Tag: Hand Piecing

I have changed several techniques as I work on La Passacaglia. I am trying out glue basting, for one. One thing I have not changed is using the flatback stitch. It requires keeping the basted fabric pieces butted up against each other.

This is difficult to achieve, thus I use a combination of WonderClips** and Sew Tites**. I use tons of WonderClips and never seem to have enough, so if you are going to buy them, get more than a few. I put the rainbow pack on my wishlist every year, which means I usually get another 10 every year.

I also have a lot of Sew Tites, but I don’t use them quite as much, so a small pack is good. I am a bit of a sucker for their new shapes. I bought a small pack of Tula Pink Sew Tite hearts**. I saw they have skulls, but I don’t plan on buying those. I can think of someone who might enjoy them as a gift. I find the bars, pictured above to be the most useful for EPP. I use a variety of Sew Tites for bag making.

The flatback stitch it is a kind of whip stitch. I put the needle in very close to where the two basted papers meet and come up the same distance on the other side, then pull taut, but not tight.

I have a hard time sewing the stitch when I get too close to the Sew Tite, so I move it over towards the end as I sew. When I am more than halfway through sewing the seam, I remove the Sew Tite and just use the WonderClip to hold everything in place.

I like the way this stitch does not show on the front. I have also changed the thread colors I use. After watching the Tula Pink EPP video, I decided to try using thread colors that match my fabric. This helps in hiding the stitching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Remember the other day when I said the sewing together of the La Pass parts would all work out?

I was wrong.

I cut and basted the wrong size pentagons. I am not sure how that happened, but I did. I need pentagons in that True Colors Dahlia colorway (pink and purple flowers) in a larger size.

I rummaged through the various bits and bobs I have for this project and found enough papers and fabric to redo the correct sized pentagons. The whole project fits together much better with the correctly sized pieces.

I was finally able to assemble part of the first La Passacaglia rosette.

These pieces make up the outer circle of the rosette. Some clever person showed how she had assembled the outer circle into ‘hearts’ and ‘cones’. I haven’t done a cone yet, but I think this method will work very well.

It is taking me a long time. Once I get time to sew I can make progress. I just don’t have a lot of time to hand sew right now. I am, however, applauding every little bit of progress. I plan to take this to Sew Day and work on it there. I really want to keep up and I have enough projects cut out at the moment.

I am kind of stunned that I am doing this project. I don’t know why, because it is clear that I am working on it.

I finished basting the other day and also took a few minutes to play around with the pieces.

I am struggling to see how these fit together, but I am sure it will all work out.

I am pretty pleased with the fussy cutting in the center. It is the first time I have used this technique to get a different look from the fabric.

The other day I talked about starting to baste the first rosette for my La Passacaglia quilt.

I worked on it at Craft Night for a couple of hours after cleaning up my sewing room.

As I basted pieces, I couldn’t really wait to see what they looked like so I kept laying them out to see if what I cut and basted looked good together.

I did struggle with what the two videos said about which way the bunny ears should go. I thought I understood, but I still have some pieces that I know are going to be a problem.

Still, I am happy with what I accomplished. I think this star looks really nice with the skinny diamonds.

I have seen what other people have made in the group so this isn’t really a huge surprise, but I like seeing what **I** have done. I almost started sewing these together, but I continued basting.

In one of her videos, Tula talks about saving time and being kind to our body parts. I was pleased with how many pieces I was able to baste. I am pretty sure I would not have been able to thread baste this many pieces in the same amount of time.

I spent Craft Night the other night basting my first La Pass Rosette. Yes, I finished cutting in case that wasn’t clear.

On my Half Hexie Star project, I have been thread basting. If you zoom in on the photo (right) you will see the bits of thread holding the papers and the fabric together.

Thread basting is a fine way to prepare English Paper Piecing pieces and their fabric. I had planned to thread baste La Pass. Then I watched the Naudia Tatum video and Tula’s first EPP video, about halfway throug., both of which included sections on glue basting. Sue Daley, the apparent queen of EPP, though I had never heard of her until I started this project, also has a video. Of course, I watched it. I might be tending towards obsession.

Finally, I decided that I would, at least, try it. Time is kind of short around here lately and I really need all the spare minutes I can get if I have any hope of getting anything finished this year.

First, I had to find my glue pen**. Fortunately, it was in the place I thought it was. Why I knew it was there, I have no idea. Visual memory, I guess. Then, I watched the glue basting section of Tula’s first EPP video video again and went for broke at Craft Night.

In the photo, left, you can see the swipe of glue on the paper on the right hand side. The process takes some practice. I know there will be pieces where I glued too close to the edge, but I think I got used to the process as the evening went on.

The good thing was that I could see the results of my precise fussy cutting right after I basted.

This is some Tula Pink panda fabric. I do not want animal faces looking at me from my quilt, so I fussy cut them in a way that would make black and white optical sort of designs. I am excited to see it once I sew it together.

I found the glue basting fun once I got going. The Sue Daly small turntable cutting mat** arrived and really helped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.