Sewing on Thursday: Sewing Skill Builder Part 3

For part 3 of our sewing skill builder, we're going to make 2 additional pockets for our sewing basket. These pockets will be the couching sampler and the puffing sampler. Samplers 1 & 2 can be found here.

Puffing sampler on left, couching sampler on right

Materials for puffing sampler: 

1 piece of copy paper

1 - 5"x 8" piece of fabric

1 - small scrap contrasting color for ribbon center

1 - flower or design of choice iron-on applique (sew on work too)

1 - 1"w x 45"l strip of fabric

1 - piece of newsprint or lightweight tearaway stabilizer

1 - yard Belgian lace, ribbon, or cording

We will begin with the puffing sampler. To start, you will need to draw a 5"x 8" rectangle on a piece of paper. Regular copy paper will work just fine. 

Draw cross hairs across the center length and width of the rectangle. The book instructs us somewhat vaguely to "Refer to photograph on page 6 for pocket design. Draw and cut from paper the shape to be puffed." Which is probably why not a lot of people pick up these older books. They are too assuming that you know what they are talking about! The shape they reference is the upside down "awareness ribbon" (that's my name for it). Start by centering and drawing a teardrop shape in the middle of the cross hairs.

Center your flower applique on the middle of the teardrop to make sure there is plenty of space.

Finish drawing the ribbon shape by making sure that your ribbon width is no more than 1" wide. I actually drew mine around 7/8" to accommodate the fabric strip we'll attach later. Cut out your shape. 

Pin the shape to your 5" x 8" background fabric, in my case the yellow with white polka dots, and using a water soluble marker or a Chaco pen, trace around the outline of the shape, including the middle. 

Remove the pattern and place it on your contrasting color of fabric. Draw the center of the shape ONLY on the contrasting fabric. 

Cut around the shape at least 1/4" larger than your marked lines. 

Pin your teardrop shape to the center of the 5x8 fabric, using the outline of the shape you drew as a guide. Baste it to the background fabric using a long stitch. This helps make sure it stays in place! Then iron (or sew) your applique to the center of your shape. 

Do a final zigzag stitch around the entire tear drop shape to secure it in place and seal the edges. 

Now we're going to work on the actual puffing piece. Draw another copy of you shape onto a new piece of paper. I found that copy paper does not tear off very well and that it is good idea to use lighter weight paper like newsprint or a thin tearaway stabilizer for this part. Do not cut the shape from the paper. 

Gather the 1" x 45" strip of fabric by using a basting stitch and sewing down both long sides of the piece. Tie the thread ends on one short end and carefully pull the bobbin threads on the opposite end so that the fabric starts to bunch up on itself. Continue to bunch and move fabric toward the tied end, until it is as bunched as you want it. 

Arrange your puffed piece on the outline of the second shape you drew. You can adjust the gathers to fit the shape. Once you have it where you want it, pin it in place. 

 Baste the piece right to the paper or stabilizer. Make sure it is where you want it, then zigzag stitch around all of the edges. Remove the paper from the puffing piece. If you use a tearaway stabilizer you can leave the section behind the fabric attached. I left my copy paper on, although I think it was much too stiff afterward.

Pin and baste your puffing piece to your 5" x 8" background fabric. Zigzag around the edges. It is okay to sew over where it crosses.

The book suggests using Belgian lace to cover the zigzagged edges. I couldn't find any I really liked, though, so I used a strip of satin ribbon instead. I pinned the ribbon in place, covering the stitches, then sewed along the inside and outside edges of the ribbon. Mine was 1/4" ribbon. You could probably go 3/8"without encroaching on your applique. 

Couching Sampler Materials: 

1 - 5" x 8" piece of background fabric (dots again!) 

1 - piece of tear away stabilizer

 cording, ribbon, thread, and materials of different thicknesses

1 - thread colors of your choice

On your piece of background fabric, mark diagonal lines in both directions. Vary the distances between your lines. 

Place your stabilizer under your fabric and lay a piece of selected cording over one of the lines that you drew. Using a zigzag stitch, center your presser foot on the cording and sew over it. You can adjust your zigzag width to accommodate the thickness of the cording (usually). 

Continue sewing different cords, ribbons, and threads across your lines, adjusting your zigzag stitches as necessary. I used some metallic cording, pink cording, and doubled-up pieces of embroidery thread. 

Trim the edges of your cording so that it is even with the edges of your swatch. 

I hope you got some good hints and tips during this session. If you missed any of the previous sessions please click the link in the sidebar for Thursdays. You'll see them all lined up there!