I wasn’t too sure whether this pattern would be suitable for the K’rahmyteh costume, so I made up a pair in fashionable stripes as a test. This is honestly a beautiful pattern and allows for french seams if you want. My only edit was to machine blanket stitch the raw edge where the waistband is attached.
Did up my partners’ owl cushion over a weekend afternoon.
For some reason I thought it was a clever idea to sew the opposite sides first…um, no. Don’t ever do that when quilting, you just end up having to unpick the corners to make everything line up properly.
Some other hot tips are: always pin your lapped zipper diagonally to allow the needle to just stitch over the pins & if your machine can do a blanket stitch that’s an easy way of saving raw edges.
My fabric samples from #HowlsFabrics arrived, so I’ve started the pattern making process. Here is a shot of the final hood pattern, and a very sped up video of the taping process. Big shout-out to #TheMotleyCrow (you can see me referencing one of their masks at the end), who helped me considerably with the crest rig and understanding how to pattern with the movement of this in mind.
New set of 10 dinnerware placemats. Possible teatime use modeled by Māui.
Some egg on my face though; after ordering new plain fabric for the backing I found the stuff I originally bought for this project.
Finished the new double sided table runner.
This was really frustrating to do as the side strips and sashiko fabric stretched causing some puckers in the top stitching and rolling at the ends initially. Eventually fixed it by doing some handstitching to tuck an end seam in a bit further to compensate for sashiko stretch, redoing the top stitching using the walking foot, and a quick cold wash/steam press blocking/air dry combo to set everything into a uniform shape.
Progress on the placemats. This is a pretty simple design where you just keep sewing strips around the edges. The tricky bit is the 4th strip where you have to remembr to stop at the edge of the first strip, so you can reverse the flaps to maintain the pattern before securing the end of the last strip down. It’s kinda like weaving a basket…but with fabric.
The final mats will all have 3 border layers around the sashiko, but I though it was cool to see how each layer changes the overall feel of the mat.
Unfortunately, after doing all 10 mats I have no idea where I put the fabric intended for the backing (I think I accidentally used it for a previous project), so now this is on hold until my fabric order comes in.
My fabric arrived for the new table runner! The lovely colour floral print is destined to be the backing so the piece is reversible. The small flower block pattern will be the runner topside border.
The shop also had some super cute owls that my partner just had to have. Lucky for him, years ago I made a sashiko owl which I can turn into a cushion with an owl border.
I’m planning to get onto these projects once I’ve finished off the sashiko placemats project.
I’ve been wondering for a while if there was a better way to keep pattern pieces in place instead of pins, and there is!
I made myself a set of 18 fabric weights. There are 2 sizes here; small = 6cm per side, large = 10cm per side. They are filled with rice and are hefty enough to cope with light and medium weight fabrics.
Remember how I was going to make placemats using these sashiko squares? Well, I’ve finally got around to cutting all the edging strips and they’re all ready to be sewn together.
After over a month waiting for fray check to arrive (they ‘forgot’ about my order), I was finally able to finish this off. I hate doing button holes as it you stuff it up the whole piece is basically screwed, but thankfully my machine’s button holing function behaved!
Made with black wool with silver flecks, custom printed orange flying goose silk lining, orange top stitching, antique goose buttons, and 4 black 1 decorative orange button holes.
Modeled by my snuggly fiancée and our ring-bearer bird Māui.
