Tree Skirt with Sashiko Quilting

 So, here I am living in a whole new area of the country for about 8 weeks now.  Naturally, priority number ONE is to locate all the best sewing stores.  Other retail services can wait.  I decided to sign up for a class in a fabulous quilt store to meet the locals, establish sewing contacts, and of course to find out where everyone goes to support their sewing habit.  So, I'm making a tree skirt with appliques using very traditional techniques.  The basic designs are from a booklet Dressed to Chill by Jan Kornfeind of Country Appliques.  Naturally I did my own thing.   Isn't that why we sew ? 

Class session #1:  After spending about 15 minutes tracing the applique designs from the pattern onto freezer paper I decided to do that task for homework.  I just couldn't 'hand -trace' and 'hand-cut' all those little pieces. (Don't drink too much coffee or your tracing lines will never be straight.)  I want faster results with straight lines. Is that too much to ask for ?  I took out that pattern sheet and made multiple photo copies of several designs and changed all the sizes to my preference.   Sometimes tweaking the size down to 90 percent makes a huge difference. 

Step 1- Making Fusible Appliques:  I am using Quilters Select Appli-Web Plus as my fusible web backing on the wrong side of the fabric.  Leave paper affixed to fabric.  Place the printed design to the RIGHT side of your fabric swatches and staple closely around the perimeter of the paper applique.  Yes, staples!  I really don't like getting stabbed with straight pins.  Place only one staple in the middle to hold the layers together. As you trim the design the stapled area 'falls off' eliminating the need to remove staples.  Only the one staple (in the middle) remains holding the layers together.  (I'm cutting out 3 layers of applique to save work because I don't know how many snow people I will make.)

I used a small rotary blade (28 mm) on most of the straight lines and the small scissors on any area that I couldn't get the blade to cut.  Cutting out the design on a flat surface is more accurate than holding the applique up in the air with your left hand trying to keep the paper from shifting on the fabric.   I feel a blade gives a cleaner more continuous cut.  Choose whatever you are comfortable with.

This tree skirt has 8 equal wedge shaped panels.  These panels can be pre-quilted if you wish.   I'm not a fan of pre-cutting a pattern shape if I plan on quilting the fabric. I prefer to cut out a rectangle of fabric a few inches larger than the pattern panel simply because the extra fabric can be hooped or free motion stippled.  Now you have something to grab on to.  After your fabric is quilted I would cut out the pattern piece.   This method also prevents wear and tear on the raw edges of the fabric if you chose to cut the pattern out in a traditional method. 

 I decided to try my Babylock Sashiko machine.  This machine ONLY uses a bobbin thread.  That's right, no top thread!  The surface produces an alternating hand-look running stitch while the underside is like a continuous line.  The stitch is meant to be viewed from the top side ONLY.   So, here's my chance to utilize this machine.   This machine can accept 30-100 wt. thread.  I am using Superior Thread 30 wt. -100 percent cotton. Perfect Quilter.  This will produce a more pronounced stitch.  I must admit, I do find the heavier threads more frustrating to work with because most machines tend to misbehave more frequently with specialty threads.  This has always been my experience on any machine.  And I find the cotton threads break more often. Make sure your cotton threads aren't too old.  My mother still has many spools of thread from the 60's.  Many suffer from 'dry rot' or 'sun rot' but she wont let me throw them out! 

I used Sulky's Totally Stable fusible paper strips for stitching guidelines.  Simply press them onto the fabric with your iron.  They can be re-fused multiple times before they loose their tack quality.    I have used this Sulky Totally Stable fusible paper to create perfectly straight tucks on shirts and dresses.  You can find the article in Threads Magazine 2019.

Here's one panel. 

It takes about 30 minutes to quilt each panel.  It would probably take about 30 minutes to free-motion stipple each panel.  I can stitch out one panel for each bobbin.  That means I need 8 bobbins of thread. 

The blanket stitch I used is a 3 ply stitch using 30 weight thread.  The stars were purchased at Joann fabric.  The subtle colors look like wood but they are actually plastic.  I sewed them on my Bernina 1230 with the #18 button hole foot.  Much to my surprise I was able to sew on those plastic snow flakes with the button hole foot too.  The holes were exceptionally tiny but the machine needle worked just fine for everything. 

I cut strips of 1 inch bias binding to create 1/2 inch wide strips using the bias tape maker.  I used 3/8 inch fusible Heat n Bond to fuse the bias tape into position over the seams between the panels.  This allows me to get the tape on much straighter if it is fused into position.  Keep in mind this does add stiffness but I'm ok with that on a home dec. project.  I avoid using these fusible products on garments because of the added stiffness.

I was hoping to use an edge stitching foot to obtain a nice straight line on the bias tape. The panels are sewn together with a 1/2 inch seam and then trimmed down to a scant 1/4 inch.  It is a challenge to press these bulky seams open and get them really flat.    The bias tape is positioned over this bulky seam.  Since it is not particularly flat the foot may not feed at a level position.  Feet are not  designed to tilt sideways nor can they climb.  (like hemming the leg of a pair of jeans)   I needed a foot with a wider opening on the base to straddle the ridge. These are Viking feet.  I sewed very slowly with a 3.0 stitch length.  What a difference when the foot is completely level !!!    I wasn't able to use the foot with the flange.  

Note:  I still haven't mastered this new platform on this blogger page.  I would like to put two photos side by side to save space and it isn't cooperating. 

I actually got this finished before the holidays for this year!   I hope everyone is getting some pleasure from sewing considering all the changes and restrictions.  It's a wonderful skill to pass on to the next generation.