Attacking applique, part II

Today, I will be discussing a super cool way to do applique without having raw edges.  This method involves using fusible web; I used one from Pellon, and it's available at quilt shops, maybe craft stores, and sometimes Wal-Mart.  It's a very thin sheet, and it fuses on both sides, just like the fusible used in the raw edge applique, but it's not as stiff.

I used this method for a snowman wallhanging that I didn't want to blanket stitch all the way around by hand, because it's pretty large.  Plus, the pieces are all relatively good-sized, making it a bit easier to use this method.  I've heard this called the "straw method," and Eleanor Burns uses it for some of her applique projects.

First, you need to take your fusible web and trace the applique pieces onto it.  Lay the fusible right side down on the outline, and trace onto the wrong side.  I used a pen that is almost like a fine tip permanent marker, as you don't want to have to bear down while you're tracing the design.  Leave some room in between the tracings.

 

After all of your pieces are traced, you should cut out the pieces individually, leaving some room around the lines.  You will then pin the fusible to your fabric.  Put the right side of the fusible against the ride side of your fabric.  Remember, you traced the lines onto the wrong side, so you'll want the side with your marker lines facing away from the fabric.  This confused me while I was doing it, mostly because I was doing other projects with more pressing deadlines at the same time, and pushed this off to the side for awhile.

 When pinning your fusible to the fabric, put the pins outside the lines.  You will be sewing on the lines you made, so place pins strategically enough to keep the fabric in place, but not hinder your sewing.  Once your pieces are pinned, you are ready to start sewing! Take your first piece, and sew around the lines you made.

 

After you've sewn the pieces, cut a scant seam allowance around the outside.  I think mine ended up being about 1/8 in, but I didn't measure.  I also, apparently, did not take any pictures of this step, sorry about that.  If anyone finds that they would like some pictorial references, let us know.

When you have cut the seam allowance for each piece, you will take each piece and make a slit large enough to turn the entire piece right side out through the fusible.

 

There is my open slit.  Then, reach in through the slit, and pull your fabric through.  You will then have the right sides of the fabric and fusible out.  This is where the "straw" of "straw method" comes in, but as I normally do, I fuddled through it the way I thought was best, and didn't use any tools to make it easier.  For the first star, I ended up trying to pull the points out with a seam ripper.  Why I thought this was a good idea, I'm not sure.  But, it wasn't.  My mom then introduced me to the "Purple Thang," which made my life a whole lot easier.  It has a blunt end, which was better for trying to push my star points out.  My stars still all ended up looking rather like starfish than actual stars, but I think they're cute anyway.

So, I've finished sewing and turning all of my pieces, and I laid out the snowman to see how nice it looks.

 

I have the background all ready to go too, so whenever I have nothing else to work on, I can go crazy ironing this all together, in the same way I did the raw edge applique.  There is a difference with this form of applique, however; you don't have the raw edges, but the fusible isn't permanent, so you have to do some type of stitching on each piece to actually keep them together.  I think I'm just going to go around just inside the outline of each piece, which will serve to quilt the wallhanging as well as permanently adhere the pieces together.  There is also a little orange nose somewhere, but I'm pretty sure my devil kitten carried it off somewhere.  Luckily, it's a very small piece, and will take no time to make again.  And, if you look closely, REALLY closely, you might be able to see that I used a white fabric with snowflakes on it for the snowman.  I tea stained it, since there is a primitive look to this whole wallhanging, but you can't really tell.  Anyway, the snowflake fabric is my favorite part of this project.

This method was pretty quick, and since I am not a huge fan of raw edges, is my favorite so far.  Next time, I'll talk about that half method I mentioned in the last post.  Try some applique and let us know how it goes!

Attacking applique! Part I

What is applique?  A quick search on Google defines applique as "a decorative design made of one material sewn over another."  Sounds pretty simple, right?  However, when people see appliqued pieces, if they have never tried applique before, some of them will automatically cease their interest in the design, because applique looks difficult.  Plus, you have to cut out all of those little pieces, and then you have to somehow stabilize them and attach them to another piece of fabric!  Thus, many people who might enjoy making, or at least owning, some form of applique, will never realize their greatest dreams!  Perhaps that is too dramatic.  However, applique can be really fun, and easy as well.

I have only done two types of applique myself, and I know there are various other ways to do it., depending on what you want the finished project to look like.  I suppose, I've actually done two and a half, since the first time I ever really did applique I didn't realize I was doing it, and likely didn't do it right.  I'm going to talk about the methods that I've used in a couple of different posts, so I don't totally overwhelm you with a novel-length blog post.

This was an apron, made from Nancy Halvorsen's  "I Believe" book from 2009.  All of the pieces attached to the apron, made from a towel, are raw edge applique pieces.  This uses a fusible paper to stick the fabric together; I used Steam a Seam 2.  With this fusible, one side is sticky, and the other side is the fusible side.  Both sides have a thin paper covering.  When using it, you will take the applique design included in whatever pattern you're using, and lay the Steam a Seam over it.  Trace the design onto the paper.  You want to make sure that you are tracing it on the paper covering the fusible side, rather than the sticky side, which will have the paper taken off before you stick it to the applique piece.  Once you've traced the design, you peel the paper off the sticky side, and place that on the fabric.  For example, I traced the Santa beard onto the paper, with the sticky side that would be attaching to the beard fabric face down.  Then, I peeled the paper off of the sticky side, stuck it to the beard fabric, and then cut around the fabric and fusible on the line I had just traced.  You do this for each individual applique piece.  This is the longest part of the process.

Once the pieces are cut out, you start ironing the pieces to the base, in this case, the towel.  I first laid the green circular base behind the Santa on the towel, and ironed it on.  I then laid out the pieces that would be a part of the next layer, which were the hat and shirt.  These then got ironed on.  Then I ironed on the face, then the moustache and hat band, and finally the holly leaves.  You want to make sure the iron is hot, but not too hot, because since you will be ironing over and over things, you don't want to get scorch marks.  I've done that, it doesn't really add a whole lot to the project! :)

After you iron the pieces on, which takes very little time, you are so close to being done!  At this point, I added some decorative buttons.  You can be finished the applique portion of the project at this stage.  I prefer the look of a more finished edge, so I handstitched using a blanket stitched around each of the applique pieces.  This was time consuming, but I'm really happy with how it made the finished project look.  You could also stitch around the pieces on a machine, which would take much less time.  Here is the finished apron:

 

So, raw edge applique is really fast, and really fun.  It's a great way to do a project like this, where you want to get a nice looking design in different fabrics.  Hope you try it very soon!

Cabled goodness

On the agenda for today is the aforementioned cable scarf for my sister.  She really liked the scarf I made for Jake (so she said), but I was sad that it had a "right" side and a "wrong" side.  That is, it really only looks good on one side of the scarf, and the other side looks all not cabled and kind of lumpy, actually.  Also, I didn't really want to make the same scarf again.  I found a pattern for a reversible cable scarf on the Lion Brand website, solving my first problem.

My second problem, that I didn't want to make the same scarf again, was pushed aside by me telling myself that I wasn't really making the same scarf again, since I was cabling on both sides of the scarf, instead of just the right side.

Katie chose Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn in the colorway called "Fern," which has apparently been discontinued.  Yipe!  I'd better hang onto the leftover skeins I have.  She's a big fan of brighter colors, and disregarded the fact that it didn't match anything, since her former winter jacket was black with a red lining (which wasn't a bad match), but now she has a blue and grey jacket.  She has also recently acquired some blue and grey mittens knit by her loving sister, so it doesn't match those either.  I digress.

 

Vanna's Choice yarn is 100% acrylic, but it is very soft and luxurious, in my opinion.  It is easy care, and comes in loads of great colors!  It's also really great to work with when knitting.

I altered the pattern a bit, adding maybe 2.5 inches of ribbing to both ends rather than the seed stitch, and doing a border of knit 1, purl 1 ribbing rather than seed stitch there.  I should have done more purl stitches in the border to define the cables more, but there is always next time!  Also, something I wish I had known for Jake's scarf, I slipped the first stitch in every row, making a much neater edge that I was very happy with.  Jake's scarf looks a little ruffly, but I'm just pretending that that was what I was going for.  Here is Katie looking mostly happy with her new scarf...

A closeup of the cabling

And Pip obviously helping me knit the scarf.

Maybe someday, once I get over using exclamation points, I'll stop posting pictures of my cat too.  I do have another cat as well, but she hates having her picture taken, so I have yet to capture anything that relates to what I'm posting.  Here are a couple of links for you:

Reversible Cable Scarf pattern: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/50368.html?noImages=0
Classic Cables Scarf pattern: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80755AD.html?noImages=
Just a reminder that you may have to create an account on the Lion Brand website to view these patterns.  In fact, I'm pretty sure you do.  Thanks for being here today, talk to you soon!

Cable palooza!

Okay, so first of all, I haven't stopped using tons of exclamation points in my posts, sorry about that.  But really, don't expect it to stop too soon.

Today, I wanted to share a scarf that I knit last summer.  I haven't really knit a whole lot, it just seems like it to those who are around me a lot because I have recently gone a little wild about it.  I am currently obsessed with Lion Brand yarn, patterns, blogs, catalogs, etc.  So, the scarf I am going to show you were knit using Lion Brand yarn, and a Lion Brand pattern.  The Lion Brand website has so much to offer knitters and crocheters.  All you have to do is sign up for a free account, and you can view over 3,000 patterns!  Wowzah!  Really, it's pretty great.  Anyway.

This scarf was knit over the beginning of the summer, and I finished it while I was working in the flower building at the Northern Maine Fair.  It was kind of rainy and cold during the fair, which was unfortunate for everyone who was not sitting inside a building knitting a wool scarf.  I saw this scarf in the first catalog that Lion Brand put out, and I bullied my brother into asking me to make it for him.

 
He described what color he wanted it to be, after MUCH deliberation.  He's going to school for graphic design, so color is kind of a big thing for him.  I looked at Wal-Mart for yarn, but couldn't find exactly the color he wanted, so purchased some the next time I went to Joann's in Bangor.

I ended up picking Lion Brand Wool-Ease in grey heather, and it was absolutely wonderful to work with.  This yarn is a 20% wool 80% acrylic blend, making it easy care, so if you throw it in the wash it won't shrink down to fit your Barbie doll.  It's also warm and soft, but not itchy, which makes it even nicer.

This was my first project using cables, and I loved it!  My kitten Pip loves it too, obviously.  Even after the six feet that Jake made me knit, I still loved cables!  Soon, I'll show you the scarf I knit for my sister Katie, a reversible cable scarf.  Stay tuned!

Knitalongs and Quiltalongs!

One thing that I would really like to use this blog for is knitalongs and quiltalongs.  It never occurred to me that some people might not know what those are, however, so today I'm going to explain!  Lecture time!

Those of you familiar with the Lion Brand Notebook will probably know what a knitalong is.  The coordinator will pick out a pattern, and provide a place for everyone to get the pattern.  There would be a post dedicated to details such as yarn used, needles used, skill level of pattern, etc etc.  This initial post is to get people excited about doing the project!  I'm already excited about the idea of knitalongs in general, so I want everyone else to be excited too!  The second post would be dedicated to gauge swatching, and making sure you're on track to make what you want to make.  The third post will be about step 1 of the project!  Huzzah!  Generally a project is chosen that has several different steps (i.e., NOT a scarf made using one stitch the whole way through), so that the knitalong can last for more than one week.  Whoever chooses to can knit along with the coordinator (me!) while I'm doing the project, or all of the posts will be in the archives if you would like to do this at a later time.  Basically a knitalong online would be the equivalent of holding a knitting class where everyone does the same project, and the teacher is there to help everyone out.  With the blog, however, I'll be posting pictures of my progress, rather than hanging over your shoulder and trying to tell you what to do (people who have tried learning to knit from me will tell you that I'm not very good at that), so you can do it whenever you feel like it!  Also, I will be able to post pictures of other people's progress and projects, provided they send them to me first.  I draw the line at breaking into houses to get pictures of works in progress.

The first knitalong I would like to do is a simple hat with earflaps and ties.  This would be a great project for people who:
* have never knit before and want to learn
* have never knit with circular/double point needles and are scared of them
* need to make a hat for a gift right quick
* pretty much anyone else ever! :)

The project that I will be making is a baby-sized hat that looks like a strawberry.  I'll post a picture of one that I've already made so everyone can ooh and aah about how darn cute it is!  The pattern is one that I've adapted from several different patterns, so I'll be able to offer it to you for free!  Even better!  In the future, with more complicated knitalongs and quiltalongs, I may pick patterns that need to be purchased, but for now we'll stick to free stuff.  Also, this hat would be super easy to make whatever size you want, and embellish however you want, in case you decide to make a hat for your husband, and he decides he'd rather not have a strawberry hat after all.

The quiltalongs will be along the same line as the knitalongs, starting with simpler projects and working our way up.  We are very fortunate to have two shops in the Presque Isle area to buy supplies; yarn and needles can be purchased from Merchants on the Corner on the corner of Academy and Main Street in Presque Isle (beware: if you've never been here before, or even if you have, you WILL spend lots of time and money here.  Or at least want to very much.), and fabric for the quiltalongs can be purchased at our very own Garden Gate Fabrics in Chapman (we never said we wouldn't shamelessly advertise ourselves on here!)!  Also, in the Houlton area, Peggy Crane has a quilt shop called Rather B Quilting on Lincoln Road, and Carol's Country Yarns is on Main Street in Houlton.  If you don't live in these areas, we're excited to have you anyway!  Let us know and we can try to find a place for you to get supplies.

As a sidenote, if you are a more experienced knitter who is interested in doing a knitalong, the Lion Brand Yarn Company is doing a beautiful sweater on their blog (blog.lionbrand.com).  I might even participate in that myself; you can never have too many projects, right?  Soon there will be more information about the first knitalong for us, and we would love to have you join us online.  See you then!

UFO Party

Does your house look like this?  Unfinished-and sometimes unstarted-projects EVERYWHERE?!

We will be having a UFO Party on Monday, January 25, starting at 10 am!  Lunch and snacks will be provided, so the cost will be $15.  The party will be in the Garden Gate Fabrics Shop.  We would like to invite anyone with any sort of craft to the party.  Bring any unfinished projects that you would like to work on, and we will be there to help with whatever we can.  And, if you are one of the lucky few who doesn't have any unfinished projects but want to come anyway, we can find a project for you!  We will have space for machines, as well as chairs for anyone doing handwork.  We can also set up tables for scrapbookers.  Call, email, or comment to reserve a spot, as space is limited.  Hope to see you there!  (207)764-3800, sylvia@gardengatefabrics.com

Happy Birthday to our Blog and Sylvia!

Hello everyone!

Today is Sylvia's birthday, and we thought we would mark this occasion by creating a blog! We will be putting information about the shop on here, as well as different projects, recipes, and anything else we feel like trying! Maybe in future blog posts we will try to use less exclamation points as well. We are really excited about the formation of this blog, and hope that it can be a good way for us to communicate with everyone.

Let us know in the comments if there is something in particular you'd like us to blog about-we'll be able to put up lots of pictures on here, hopefully! So check back soon, we'll talk to you later!