Sunday 2 October 2011

Bountiful Bouquet Free Block Of The Month....Part One!

Click here for a printer friendly pdf  INSTRUCTIONS and here for DIAGRAMS

Okay!  It's the 1st of October and I'm officially nervous!  Please remember I'm new at this and my aim is to get better at the computer while sharing something I'm really proud of, so please be gentle with me!

So - to begin with we will be working with our first row.
We will require:
  • One of our background fabrics
  • Various coloured fabrics, including a few greens
  • A lead pencil, or a fine ink pen.  I don't recommend a wash-away pen because we are going to be ironing over the top of any markings we make
  • Vliesofix
  • Matching embroidery floss
  • Sewing needles (I prefer crewels)
  • General sewing requirements (ruler, board, rotary cutter etc)
  • Light box if you have one
Just a quick note - I don't prewash any fabrics.  It's up to you if you want to, but I have yet to have any issues with unwashed fabrics. 

Also, I'm assuming a basic knowledge of how vliesofix/fusible webbing works.  There are tutorials out there in cyberland if you need a lesson, or please feel free to let me know and I'll try to answer your questions.

To begin, cut a 10.5" strip from the width of your background fabric.  Open it up and it should measure 10.5" x 43" at least.  We will be trimming this back when we have finished stitching.

Press any centre fold seams from your background fabric.

Now, right click on the following files and save them somewhere safe.  I recommend you open a new file on your desktop and safe these files into that.








Okay.  Now, right click on each of these pictures and when given the option to print, do so.  PRINT TWO COPIES OF EACH PAGE.  I'm in Australia, using A4 paper that measures 8.25" x 11.75".  Now, tape them together with sticky tape all the way so that your design looks like mine below, being sure to overlap where indicated. 




It may help if you put the images over the light box when doing this step.  You want to make sure that the ones underneath are laying in the right spot before you tape.  Now measure your design - it needs to be in the vicinity of 8" x 36" but honestly, an inch or two different in size isn't going to matter as long as it's not bigger than your background piece (which will have a finished size of 9" x 42").

Write at the top of one of the papers REVERSED PIECE and set this paper aside for now.

Okie dokie.  Now the fun starts.   

For the next step, I lay my whole border piece of fabric onto an ironing board right side up.  I then set up a smaller ironing board (or a folded towel, just a smaller thing to iron on).  It will be on this smaller board that I do my fiddly work with the bits and pieces of applique.

Now you can see that I have numbered the floral appliques.  It's easier to start at the first number and go on, slowly, while you plod through it.  We will work from the first applique design first, not the one marked REVERSED PIECE.

Trace as many pieces as you wish to onto the smooth side of the vliesofix or fusible webbing, making sure that you leave a little bit of space around each shape.  Remember to number each piece to correspond with your background diagram.  This will save you going nuts later in the placement stage.  Cut roughly around each shape in the space provided. 



Decide what colours you wish to make each applique shape from.  Use our photo for placement guidelines if you wish but be adventurous.  Every garden is different! 

With the iron on the dry setting (no steam) lay the rough side of the vliesofix onto the wrong side of the fabric you wish to use for each appliqued piece.  Fuse the webbing to the fabric by ironing over each piece for a short time.  Cut out on the line and let cool completely.

Now, take that other piece of paper marked REVERSE PIECE and lay it face down (or reversed) onto your ironing board.  This is your placement picture so it needs to be reversed to the one that we are working with tracing our bits and pieces.  You should be able to see your design through the fabric, but if not, I find that taping the paper onto a window frame or light box and then drawing your picture onto the reverse side.  Centre your background over your design.  The long vertical stem in the middle of the picture is the middle, use that as a guide.

Peel the backing paper from each piece and lay in place over the traced lines on your background fabric where it is indicated.  I find the backing paper peels off much easier if you let it totally cool after pressing.

Begin in numerical order.  Start with number one and continue onward.  Gradually add the layers that are on top.  Lay as many out as you feel comfy with and then press in place.  This is why I use two ironing setups, you will NOT want to move the background fabric when all the bits and pieces are laying in place.


When all your bits and pieces are in place and you are happy, give it a good final press to secure any loose corners and using a new needle and two strands of matching embroidery floss, blanket stitch around all exposed edges of your applique shapes.


I'm sorry that I couldn't do a whole length photo but long and skinny is very difficult to photograph!

Trim border length to 9.5" x 42.5" and set aside for now.

So stay tuned on Nov. 1 for your second installment!  Please email or comment if you have any questions or queries.

Thanks!

Suzie

24 comments:

  1. I print the patterns and wil by started with your block of the month. I show wen it is ready a picture on my blog.
    Greetings Tiny

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  2. I'm so glad I stumbled upon your blog.. I can't wait to blab all over about your blog and your BOM! How very exciting and beautiful it is going to be!

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  3. I love it - looks very fun and easy. . . I'm GLAD you don't have any fancy computer programs. . (who needs 'em) and I can tell this is going to be GORGEOUS!!!!

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  4. Wow! This looks like it going to be a great quilt. Applique , here I come. Please don't be nervous Suzi, we all love new BOM's. Thanks for taking the time, so will we to sew it up. Cheers from a rainy Sydney.. Pure sewing weather!

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  5. WAOUH !! Just beautiful !!! Thank you so much for sharing with us your creations. I am putting each information carefully aside to be able to find them when I am ready.
    It is really well presented and done.

    Olga from France where the weather is so warm (like a summer time....)

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  6. can't wait to start this one! gorgeous, going to be a winner! I am doing mine needle turn applique

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  7. Hi Suzi, Its ME again! Do we need to increase the scale of the print as it is printing a tad small? I'm not to good with computers yet. Cheers Denise

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  8. This looks like it will become a beautiful quilt. Thank you for sharing.

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  9. Wow, this looks very promising already. I became a follower!

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  10. Hi again ladies...thank you so much for your comments...you can increase your printing if you wish, though I did a trial run and mine seemed okay. Just remember that as long as it isn't bigger than the finished size so you don't cut away your appliqué you should be fine.

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  11. I just tried to print it out again and of course the printer is now out of ink so I can't double check for you. My design that I photographed is 36" x 8" from tip to tip and the background fabric is 10.5" x width of fabric so it fits fine. I'm just about to head out the door for a few days without Internet access so if you have any queries perhaps just don't iron on the final appliqué step till I'm home...you
    Can prep everything and get all your fiddly bits ironed on to their individual fabrics in readiness...hope this helps you a little...

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  12. What a beautiful start to a new BOM! I love the color pallet. I thank you for sharing your creativity with us...I'm looking forward to seeing this come together!! Be blessed...

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  13. WOW I am going to have to find time to do this one, it beautiful, thanks for sharing.

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  14. Your BOM is going to be beautiful so I will print it out and see if I can keep up. If not, I know I will enjoy your blog and follow regularly. You had me when I read your profile and saw that you are "sometimes a cook, never a cleaner much to my husband's disgust". That just cracked me up! LOL! I like to cook but love it when someone else cooks and I really don't like to clean but there isn't anyone else who wants to do that for me. However, right now, my husband is in Australia on business so I am not cooking nor am I cleaning but I sure am enjoying some good sewing time!!

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  15. Suzie, this is a beautiful BOM - Thank you!! one problem though - when I save to a file on my computer, it saves as a very small (same size as shown on the blog)drawing, and when I copy and paste into a Word Document(whether from the blog or my file) it also only fills one corner. What is going wrong? I hear others have the same issue. Can you possibly post these as PDFs or some other method? I know I can make PDFs from my Microsoft Office Word 2007 program - but not everyone has it.
    I hope you had a restful little break, and can solve this for us.
    Thank you, Suzie.
    Gerda in Alberta, Canada

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  16. Sorry, Suzie, I got it figured out - I hope others can too - it DOES Work as you posted. :)
    Have a wonderful day.
    Gerda in Alberta

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  17. Oooh very pretty!! Thankyou so much for sharing this with us!

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  18. This is beautiful! All copied perfectly - now to figure out if I can get it to print right on my freezer paper so I wouldn't have to trace anything! Ha!
    Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
    Marilyn in Minnesota, USA

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  19. Hi ladies...still away at the beach but managed to steal the husbands iPhone...I see some of you are having trouble printing the diagrams, when we get home I'll load them up to google docs so you can have both options...should be up online by Friday USA time. Thanks again for your patience.

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  20. This is a great BOM - good for you!♥

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  21. What a wonderful pattern. A smashing start. A bom I love te make.

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  22. Better late than never!! This pattern is beautiful and I am a needleturn fanatic. I have done fusible applique twice and was not very pleased with the results. I did a machine blanket stitch with #50 weight thread. Maybe i will try embroidery floss with a small hand blanket stitch.

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  23. Es maravilloso es te patrón , pero tengo una duda se cose con puntada escondida o se borda con punto de festón?
    Gracias
    susiloci@gmail.com

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