Handicraft for Girls: Finishing the Doll Quilt

Hullo! Finally, we are finishing this doll quilt! :-) All the patterns have been stitched up, and overhanded together. Now it says in the book to baste it to lining, turn in and overhand together. Well, as much as I did start to enjoy overhanding, I regret to report that I did not finish it this way as I was not looking forward to overhanding for the rest of my days (it's quite tedious if the fabric is thick!)

Instead I decided to use some bias tape I had laying around and used some left-over fabric for the lining.

Now, I must admit I have never applied bias binding to a quilt all by myself before! So I kind of had to google my way on this one :-) I found this tutorial by the Sew to Speak blog to be just right for my newbie comprehension skills.

In reaching my corners, I marked where I should stop or begin with a pen as I was afraid my estimation skills would mess it up.

After sewing on the bias tape, I trimmed all 3 layers close to the stitch line since my bias tape was not that wide and would appreciate not having all that bulk when turning over.

After the binding was put on, I then prepared some yarn cut to 4" length to use for tacking the quilt.

I tried using just a needle to do this, but goodness! I had such a battle making it go thru all the layers! So, a better idea had to be conjured. A few weeks ago I had picked up a setting tool at a local bookstore for no particular reason. Okay, the reason is always "might need this one day" :-) Well, that and it looked cute. Anyways, I took it out and made some holes for my yarn to gracefully glide into.

And it worked beautifully! (Although it was so efficient, it was punching the holes straight thru my cutting mat!)

After putting in all the tacking, it looked quite a bit sparse so I put one more thread in. This time just going under the stitch and not thru the hole.

And that is the end of the doll quilt :-) I don't have any daughters with dolls, and my dolls are a little too small for this quilt... but I do have a real live baby boy who will enjoy pulling all the yarn on this :-)

If there is anything in old embroidery ebooks that you would like me to feature here, or someone who makes stuff from them, do let me know! It would be great to share with everyone else the treasure trove in these books. Have a lovely week ahead everyone!

(To get all the patterns and see the work in progress: click here)

Handicraft for Girls: Doll Quilt Pt. 4

Hullo! Happy Monday everyone. We are finally on our last pattern for the doll quilt. I am still stitching up Kid #3 and have finished the overhand stitches of the first two pieces.

Here is a more detailed shot of the finished overhand stitches (and yes, the thread color did grow on me and some of you were kind enough to leave a comment about it, thank you!):

And here I go on the 3rd pattern. To recap, I have veered away from the original instructions by adding backstitches for my details. I will also be adding some satin stitching in the last two patterns to cover solid areas. Like this one has button details that will look better satin stitched I think.

If you are just catching up now, you can find the first 3 patterns here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and the joining with the Overhand stitch.

Download the PDF.

Thank you to those that replied with great embroidery and traveling tips on the last post! Enjoy your week everyone and happy stitching!

Traveling, Embroidery and Overhand Stitches

Hullo! Sorry, I have been missing from my Monday posts lately. Every other month, my job entails me to work on-site and I have to travel to another island. This latest trip has lead me to find a solution in my problem of being able to submit posts while on the go.

But before getting into that, here is my version of the overhand stitch used to connect the embroidery pieces together of our doll quilt. I began by ironing the quarter-inch fold of both pieces to be joined (arranged as in the reference quilt image in Part 1). In the book, it mentioned to do this on the long side of the piece, but since I have not finished that piece yet, I will be showing you my sample from the shorter side of the two finished ones.

In the description from Chestofbooks.com, it said to baste the stitches together. Since I was working on a short side, I skipped this part and started the stitch as illustrated in the site.

Now, I learned along the way that it states to pick up a few threads only with your needle, so I found I seemed to have placed the stitch too deep and this is more what it means:

I then proceeded to make the overhand stitch. Since you are picking up surface threads, I found it easier to let the thread tail that was set up in the beggining stick out while stitching to make sure it is encased in the overhand stitch (oh I really hope I am making sense here! Let me know if this is confusing you!). One tip said to let the needle face the chest with every stitch and I will add that the thimble came in handy since my fabric was a bit thick.

This is what it looks like after a few stitches (and what it will look like the whole way thru). The thing to remember is that there are no knots to be made. There are many different ways given to start a fresh thread. I plan on just doing the same thing as the start and just make sure that they all get encased in the stitches.

In hindsight, maybe I should have used a closer matched thread to my fabric. But it is slowly growing on me, and I might just stick to it. What do you suggest? It seems such an interesting stitch choice to connect the pieces together, as it is very visible. Maybe because it is a project for the girls to practice the stitches in the chapter? I can only wonder :-)

And now I want to share my other problem that needed a solution.

Most of my family's time is spent on the road, as our job requires it. Thankfully, hubby and I work on the same projects and our sons are not yet in school. This has not hindered me from continuing my creative life and I always set aside time for it, wherever we are.

Of all the different creative outlets I am into, it is embroidery that is closest to my heart. One of the reasons is that it is easy to bring along without taking up space in my traveling bag :-). When on a trip, I usually bring along the latest project, an embroidery hoop, threads (only in the colors I am working on), needles (tucked in a little handmade wallet), embroidery scissors and a thimble.

This little kit can already provide a little "me" time and quench creative thirst on the road. The satisfaction in embroidering something, in starting a fresh threaded needle and making that knot when it runs out is all together a calming rhythm amidst the bustle. The anticipation of another pattern to sew once one is done is something to look forward to in the midst of filing reports and making presentations. And these little embroidery projects from public domain ebooks have given me a myriad of things to look forward to.

The Monday post spot in this blog means a lot to me, and I had to find a way to solve the posting problem while traveling. Since I cannot bring much stuff, my computer and big camera have to stay at home. Thus, I solely have to rely on the Ipad and Iphone. I researched on the best apps to use, but none seemed to be the replacement I was looking for. Finally today, I settled on Blogsy for posts, Filterstorm for resizing and other photo lighting corrections and the Iphone to snap the pics. This is by no means an ad! But I just wanted to share this for those of us who blog and travel.

This is my first posts using all these together and still on another trip. I do look forward to next Monday knowing that I can now truly be creative and share from wherever I am.

Happy Monday everyone and do share if you have suggestions and tips for the traveling embroidery blogger!

 

Handicraft for Girls: Doll Quilt Pt. 3

Hullo! Here's a little work in progress and pattern no. 3 for the doll quilt.

The instructions said to do it in running stitch, but I decided to do the face in hands in backstitches so it will stand out. I plan on doing this to the other patterns as well. The running stitch was done with 3 strands embroidery floss and the backstitch was done with 2 strands polyster sewing machine thread.

If you are just catching up on these posts now, this is Part 1 and Part 2. For now, I will leave you with Pattern no. 3. Happy Stitching everyone!

Download the PDF.

Handicraft for Girls: Doll's Quilt Pt. 2

Hullo! We are now on to the second embroidery pattern from the Handicraft for Girls book. For those who want to catch up and make this doll quilt, check out Part 1. 

Download the PDF.

It does not state in the book which cultures these costumes are from, and since it is a school instruction book I presume that the patterns were reflective of the other lessons. Thus, they probably did not feel the need to elaborate. Maybe it's that vagueness that makes old books written in the language of their time so romantic and mysterious for some of us :-) 

Have a happy stitchy week up ahead!  

Handicraft for Girls: Children in Native Costume Doll's Quilt Pt. 1

Hullo! Our next project is from the book Handicraft for Girls by Idabelle McGlauflin, published in 1910.

In Chapter 2 of the book, an embroidery pattern of 4 children in native costume are provided and to be used in the different exercises.

Each design is embroidered with running stitches on a 6" x 8" piece of unbleached muslin. Now, it says to use "colored thread No. 50", and once again I have no idea what color that will be so enlightenment is welcome of course.

When done with the designs, we will continue to make the elective exercise which is a doll's quilt:

To attach the designs together, it states that they are to be "overhanded together" by turning a quarter-inch fold on the long side of both pieces and basting the folded pieces together and overhand.

The stitch is not shown in the book, only described so I went to look for an illustration and found this from ChestofBooks.com. It is the overhand stitch as described and illustrated in School of Needlework. A Course Study in Sewing designed for use in Schools:

Should you wish to make this too, a pattern will be provided after each part every Monday. We will begin this week with Child in Native Costume No. 1:

Download the PDF.

Have a lovely week ahead everyone and keep on stitching!

Part 2.