Thursday, May 17, 2012

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!

8 comments:

  1. I got one of those! They are terrific! I bought mine to pull elastics through and hoodie ties...

    Flo that is one pretty quilt! Wow - I just adore yellow in a quilt. : )

    ~Monika

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  2. Very nice, I have not used these bars, tricky.

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  3. your going to have a beautiful flower garden with this quilt.
    I have used some bias pressing bars before, they are a yellow plastic a they have lasted sew far with the hot iron going over them. They tend to curl a little when hot but flaten right down after the cool. I do not try to turn the bias strips, they way you did it is what I find works best.
    in stitches

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  4. What a beautiful quilt! Have fun!

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  5. Wow that is a tricky job turning things right side out! Looks like you'll be following the book from now on =P

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  6. beautiful quilt looks like you are enjoying that do-hiccy

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  7. How smart is that - I would have driven myself crazy trying to turn them, lol! I'll have to remember this!

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  8. Can't wait to see how this one turns out!

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