Back in January, I asked Nat if I could commission her to make one of these for me after seeing it on her blog:
Shamelessly stolen from Nat's blog
I wear my hair up all the time, so beanies and hats are kind of a pain - and here in Tassie it gets pretty cold in winter so I've been searching for a good beanie alternative. And Nat's vintage headband is just perfect! Anyway, Nat suggested a swap rather than a commission, so that's what we're doing. Except we said the end of February as the time frame, and being January at the time I thought 'oh, that's ages away!!'. And now it's the end of February, and I'm still mucking around with ideas.
I'm making a cushion for her - and had a million vague ideas about what to make but nothing definite. So I decided to do some stalking for inspiration, and made the mistake of looking at Nat's pinterest boards, and got really scared. This girl has seriously awesome taste. Like really, really classy and gorgeous.
So I chucked all my patchworky plans, and decided to make something that's been in my head for a long time (and just hope that she likes it!). I have had a piece of green woven woolen fabric (kind of like thin woolen blanket fabric) in my stash for a long time, and thought it would make some great cushions. I've tried really hard to get the colour of it right, but it just won't photograph well (um, may have something to do with the photographer, me thinks!!) It's a leafy sort of green - not as grey as the photo. And it just happens to look fabulous with some of my pink Liberty fabrics. So I made a handful of Liberty hexies to applique to the wool.
This is how far I got last night, before I realised I need a better way to applique them on. I've EPP'd the hexies, and then used my machine's blanket stitch to applique them on. The first three went fine, but then the fourth has warped, so my plans of a lovely little flower are dust (the other two hexies won't fit now. Sigh.)
So, I've started over and I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice for avoiding the warping? I don't really want to stick them down first, as I like the puffiness. I'm thinking a bit of starch might help them keep their shape (I really should have thought of that first I suppose). I would love you to throw some ideas at me :o)
xx Jess
8 comments:
If you have any stabilizer give that a try. If you plan on quilting this you could sandwich it with batting and a piece of muslin or other light colored fabric then it turns into a QAYG and it would be all quilted and solve your warp problem at the same time. Or a third option would be to starch a piece of muslin or other cotton fabric and use that on the back as a stabilizer. Good luck! Looking forward to seeing it finished. :)
I have no suggestions, I'm afraid, but I really like the colour combo :-D
Fabulous swap! You ladies are both awesome and can't wait to see the finished makes :) I loved Nat's headband too and my mum has made one for me! Can't help with the warping I'm afraid but loving the liberty!
How about some lightweight interfacing on the underside of the hexies, which should keep them just stiff enough for this.
How annoying about the fourth hexie. I can see this will be lovely once it's done. I'd probably try putting some stabiliser on the back and trimming the excess after you've stitched it.. Benta would be a better person to ask though because she does lots of machine embroidery. Good luck with it :)
Cannot help, but loving it already! Cannot wait to receive it! Glad you like my boards!
Tear-away or wash-away stabilizer to your bottom fabric or use an embroidery hoop to keep it taut until you can get your hexes affixed… That's my suggestion.
The headband looks beautiful.
how about carrying on and have one like it has fallen off the flower?
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