.It's simply ages since I made some bias strips, so to make life easier, I've bought these Karen Kay Buckley "Perfect Stems" ready for making the flower stems for the "Stitched By Me" project, by Lynette Anderson Designs. I started by cutting a few diagonal strips of fabric for the curved flower stems...
 |  |
...these narrow strips of fabric were machined with a quarter inch seam. The edges are then trimmed by cutting close to the stitching line. I shortened the stitch length for this, and used a Schmetz Microtex size 60 needle, Aurifil 50wt thread and a straight stitch needle plate on my Bernina. I've used a large pair of Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Scissors to trim the edges. The press bar has been threaded though the fabric tube, and the seam twisted round to the back. (I didn't follow the instructions on the back of the packet, as that suggests stitching the fabric with the press bar in place. I preferred to use the method that Lynette suggested!!) Once it's pressed with a hot iron, the press bar is removed, and the bias strip is ready to be used...
 |  |
...once the strips had been made, a few of dots of Roxanne's basting glue was used to hold the bias stems in place, then they were stitched securely with a neutral coloured YLI silk thread. Wool felt flowers need to be made, and some Suffolk Puffs for the centres, then the first block will be finished!
RSS Feed
