Friday, November 7, 2014

TUTORIAL - that pretty fabric window!

As promised the other day I am going to show you how I made the sweet fabric window that allowed one of my orphan UFO blocks to shine!
This time, though, my feature block is a small Christmas stitchery that Blossom made for me a few years back but never did anything with...


(before you ask about the design of the stitchery, it was a freebie from Lisa Young about 5 years ago but she no longer designs and her shop site has closed - sad)

I'll take you through the steps to make your own fabric window but it's up to you how you choose to display it in a project. Mine became a very precious Christmas pin cushion. Can't wait to use it!

First off you will need a stitchery, or a fussy cut piece of fabric with a design that will look amazing when framed. If you missed my original post about this technique, here is the project I made using a fussy cut section of Amy Butler's "love"  fabric. I backstitched over some of the design and added bead embellishments, then let it shine through a fabric window. You can also see the full blog post HERE...


Let's sew!

Take your stitchery or fussy cut fabric and measure the diameter...


You'll need two pieces of feature fabric that are at least 4 inches wider/higher than your stitchery (or fussy cut section of fabric). It all depends how large you need your window block to be for display purposes...


You need a circular shape about ½” to 1" wider than the stitchery. This could be a bowl, plate, mug, the inside of an embroidery or quilting hoop - anything that you can trace a circle from.
I have a set of circular quilting rulers, but this stitchery was too small to fit inside of one, and too large for the other, so I had to improvise.
Now you may not need to do this but it is probably beneficial that I show you how I overcame my dilemma, ok?

On the back of one piece of feature fabric trace your circle.
I had to trace both the 5" and the 7" circle rulers so that I could gauge the centre of them for the actual size I needed...



 To get a 6" circle I carefully drew a line between the two with a Frixion pen - now, you know I don't use these pens to trace embroideries or quilting lines, but as this was on the wrong side of the fabric and would be my stitching line, I used it this time so that it stood out in the photo for you)...


 Whether you have had to do what I did or you were blessed with only needing to trace one circle, lay your traced fabric face down on your second piece of fabric - right sides facing each other...


Use you sewing machine to stitch the two pieces of fabric together along the traced line of your circle (for me this was the centre line).  I used my walking foot because it held the fabrics together really well without slipping as I turned them, and the line was easier to see...



Take your scissors and cut away the centre of your circle, a little way out from the stitched line...


With very sharp embroidery scissors snip into the small seam at intervals of ½” all the way around the inner circle, but do not cut through the stitched line...


Now we're going to fold the top piece of fabric over to the inside of the circle...


Finger press the seam line gently as you go. When the fabric is all the way through and you can feel the seam is nice and flat, press the window seam with your iron...


 Lay the window over the top of your stitchery to check placement...


Remove the window and apply a little fabric glue over the area of your stitchery that will be hidden by the fabric window...


 Place the window over the stitchery and gently press, allowing the glue to fuse the stitchery and window together. Press with a warm dry iron...


 I like to be doubly secure when sewing my window over my stitchery, so if you're like me insert pins all around...


I used pale blue Perle #12 thread for the running stitch just outside the window edge...


How easy was that!? 
Will you try it?

I trimmed my window a little smaller to make this into a pincushion, and now I have my Blossom's sweet stitches smiling back at me! It only took four years...


By the way this was another UFO from my box of orphan stitcheries that now has a permanent display. Two in one week?! But then again, this was Blossom's UFO stitchery and not mine...still, I'm going to count it as a finish from the box, ok? ;-)



Hugs

26 comments:

the gathering girls said...

Thank you for the tutorial...its lovely!!

http://thankfullga447 said...

I love this tutorial, I do lots of needlework and the round circle makes it all so neat.

Betty said...

That is so pretty. I am going to have to put that on my to make list.

Christine M said...

Thanks for the tutorial, Jenny. Blossum's little stitchery is gorgeous. It looks even better now that it's in your cushion.

Unknown said...

pretty tutorial...thank you!!!!

KaHolly said...

Pretty clever, Jenny!! I can think of a dozen uses for this technique! Thanks so much.

Elaine said...

Thanks Jenny, I now have a doable way to feature a piece of needlepoint from my former neighbor. Your tutorials always make it easy :)

Melody said...

I've always wondered how to do this and your tutorial is brilliant, so clear and easy to understand. Thank you so much for the beautiful comment you left on my blog today - you are the sweetest person ever.

Julie said...

Hi Jenny, thanks so much for sharing this great tutorial. I must confess I would never have known this was how you do it but you are sooo right ... it is easy. I look forward to giving this a go.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jenny awesome tutorial,Thankyou for sharing.xx

Createology said...

Simple and Sweet way to frame such a lovely stitchery. Thank you for sharing. I will search for something to frame. Creative Window Frame Bliss...

Unknown said...

Oh! It's just gorgeous. I was wondering how you did it! Thanks :-)

Debbie said...

Thanks for the tutorial, Jenny. My favorite is the original one where you used the fabric with the beaded embellishment!

Anonymous said...

what a nice and clever way to finish...Thanks a lot!! And Thank you for at very inspirational blog...I follow you from Denmark :) From Marianne

Thoeria said...

Thanks for another awesome tutorial Jenny! Have a wonderful weekend :)

cucki said...

So pretty
Thank you for sharing x

Kriza said...

Lovely, thank you! Why don't you use the frixion pen for tracing stitcheries? I usually use them for marking things when sewing and then iron it, and the lines disappear. Did you have bad experiences with them or what is your reason? I don't want to ruin sg if this would be the case... Thanks!

Margot said...

Thank you for the tutorial Jenny, beautiful...its lovely!!

Águeda said...

Thank you. It is a beautifull job.I Love it. :)

Águeda said...

Thankyou .It is a beautifull job. i love it.:)

Tammy said...

Great tutorial. Always wondered how to do that...Thank you.

Judy1522 said...

Thank you for the tutorial and the link to your husband's recording. I love listening to his voice with his wonderful accent. Very easy listening and of course very uplifting.

Allie said...

Well that looks easy enough for ME to try, lol! Thank you sweetie!!!

Joyce said...

These are so pretty! I have done this type of thing for many years. When I first started to embroider more than tea towels I had them framed and that quickly became too expensive! So I started making this type of fabric frame. Only I use a plate or make them square or rectangular, very simple. I often make a patchwork border and quilt my pieces too! https://flic.kr/p/917vL2
Glad to see this tutorial so others will get inspired. Your blog is wonderful!

Roseli Becker said...

Olá Jenny bom estar aqui em seu blog.
Tenho um site que ensina a distância e começo nova fase com tudo novo.
O primeiro ponto, adivinha? Ponto atrás e suas variantes.
Não poderia deixar de apreciar seus trabalhos.
Muito carinho, muita alegria e perfeição.
Continue que adoramos você.
Breve no site Patchaula daremos crédito desta inspiração.
Continue com Jesus.

Joanne said...

Hi Jenny,
Thanks for this lovely idea!
I will be using with Buzz and bloom ...Aprils' Rewind Stitchery club !
hugs,
Joanne