This is not a fascinating subject, but here it is :-)
Awhile back as I was sewing the church window blocks together, it dawned on me that I would need to start ironing them. Funny how my stitching slowed down...I enjoy hand stitching but with the odd shape block like this or diamonds, pressing the seam has been a bit daunting for me.
I learned to hand stitch watching a video by Linda Franz but despite her instructions, I have not felt like I "got it". Half way through this task though, a light bulb in my mind brightened a bit and I think I finally understood a bit of what she was saying. I don't think I would 'blame her' for how these seams look :-) but I think I'm improving.
The first pic shows some pressed and some wrinkly from being squashed in my hand while stitching.
The second pic shows my first way of doing it.
Then this pic shows how I started swirling the intersections a bit. It's all about the construction of the seams and getting them to lie smooth, flat and with the least amount of fabric smashed in there. I never was able to do the spinning or swirling of the fabric very well but I think I'm doing better with it.
The process wasn't as tedious as I dreaded. It actually went pretty fast.
Of course...then I put on a thin inner border, put it on the intended table where it will be used, and realized it still needed another row of blocks! Couldn't be happy without fixing it so a bit of unstitching occurred and a new row was added. I'm back to adding the borders again and will get it ready for quilting.
Thank you for the Happy Birthday wishes! We will be headed this week to celebrate with some sushi, a trip to my favorite quilt store, and to the DMV...they want to see me in person this year. I think tomorrow will be a good day to announce the giveaway winners. If you haven't commented yet for a chance to win The Giving Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini or one of the art pins, please check out the April 4th post and leave a comment there. It's a lovely book to read!
I find it very hard to read the words against the wood background. Just my 2 cents
ReplyDeleteI agree that knowing what to do with pressing the seams when hand piecing is sometimes a mystery. I was taught to just press from the front and let the seams fall where they may but that isn't very neat looking.
ReplyDeleteAhh, the dreaded pressing. I can see where all those seams would be a pain. I admire your patience. You will reap the rewards in your finished product!
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