Sep 16, 2015

BOM: Getting started with appliqué

Well, technically, I think there is this kind of understood agreement that posts have to be chronological - at least for those efforts that build up to a project, like my 2015 BOM.

However, in my previous post, there was a little about my advance on the appliqued flowers. And this post is about that moment in June when I first started tracing the flowers, the one in July when I started cutting the shapes, some heres and theres, up to today, when I'm blanket stitching around them.

But, before I go on with more details, let's go back to the beginning.

So, I started with the tracing on freezer paper.


Then, I thought I'd better mark each piece with its letter and fabric number.


and... I didn't like it... lol

I tried using the freezer paper, but in between the turning, preparing and... well, lack of experience with applique, I ended up going back with something that I've done before: fusible web.
  

Of course, I had to retrace everything again, but I knew I was heading in the right direction.  After all, this is the technique that I used for Terminal Bee and it ended up looking quite well. 


After one or two TV episodes, this is all I had:


... it eventually made it into baggies, just to make sure all the pieces stayed in their place.


I liked when they were all like in the next picture; the beautiful fabric looks pretty also from the back.


I took them with me everywhere I went, so that I could work on them whenever possible. What I didn't like is the scissors... They are good scissors, but things go WAY slower with the smallies... Oh well! They work and they make really precise cuts.


Finding a bit of time here and there, I was able to -eventually- get all the pieces done.  

As I post this, all of the pieces have made it to a block and I'm working on stitching around them. Now, whenever I need a break at home, I take five or ten minutes (yeah, right... about one hour!) and blanket stitch around a petal or two... or three... or four...

This part of making the 2015 Craftsy's BOM is probably what got me more frustrated.  I even voiced my five-minute breakdown, thinking that I had taken a really complicated challenge this time - one which does not allow me to bend rules and makes me stick to it.  

Then, I had the five-minute picker-upper, thinking of all the lessons I've learned so far, and how my piecing has improved. I actually took a time to see all the blocks that I've finished so far. They are... well, different. It's obvious that the first one has a bunch of mistakes; I'll probably re-do it at the end, once I've finished all the blocks and know I have enough fabric to get a second one out of it. 

Go figure! From too much to "one more."

Learning experiences are always there, waiting for us to take advantage of them. 

So far, I'm getting there bit by bit, and it's really exciting to be able to share it with all of you.

Today is Wednesday... let's see if these beauties can be finished by Sunday! In the meantime, be blessed!

Yiya

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