More Hexies

I've got a couple of garment-type things to photo for you, but it's been so sticky here lately I keep putting it off, just too icky to be posing in anything with sleeves. You'll see them eventually.

In the meantime, here are a few of the latest batch of hexie flowers. I'm about a third of the way through adding the various blue bits around the outside of each one.

Used up the last of the ready-to-go blue hexies about a week ago, so am now busy during TV time basting up the next huge heap of blues so I can make more of these.

Alabama-style stitching - Part 3

[just tuning in? Part 1 is here]

Here's a look at the completed stenciling on the back. I reused some of the main motifs from the front, in different positions, and filled in with additional leaves and some dots. The dots are stamped with one of the sponge-on-a-stick things I was using to apply the fabric paint. I've also added some dots to fill in the larger empty spaces and edges of the front.

My under layer is an identical sleeveless T in a (slightly faded) kelly green, which is my favorite color combo with this bright blue. I could have simply slipped one inside the other, but decided to reduce seam bulk by cutting away the seams, hem, and neck/arm binding on the inner layer. The two layers are pinned together with small safety pins, which I placed on the inside, so as to keep them out of the way of stitching. Here you can see the under layer pinned around the edges. I also added a few more pins in the center.

So far I've really been enjoying this process, designing and cutting the stencil and seeing that pattern emerge. Now the real fun begins: hand stitch around each motif, and cut out the larger bits for a reverse applique effect:

First I had to make a thread choice. The Alabama Stitch Book recommends button/craft thread, which is a thick, strong cotton-wrapped polyester. I have some ivory of that, and some beige. Not my first choice, although the beige is what I've ended up using.

I first tried some dark blue 100% poly upholstery thread, but decided I had zero confidence that the knots would hold, as it's quite slippery. Then I considered hand-quilting thread, which is heavier than all-purpose thread, and which I have several nice colors of thanks to my Mom, who passed most of her thread stash on to me. Alas, a brief tug test revealed that the stuff has the tensile strength of wet Kleenex, so not a good choice for this project. Probably also useless for quilting, other than it's 100% cotton which I guess may be important to someone. Not to me, though. I'll probably collect all those spools and toss 'em. If I ever hand-quilt something I'll want those stitches to last.

Final option, some poly top-stitching thread. I have two spools of purple, which would be a fun color choice. But it's a bit too heavy for this, so beige button/craft thread it is. Although the book says to use it doubled, I tried that and decided I prefer a single thread. I think that's because, as I realized when I went to pin the two layers together, what I'm working with is not a simple interlock, but a very fine single rib, which has more sideways stretch and heft. You might think that was so obvious I'd have noticed it a bit earlier on, but it's typical of me to have been so caught up in the enthusiasm for a new project that a key detail went undetected during the planning stage and into execution.

I chose to leave the knots/ends on the outside, although remembering to start from the front is a challenge. It's so deeply ingrained to bring that first stitch up from the back to hide the knot and tail. I've miffed that twice so far, but it's not really noticeable.

Here's a close-up of the reverse applique effect:

I've never hand-sewn cotton jersery before, and it is so soft and lucious to work with! It's been a couple of decades since I did any kind of embroidery, and I wasn't sure how working without a hoop to stretch the fabric would work, but the jersey handles just fine.

What I'm so enjoying about this method:
~ how meditative and relaxing the hand-sewing is; even more so than hexies, possibly because the running stitch is smooth and easy
~ the in-your-face hand-sewn effect, knots and tails out there for everyone to see, plain-jane running stitch, nothing fancy about it; yet the result is complex and elegant
~ how the reverse applique bumps the stencilled pattern toward the abstract by making the echo shape more prominent that the line of the stencilled pattern

I'm asserting great restraint to hold off on adding beads to this one. I'm eager to take that extra step toward labor-intensive excess, but will save it for when I'm working with new fabric. Because I do want to do more of these. First, though, I need to finish this one, and that will take a while.

When I've got all the reverse applique done I have one more decision to make, and that's whether to cut off and hand-finish the neck and arm edges. And maybe the hem, too.

I think I want to, but have no extra jersey to make a binding from unless I cut up another shirt and add a third color, which would be too much. So I'd have to come up with some way to stabilize the neck/arm edges. Maybe a strip of fusible interfacing on the underlayer?

That's the kind of thing that would have been easier to do before all this hand-sewn assembly, but I'm sure it's doable. Nevertheless, I've decided to wait on the neck/arm edge decision until I get the rest of the sewing done.

Alabama Stitch Book

It may be Day 76 of my 120-day fabric and pattern embargo, which means 44 days still to go, but that doesn't mean I forego all sewing-related treats. My playtime budget allows for the purchase of one sewing book every two months, and this month I indulged in this one, which I have been lusting after for some time:

OMG I love, love, love this stuff. Natalie Chanin is a creative genius. I have spent hours perusing this book (and the flickr group) since it arrived in my mailbox a few days ago. A very different kind of sewing from what I normally do, and something I must try for myself.

I'm thinking of dipping a toe in these waters with something small. Like that ratty old 12x16 pillow on my deck chair. A new cover for that would be a good use for some old Ts from my closet. Like that pink sleeveless one with the lemon juice bleach spots on the front (oops), and the green one soiled by an oily salad dressing spot (darn), and hey, that tissue-weight turquoise top I spilled coffee on (drat). I see great possibilities here.

Or maybe I should put all thoughts of reconstructed jersey sewing aside and make myself a bib.

Hexies in progress

My plan, now that I've got all the GTG flower centers done, was to arrange them on the design wall to ensure a good "random" scattering of blues/reds/others. I don't dare just wing it as I go along, for fear I'll get 2/3 of the way done and realize I've used all the blues and the result will be lopsided, with too many reds in one corner.

I figured I'd draw up a simple grid with row and column numbers on a piece of paper, and pin a post-it position ID# to each one flower. That way I could work in some kind of sequence, get the blues added to several neighboring ones, add the greens, and start assembling larger units in chunks.

Yesterday I tried arranging some GFG flowers on the design wall, and decided that wasn't going to work. I do need to see the flowers with the blue background ring around each one, like this:

So, my grand plan to break up the tedium of sewing all those blues around all those flowers has evaporated. However, I did figure out that the aspect of sewing the blues I didn't like had to do with the assorted fabrics. I'd sew one blue hexie on, then pull another from the basted bag, assess balance, make sure not to have too many of the same in a row, etc. Each new hexie required attention and choices and made the process feel so s-l-o-w. Plus, since I mostly work on this at night during TV hours, the poor lighting made those decisions harder.

On to Plan B: Sunday morning I pulled out a pile of completed flowers and selected blues to go around each one (nice to do with good natural light). Then I picked the blues all up into a neat pile, in order, and secured to the flower with thread.

Now for each flower I have a pile of 12 pre-selected blue hexies ready to go, no decisions required. These will keep me busy for the next few weeks of TV nights:

Then I'll only have to baste a gazillion-trillion more blue hexies, and sew up about 3 more batches of these, to get this lengthy step done.

obsessed

They warned me. "It's addictive," they said, and "I can't seem to stop," but did I listen?

It's all American Idol's fault. And Biggest Loser. And our DVR. There's just sooo much TV to sit through on a Tuesday night, so I was poking around the sewing bloggiverse last week looking for some kind of hand-sewing project to work on while in couch-potato mode. Preferably one that would use up some if not most of the Kaffe Fassett prints in my overflowing "charms and strips" drawer. I didn't have anything specific in mind, other than no way was I ever going to make a cathedral window anything ever again. One pillow cover was enough of that for me, thank you.

So I poked around and came across a blog mention (and then another, and another) of English Paper Piecing, specifically hexagons, and specifically the "Grandmother's Flower Garden" layout, and it was exactly what I was looking for. I have fond memories of napping (decades ago, in another century, when I was a child) under a very traditional genuine-from-the-1930s GFG quilt actually made by my Great-Grandmother (surely, musthavebeen, 'cause no way did Grammy every sit down and hand sew a quilt!), which is still somewhere in my Mom's house, though now in tatters.

So I printed up some sheets of 3/4" hexies and cut them out and started turning scrap fabric into smaller scraps and basted away and then made some flowers. And a bunch of green hexies that will be leaves. The pic above is most of what I've produced since last weekend, when the obsession began. I don't know yet for sure what these will become, or whether I'll use that pink "Anemone" KF print as the background or not, but I'm very sure I'm officially hooked on making these little cuties during TV time. It's the perfect lap project, and I just can't seem to stop.

BTW: I'm also close to finishing my first garment for the Mini-Wardrobe challenge, so hope to have  a pic and post on that by the weekend.