Daisy-An Appliqué Cat-Fusible Web Appliqué

My sister, Lyn is a successful novelist.  She helped pioneered the ‘Inspirational Romance’ genre.  Recently, she asked me to be a guest at her blog-Books by Lyn Cote.  Her stories have a strong, Christian message, and are historically accurate.  The following is the project I shared with her.  I don’t know if it’s what she expected, but I hope she likes it!
I only get to see my big sis, Lyn, once a year, usually in the summer, at her lovely home in upper WI.  Last summer we spent an afternoon at a quilt show in nearby Eagle River.  Trees for Tomorrow Park provided the perfect setting for the Cranberry Country Quilt Guild’s ‘Walk in the Woods’ Quilt Show. Beautiful quilts displayed informally outside on clotheslines between the trees. 
 
Along with the quilts were lots of vendors, such as Laura Krasinski, who was representing Bigfork Bay Cotton Co.  She was also selling her first original pattern, Daisy, a raw-edge, appliqué cat pattern.  My sister bought the pattern and I promised to make it for her.  She wanted to have something made by me to hang in her office, she’s such a sweetie.  When she asked me to be a guest on her blog, I thought it would be the perfect project to share.


The ‘Daisy’ Pattern can be found at Craftsy.
 

The pattern includes a layout guide and three sheets of fusible web with the pattern pieces already printed on them.  This is not a pattern for beginners, at least intermediate appliqué skills are needed.  The instructions are very general, leaving most decisions up to the quilter, and its designed to use up small scraps of favorite fabrics.  The original Daisy pattern was fused, raw-edge appliquéd and then simply quilted.  I decided to loosen up and see where the pattern would lead me.


First, I got out my rayon machine embroidery thread, and started matching fabrics with the threads.  I tried to choose a nice variety of colors, and since the pattern pieces where small, I stuck to mostly solid fabrics. 

  
First, I picked a light blue cotton for the background, sprayed it heavily with the spray starch and pressed it.  The pattern told me to start with the grass, so I ironed the grass pattern piece to the wrong side of the green grass fabric.  Then, I cut it out and fused it to the bottom of the blue background. 

 
Next, I started working on the cat.  I decided on a black & white cat, to match my kitty-‘Miss Cookie’.




I fused the cat pattern to the black cotton I’d picked out. Fusible web has a paper side & a sticky side. The pattern piece is traced on the paper side then the sticky side is pressed to the back of the fabric. The pattern piece is cut out; the paper is pulled off, leaving a sticky film on the back of the piece. I fused the sticky back to the blue background as shown on the guide.


I set-up my sewing machine with my black rayon thread, and used a tight zig-zag stitch to sew the cat’s body to the background.  Again, I positioned it as shown on the guide.  Now, the pattern directed me to draw on the cat’s face with a fine sharpie, but I decided to hand embroider the face. 


I traced the face on plain, white cotton.  Also, I decided to include the cat’s ears on the head rather than separately.


When I was happy with the face, I fused the web to the back, right over the stitching.  I cut it out and positioned the head as shown on the guide, and pressed it to  the background.  Then, I pinned a small piece of fabric stabilizer to the back of the background, to prevent puckering, as the piece was a bit small. 

 
I switched my machine to white thread, and again used a tight zig-zag stitch to sew it to the background.  I also added a small piece of black fabric to the  top of the head.

While I had the white thread in, I decided to put a heart-shaped patch on the body. Then, I started adding a few white flower shapes. Still zig-zagging, I added two flowers, then trimmed around the stabilizer.


Time to stop & see how things were shaping up.
 
 
Yikes! So boring. I needed to put a bit more thought into this. I showed it to my friend, Debbie, and she started pulling different fabrics from her stash. When she pulled out the ‘Day Glow Daisy’ fabric, I knew we were on to something.
 

 
I got out my super sharp appliqué scissors, and cut the cat figure away from the blue background-careful not to cut into the outline stitching. Then, I stitched the kitty to the new background, added a few flowers & leaves.

Next, another friend, Diana, helped me do some simple, free motion quilting. Lastly, I finished it with the original light-blue fabric as binding.




So, do you think my sister, Lyn, will like it?



Laura Krasinski has designed a companion pattern- a dog-Dexter!  It can be found at Laura's wesite Laura Krasinski.com.

Well, that’s all for now, Carole

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Springtime, Butterflies & New Pillow Covers

In the days before central heat & air, preparing the house for summer involved more than just turning a dial from heat to cool.  Storm windows were replaced with screens, heavy curtains were exchanged for lighter ones that didn’t block welcome breezes.  Lightweight cotton spreads were were put on the beds, while the quilts were stored until fall.  Now many of these practices have become a decorating choice rather than a necessity.  Along with cotton bed spreads- changing table linens, slipcovers & pillow covers are easy, and inexpensive ways to brighten your home’s decor for Spring.  Pillow covers, in particular, are versatile and so easy to make.  The covers can be filled with an insert, or can be used to cover an old pillow.  The following is three variations of a basic pillow cover pattern which can be found HERE.



This first pillow cover is made of a water color cotton print, it looks like melted crayons to me.  It’s just the basic pattern, but with large, decorative buttons on the front, instead of small utility buttons on the back.


   

This second pillow cover uses a foundation- pieced butterfly pattern.  Foundation piecing may seem complicated, but this is very easy.
  
 
First just print out this Butterfly  PATTERN and trace it on to plain, white cotton or light-colored scrap fabric.  You could also just paper-piece it if you like.  I prefer using a fabric foundation-and I always seem to have fabric scraps I need to use up.

 
When foundation piecing, the fabric is placed on the front, but is stitched on the printed lines on the back.  So, to begin, cover the #1 section with a small piece of white fabric, facing right side out. Then, cut a piece of the butterfly fabric that’s a bit bigger than section #2.  With the right side of the fabric facing toward the white fabric, line up the edge of the #2 fabric with the line between #1 & #2, overlapping it.



Sew on the line between #1 and #2.  Then fold open and press.


Next, cut a piece to cover section #3, position as before and sew on the line between #2 and #3.



Again, fold open and press.


Continue with this until all the sections are covered.  Then sew the other two pieces of the butterfly, and sew these together to make a complete butterfly.



Press seams open on the back.  For a more detailed explanation of foundation piecing, see my previous post, Rainbow Chevron Block Table Runner -Here.



I made three of these little, 4” butterflies from different fabrics, and stitched on the little, black antennas, and decorated the wings with buttons.
 
I then framed the butterflies with blue strips and thinner pink strips.  I finished by sewing a blue, pink & white floral fabric to the top & bottom.



Also used this white & floral fabric for the back, completed with four white buttons.  Again, I finished the pillow cover using the basic pattern which can be found  HERE.


This last pillow cover is a simple patchwork pattern of vintage cotton & linen, though it does involve a little fussy cutting.




To fussy cut is to target and cut a specific motif that's printed on fabric, rather than randomly cutting yardage as we normally do.  I wanted to use the white embroidery of this peach-colored vintage cotton  This is usually done using a template-there are many kinds of these available.  I usually just make my own.  I save clear, plastic coffee lids to make templates for fussy-cutting.  I cut a paper shape, tape the shape on the coffee lid, then cut it out.  After I decide what area I want to use, I trace around the template with pencil, and cut it out with scissors.  Usually the goal is to cut identical shapes, but I cut these randomly.  

 
After I cut as many of the 2-1/2” squares of the coral cotton as I could, I matched them with 2-1/2” cotton linen squares.


Next, I chain-stitched them together using a 1/4” seam allowance.



I hunted through my fabric stash & found a few other fabrics to add to the pattern, green gingham, a yellow plaid, and a floral, vintage cotton handkerchief.



Next, I cut the other fabrics into 2-1/2” squares, and arranged them randomly-then sewed them together, again using 1/4” seam.  It’s funny but, I’ve found it’s harder to arrange patches randomly, then to follow a pattern.  You’d think it would be the other way around.



In the end, I had a 18-1/2” square.  I layered it with thin cotton batting and a cream colored backing.  I decided to try using a twin needle that I bought for a different project, but hadn’t used.  It was much easier to set-up & use than I’d thought.  Happy with the way it looked-I stitched down each seam.  I started in the middle, and worked my way out.  Also, I kept turning the square around so that it didn’t start to curve in one direction. 

 

Happy with the pillow top, I finished the cover using this PATTERN. 
    

Well, that’s all for now.  Please leave a comment so I know that you stopped by- Carole
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Quick Santa or Holiday Printed Panel Pillow Cover~

  The same thing happens every year-I wonder where another year has gone!  After Thanksgiving- ‘poof’ it’s Christmas & New Years again.  Time to finish Holiday projects is running out.  I’m always looking for a few quick, last minute gifts to make. 
My sewing circle regularly swaps scrap fabrics, and I particularly like exchanging Holiday themed prints.  Angels, snowmen, Christmas trees & stars, and Santa-I love them all!  These are some of the fabrics I received:   


I usually don’t use printed panels, they’re a little too cutesy.  But this Santa has such a great expression, I love the twinkle in his eyes, so I decided to use it.  Since there isn’t much time-a simple 18” pillow cover.


Since my son is grown now, I don’t decorate as much for the Holidays.  Just a wreath & my little ceramic tree.  But, I have several friends who go all out decorating for Christmas.  I thought a Santa pillow cover would be a fun gift for this year and for the years to follow…….   and certainly easy to make.
I started by trimming the Santa panel to 10-1/2”x13-1/2” trying to make it as square as possible, but that didn’t leave much seam allowance on the sides.  I cut 1-1/2” & 2” strips from the Debbie Mum snowflake fabric and 3” & 5” strips from the light blue.  I like using the blue fabric, getting away from the Christmas “red & green” theme.



I first sewed the wider 2” ‘snowflake’ fabric strips to the sides, then the 1-1/2” strips to the top and bottom using 1/4” seams.  Again, trying to make it as square as possible.  Pressing all seams toward the outside edges. 




Then sewed the wider 5” blue strips to each side, and the other two 3” strips to the top and bottom.  Again, I pressed the seams toward the outside edges, and trimmed the finished piece to a 18-1/2” square.  Layered it with light-weight batting and just plain white cotton for backing.  I started by stitching in the ditch on both sides of the snowflake border. 



Now, the fun begins!  I’ve never done free-motion quilting-honestly, it scares me a little.  I decided to experiment with my open-toe foot, to see how curvy I could quilt with out the free-motion foot.  I first outlined his eye brows….

   

and his moustaches.  I went slowly and stopped to turn between stitches, but I managed to make some nice curves.



Then stitched a few lines across his cap and around the pom-pom on his cap.  Still happy with the look of the quilting, so I started on his beard.







I managed to sew a few nice curves-I might give the free motion quilting a try.  I’ve let myself get stuck in a rut with the stitch-in-the-ditch & straight line quilting.  Any way, happy with the front of the cover, it’s time to make the back.
I cut a piece of the snowflake fabric 18-1/2”x24”, then measured 6-1/2” up from the bottom, and cut the back in to two pieces.  I cut it this way so that I could keep the fabric pattern straight.
Next, I put a 18” covered zipper in between the top & bottom pieces of backing fabric that I just cut.  This sounds a little confusing, but just follow one step at a time.  I zig zagged  across both cut edges to prevent fraying.  I pressed the zig zaged top of the smaller bottom piece under 1”.



Then, I pinned the bottom of the zipper across the folded under edge.




With my sewing machine’s zipper foot on, I sewed the zipper in place.  First with the zipper half-way open, to avoid having to sew around the zipper pull, I sewed to the zipper pull at the middle,

 

then pulled the zipper closed and continued  sewing the zipper in place.  Now I pressed under 2” of the top piece’s bottom, zig zaged the edge, and positioned the top edge of the zipper onto the pressed under edge.  The extra inch of fold will cover the zipper. 



Line the bottom zipper edge with the zig zaged edge as shown in the picture above.  I know this sounds complicated, but just take it one step at a time. 


 

Again, start sewing with the zipper open, then pull zipper closed so that you aren’t sewing around the zipper pull.



Be sure to keep the fabric’s pattern lined up straight while putting in the zipper.

  
Now, trim both the front & back to 18-1/2” square, and place front & back together with right sides facing each other.  First baste both ends of the zipper in place on the seam lines.  Make sure everything is lined up straight & square.




Sew front to back.   Be sure to leave the zipper open so that you can turn the cover right side out after sewing sides together.  Before turning it right side out, finish by zig zaging the raw edges all the way around.



This what the pillow looked like at first.  I wasn’t too happy with the pointy ends, so I went back and rounded off the corners a bit.

 

Much better!  The zipper in the back is almost hidden-


And that’s it- all done!  Use it to cover an old pillow, or an 18" pillow form.
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