.



Sorry about this problem!

SO.........WHAT ARE WE WORKING ON TODAY??

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Another bit on basting

This was a single pillow project for Cottages to Castles; a gift from Suzie to the homeowner.  The mission was to center this beautiful embroidered elephant piece in a field of velvet.

It was up to me to decide: I could applique it onto the velvet, or add mitered borders.
Because the edges of the piece were uneven, and cut so close to the embroidery, I thought I'd do a better job if I turned under the least tiny bit I could, then applique it.
Also, I didn't like how I thought the nap would behave if I tried sewing the velvet on the diagonal.
To stabilize the piece on the velvet, I considered fusibles, sticky tape, and pins, but hand-basting won out.  I started basting as a quilter bastes a large quilt: in an X shape, from the center out to the corners.
After basting around the perimeter, I stabilized the vertical edges further with this stitch shown below, which I know has a name that I cannot remember- I wanted those horizontal stitches to fight against the tendency of the fabric to slip along the velvet nap.
All that basting kept the elephant perfectly in place.  I used the tip of my snippy scissors to help ease in while sewing.

After applying self-welt I decided to have a go at sewing front to back with just pins.  I wasn't sure if I'd need to baste the seams, too.  It took more pins than usual (well, usually I don't use pins at all on pillows) but it sewed up just fine.
It took extra time and care, but, everyone was very happy with this big pillow!

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing your process as how to apply this applique to the velvet, Such love was put into the single appliqued pillow, understood all were pleased with the result!! What beautiful craftsmanship!!

    ReplyDelete