So I've been sewing for quite a while now and in a more focused way for a number of months. It is easy to get stuck in a bit of a rut and just do the same things over and over again with different fabric. So I'm trying to make myself practice different techniques and maybe make some more interesting projects rather than just rely on finding fabulous fabrics to make things fun! (although I will always love beautiful fabrics)
Today it was all about applique. I've done it before but never quite gotten the neatness that I want in a finished product. I sat down and have had a good play around - practice session over and I set to work.
I found that choosing a stitch length just above zero worked best for me and then selecting the narrowest zig zag stitch that my machine offered. I don't have a special foot for my machine to do applique so just used a standard one. Once I got going my best advice would be to take it slow and steady.
I had bought some great fabric at a charity shop last week so decided to use some of it to make an apron and to incorporate in one of my favourite shapes - a star! So here was how it went.
I printed out a template of a star to make sure it was completely the shape I wanted and then cut the fabric to this template. I prepared the pocket out of plain fabric so that it was ready to go onto the apron and then placed my star on and ironed.
A slow and steady zig zag round all the edges of the star sealed in the raw edges of the star and gives it a really neat look.
This is such a simple sewing technique and if you take time to do it well it can look really effective. This is my finished product and you can see how just adding the star adds something more to the apron.
It is also such a good technique that uses up small scraps of fabric and turns them into something beautiful.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and as always if you give this a go then please do share photos!
