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So, now that you have seen a little snippet of what the Go! Baby can do you have a chance to win your very own! Not only that but Accuquilt is going to throw in 3 dies as well. Just leave a comment telling us what your favorite hot weather survival trick is (we can all use this right now) and I will pick a winner early next week.
Now that I’ve used the Go! Baby to do fusible appliqué and wool appliqué I thought I would try to figure out how to do turned edge appliqué since this is my favorite favorite favorite method for appliqué (duh).
I’ve seen people use their Go! Baby’s to cut template material but I was a little scarred of that since I didn’t want to dull the cutting edge of the die. Luckily Floriani came to my rescue. I figured I could cut out my templates using Floriani and then work from there. If you missed it I did a post about this Floriani Stitch and wash late last year and you can read all about it here.
I decided to do the traditional Rose of Sharon block using the special die designed by Sharon Pederson for Accuquilt. Here is a picture of the die package and my flowers cut out of Floriani.
After I cut the flowers out of the Floriani I fused the template onto the back side of my fabric.
And cut the shape out with a seam allowance.
To turn the edges under I’m using a fabric glue stick.
Just apply the glue to the seam allowance.
And use a cuticle stick to turn the seam allowance over and stick it to the template.
Here’s one flower all turned.
After I had both flowers I just used the glue stick to pre-assemble them just like I do with my normal appliqué.
The leaves can be done in the same way. Once you have all your parts made it’s very easy to glue baste them to the background and appliqué away. For this step I used my Roxanne’s Glue Baste since it’s a little neater for this. Once I have all the stitching done I will soak the block in water so the Floriani will dissolve a bit and the block will be softer.
The Go! Baby works really well for this method. You would need to be careful what dies you chose because some of the other appliqué dies might not have enough of a seam allowance for doing this type of turned edge. The Rose of Sharon die is perfect for this method. Another thing I liked about this method was that I only used my iron minimally (basically to fuse the template onto the fabric). This could be very handy on days when, say, your air conditioner is broken and it’s 100+ degrees outside. Sort of like last week for me. ..Thank God that is OVER!
Check back tomorrow because Accuquilt has a Go! Baby for a lucky blog reader…be sure to tell your friends too.
Don’t you just love it when two of your interests collide! Some of you may remember my post last week about the wonderful Salley Mavor. I was so inspired when I saw her studio that I promptly started ordering felt. Now that I am the proud mama of my very own Go! Baby I started thinking of ways I could do some felt appliqué with these dies.
This is one of my very first attempts with this type of appliqué and I just loved it. I just cut out the felt bare naked and used my Roxanne’s Glue Baste to stick everything down. Next time I do this I might use some fusible interfacing because I found I had to re-glue a few times.I will probably finish this with something like WELCOME on the top..haven't decided yet.
I’m really loving the versatility of the dies as well. The Feather die can be used to make all sorts of flowers in addition to some nifty feathers. The Fun Flowers die can be used single or doubled up to make some super cute flowers.
Check back tomorrow for a THIRD project…think turned edge appliqué. AND on Friday Accuquilt has a Go! Baby for one of you!
Here’s a shot of the first mini project I designed with my Go! Baby. This one is done as a fusible appliqué block, don’t gasp, I like fusible too!
For this little block I used the Round Flower die, the Rose of Sharon die and the Heart die. I found that many of the techniques I use in my hand appliqué preparations came in very handy here. Since I haven’t done tons of fusible appliqué I thought I would use this fusible web since this is what Accuquilt has on their site.
I ironed onto the back side of my fabric.
To cut out the shapes all you have to do is place them on the die.
Cover with the cutting mat.
And run it through the Go Baby.
Once I had all my parts
I pre-assembled the flowers just like I do with my hand appliqués except it was a lot faster.
Now the tricky part…stitching. At first I thought I would use invisible thread. Hmmm…well…let’s just say that I think my machine HATES this thread and call it good. After that..um…experiment ..I decided that I would try some good ole zigzagging with regular Metler thread. Ah! much better.
I just loved the precision of the shapes in this method. The speed was pretty awesome too, I made the whole block in just about 1.5 hours. I’m not sure my machine appliqué skills are up to that of what I have seen some of you produce but overall I was pretty happy with the result.
Check back tomorrow for another fun project…this time it involves FELT!
Big news friends! The air conditioning is fixed and I am no longer sweating or thinking of moving to the basement.
Once my sewing room got down to a reasonable temperature I had a LOT of fun doing some sample projects with my Go! Baby fabric cutter. Here’s a little sample of what I’ve been able to do.
I will have more in depth info on each of these little projects all this week. Head on over to Judy's blog for a peak at what others are up to.
Stay cool my friends, stay cool!
Since I am still sweating and playing catch up here I don’t have any fun give-aways yet (but big ones are in store my friends so sit tight) Here are a couple of pictures from Cape Cod to tide you over. I will have another fun post about this trip that involves lobsters, oysters, tall people, dogs and a really fun wedding! I will leave out the parts about flaming garbage trucks and green heads!
This lovely not so little item showed up on my doorstep right before I left town. Right now I am learning about all the super yummy things I can do with it. The best part is…Accuquilt has one of these plus three dies to give away to a lucky blog reader. The give-away is coming soon. Now if you will excuse me I must go play.
About 12 years ago I read about an artist in the now defunct ( boo-hoo) Mary Engelbreit Home Companion and I was enchanted. Salley Mavor was using a technique she calls fabric relief appliqué to illustrate children’s books. At the time I had small kiddos and I have always loved a well illustrated children’s book. When I saw Salley’s work I instantly ordered every one she illustrated.
A couple of weeks ago when I knew I was going to be on Cape Cod I took a leap of faith and e-mailed Salley asking if she had any artwork on display in the area. Salley graciously invited me to her studio and we had a lovely time talking about art and design and sewing. She was even super sweet when I showed up 1 ½ hours late due to a flaming garbage truck traffic jam (This could only happen on the Cape).
If you want to see a very wonderful video about her latest work visit
Also, Salley as a wonderful blog that you can see here.
I’m in a swoon…oh and I have also ordered some felt…I feel a new idea coming.
I don’t know if any you have noticed but I am now part of the Blogher Network and I’m really thrilled. When I started blogging two years ago I opted to go with Typepad because I liked the clean professional look of their blogs and I didn’t need to know any HTML (a very big PLUS) I have absolutely loved using this blogging platform. Problem is, it costs money. Pattern sales and now Blogher Ads help me offset this cost so I can continue to bring you all the fun BOM’s and tutorials that people seem to like. I’ve found the ads to be very tasteful and if you look below the ad there is a very cool set of links to others blogs that many of you will find relevant. My favorite ads are the ones that include ice cream recipes since I am still operating without air conditioning here!
Well, I was just getting back into the swing around here when the air conditioner broke. Unfortunately we are having weather in the high 90’s here so things are a tad toasty in my sewing room. To top it off my husband started his latest home improvement project today. It involved demolishing our bathroom. If things don’t at least get a little cooler here I’m moving to the basement for the rest of the summer!
Anyway, there isn’t much to report from the design wall today. To make up for this I have pictures of some of the super yummy fabrics I am collecting for the next BOM (yes, I'm crazy for these). While I was away I had a chance to visit Keepsake Quilting and have myself a little fabric binge. Luckily for me, Keepsake is only ½ hour from my in-laws house. Yeah!
Head on over to Judy’s blog and see what others are up to.
