Thread Case Part III: Tiny, Tiny Pieces

Wow.
These are some teensy, tiny, weensy pieces.
I've got the invisible stitching down but doing a seam allowance turn on these microscopic bits is... challenging.

I'm not gonna lie... I considered abandoning the entire magilla. Free-form needle turn applique, with unpressed pieces, is not for me. But I decided to try a few different methods before I ran screaming into the night.

Take a look through these various methods of applique.
I tried the freezer paper method and the mylar template method without the starch.

In the photo below, the bottom shape (spool cap) stitched to the green silk was done as suggested in the book, Japanese Quilting Piece by Piece: 29 Stitched Projects from Yoko Saito, by copying the shape to the right side of the fabric and turning the seam allowance under as you go without pressing.

This wasn't too bad but I needed at least a 3/16" - 4mm allowance to turn under. Anything less and I had a hard time getting the fabric to STAY turned under (the author suggests only a 1/8" seam allowance for applique pieces). Most difficult were the tiny curved corners. I stitched up to where they started to turn, turned under a teensy bit of fabric, took a stitch, did another turn and stitch and with the next stitch got back to straight stitching.

Second from the bottom is a piece of unbleached muslin using the mylar template. The fabric was too thin to control easily and was semi-transparent. Pressing this tiny piece around the dinky mylar template was a pain in the posterior.

The applique on top is the freezer paper test with another scrap of quilting cotton.




All of these were extra fussy and making the templates took too much time. The rounded corners were lumpy looking and I just didn't like 'em. So in the intro photo, way at the top, you see the results of what I did.

I traced the shapes onto the right side of the fabric, cut them out leaving a 3/16" allowance, pressed in both of the long edges (leaving the marks just visible on the 'right' side of the fabric), then pressed the short ends under and pined them in place.

I'm very happy with the wonky, yet charming, results. I had to learn to embrace the wonkiness... everything doesn't have to be perfectly matched and straight as an arrow, right?

I am extremely happy with the fabrics I chose. Now, hanging onto that 33 gallon bag for ::cough::twelve::cough:: years, a relic of my short and colorful stint at Threads Magazine, has been completely justified.

Roxy White stitched, layered and dyed the silks I used for the threads on my box (formerly known as Thread Case).

Thread Case Part II: Fabrics and Needle Turn Applique

The fabrics Ms. Saito uses are Japanese Daiwabo cottons (link goes to a google search). They are gorgeous and subtly colored and slightly expensive and completely unnecessary for this attempt at a little sewing box. I could dedicate an entire blog to these beautiful fabrics, use your google-fu.

You could replicate the look of Daiwabo fabrics by choosing muted, neutral-ish and subtle colors. Saito suggests using the reverse side of some fabrics to get a more subdued effect. For my NY Beauty bag I'll be using a charcoal grey linen as the base fabric and 100% quilting and batik cottons for the appliques. Thankfully, the appliques for the bag are much larger than those used for this project.

You'll need LESS than a printer paper sheet each of the exterior fabric, batting and lining -- and the same for the box lining and fusible interfacing -- and nothing more than scrips and scraps for the appliques.

After going through my 33 gallons of scraps, and an old bag of samples from Thai Silks, I came up with the melange of fabrics at left.

No cottons for me, that would be too easy...
There are metallic silk organzas for the rods, crushed, stitched and hand dyed silks for the thread -- and I'm still not sure about the spool caps... maybe something as simple as unbleached muslin, though I have some pale dupioni plaids and pongees that might work.
I have some scraps of a sage green, jacquard raw silk for the outside of the box. For the inside I'll go with something light colored and neutral.

I have a feeling that needle turn applique with these babies ain't gonna be easy... but I never take the easy way out (unless it involves piping, then I'm all about the fabric glue).

digression...
So, why am I making this Thread Case (henceforth known as "box")??
Because the area next to my sewing machine is a no man's land of threads and pins and machine needles and bobbins. My sewing table is dark and I can't see a damn thing that's hiding there.

I decided that a nice little box, with a light colored interior, would be just the thing to keep stuff from getting pushed over the edge.
The irony is that it'll probably be too small... but I digress...
.../digression

Here's a video by Becky Goldsmith that goes into luscious detail about needle turn applique. She talks about what needle to use, how to hold it and covers 2 stitching directions (stitching toward and away from yourself)... very thorough.

 

Order of Operations
I'll cut out the outside of the box as an over sized rectangle and surge the edges.
Then transfer the box shape and spools design with my Dritz Mark-B-Gone Marking Pen.

I'll trace the spool and rod shapes with my trusty Dritz Tailor's Pencil and cut them out leaving slightly more than 1/8" - 3mm seam allowance.

I'll applique the rods first, leaving the short edges raw and long to run into the seam allowances and under the spool caps, then I'll applique the thread also leaving the short edges raw and long, and finally I'll do the spool caps.

Onward...