Back in December 2015, I made a baby quilt with these fabrics (from the Patch collection by Henley Studio for Makower UK). I don't normally keep scraps, but these were larger pieces that were put in a "they'll be useful oneday" bag and they were just what I needed for this project! I couldn't resist this pattern by Hatched and Patched - it's A Dog's Life Pencil Case, purchased online from Coast and Country Crafts and Quilts a couple of weeks ago... ... this pattern combines 2 of my favourite techniques, hand applique and hand embroidery. The design was traced onto a grey background fabric and I picked a few DMC embroidery threads in colours to co-ordinate with my prints. The hand embroidery was stitched first, then I added the striped "ground" by machine. The original pattern used wool for the applique, however I chose cotton fabrics and used the Apliquick method for turning the edges over. The applique shapes were hand stitched using Aurifil 80wt thread. I fused a piece of Pellon H630 to the wrong side of both the front and the back of the pencil case to give it a bit more structure... ...once the zipper is in place the pencil case is machined together and the lining has a gap that is used for turning the pencil case through - although I used fusible wadding on the front and back of the pencil case, I didn't use it for the lining. My favourite stitch for closing seams like this is ladder stitch - small neat stitches that resemble the rungs of a ladder, then when the stitches are pulled together it leaves a nice neat, flat seam, rather than the thicker seam that you'd get with slip stitch... ...and you can't see which part of the seam was stitched by hand! Once the lining gap is closed, the lining is puched inside the pencil case and it's ready to be used. As you can see, I even managed to find a zipper in a co-ordinating colour to make my fabrics too - that's the beniefit of have a HUGE collection of zippers.. ...I pieced the back of the pencil case with the feature print and a piece of grey fabric leftover from the stitchery/applique background, as I wanted the dogs to be the right way up! A small piece of the strip that I used for the "ground" was also used for the zipper tabs - all the instruction for making the tabs and the zipper insersertion are in the instructions, which are really well written and clearly illustrated, making this a simple project for any zipper-phobes!... ...and here's the finished pencil case - filled with my quilting pencils, ready to put in my sewing bag. This would make a great little gift so I may well make more of these!
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About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
January 2025
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