Appliqué Update

First of all, thank you to all of you who commented on my aversion to shopping!! I am really very happy to hear that I am not abnormal....or maybe you are all just as abnormal as I am ...HaHaHaHa!!

Update on my Applique project..

OK....the first step was to make the tubes for the stems... I cut the bias strips, as directed, and sewed them with a scant 1/4" seam.

Then I realized that what I thought were pressing bars were actually turning bars, to turn tubes inside out! COOL!! They have this little flange on the end, that you catch the edge of the fabric with...

And then push it through the tube....I thought that would make a much neater piece to work with. ....

Only problem here .....there is no way on God's green earth that I could get it pushed through.
I tried trimming the seam, I tried making a smaller seam so that the tube was larger...but still no luck!!

So back to the original plan..and what the book told me to do in the first place...turn the seam to the back and press the tube flat.  I did use the bar to help with this. I am not sure they are intended to be ironed over, as they are made of plastic...but nothing melted ..whew!

I actually got pretty good at sliding it out just ahead of the iron too.
You have to be a bit careful, because they are on the bias, so will stretch. I gave each one a good shot of steam at the end!

Another thing I found is that it was much easier to work with shorter pieces. Because the longest stem is 7", I cut the long pieces up into smaller sections.  So now I have stems....

They are all packed up now too, ready for the journey!