Friday 17 February 2012

Perfect Points!

I do NOT claim to be able to stitch with perfect points - partly because my attention to details is too scant, so my cutting is only close to correct, and then whilst I will tweek and, um, encourage seams to meet up, I generally work to the 3 metre rule - is there an obvious fault if you look from 3m away? No? then it's good enough for me (In my head I say "It's good enough for government work" is that from a character in a book?  I'll guess a Stephen King novel, but I cant name the character)

Anyway, back to points (sorry I drifted off a bit there).  A while ago, the lovely Hadley showed how she made a panel for a zipped pouch using an iron on method that gave perfect points (I'm not, of course, suggesting that her points aren't always perfect) so I thought I'd give it a go.  She demonstrates her method [here], but as I took photos of my version too I will show them as well

 I got some fusible interfacing/stabiliser, and drew a 2.5inch grid on the non-fusible side
 

 I cut my fabrics into 2.5" squares and ironed them on in a tessellated cross design

I folded along each line and stitched (right sides together)

 I trimmed the fold

I cursed as I tried to press the seam open, and gave up.  Trouble was my points would now be very bulky, so I snipped at each junction so I could push the seams in alternate directions as I stitched the perpendicular seams

I stitched and then trimmed the second lot of folds.  I considered trying to press open these seams, but eventually gave up

Instead I flipped the whole thing over and leaned heavily on the iron to flatten the whole thing into submission.


I'm very please with the points, but if I ever do this again, I will (a) use light interfacing, (b) use bigger seams so I can trim and still be left with enough to press the seams open, and (c) maybe read Hadley's post in full so I see where she has added a link to a full tutorial, sigh!

6 comments:

  1. Oh it looks lovely though!!
    It's a great method, especially for this pattern - brilliant!

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  2. Looks good! I looked up the expression "good enough for government work" since I had heard it all my life. It turns out it originated in World War II and at that time meant it could pass rigorous standards. Over time it came to mean just the opposite. (Thank goodness for Wikipedia.)

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  3. Oh well, it's all learning experiences, and it looks great from the front (no-one will see the back anyway!)

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  4. sorry to hear about your process frustrations, but the end product looks wonderful!!

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  5. I quite like foundation piecing. A real good way of getting it right. Nice soft colours.

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  6. I've done several shopping and craft bags using this method, and seen several patterns. This is the first time I've come across the idea of slicing the fold off and ironing the seam open - it's always just been snipping at the intersection - loads less work too! Using a really light iron-on interfacing is the answer too - ask me how I know! But the perfect points are a dream, aren't they! Margaret

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