As I said yesterday, I really haven't had any me time for sewing in months. So, as today was the international posting deadline for the For The Love of Solids Swap on Flickr, I've had to do some serious planning and sewing the last few nights after work ... But ...
... I foundation pieced my wacky triangles idea!! I can't quite believe it ... This is the only thing I've ever foundation pieced, except for a pathetically disastrous quarter of a flying geese circle a year ago which took me 3 hours, was hell and I didn't even leave enough for seam allowance! *shudder*
This time I watched a gazillion videos and read a gazillion wise and talented people to help psych myself up. This is one of my big things I wanted to do this year. To give it another go.
So, I drew the pattern in my notebook ...
then I blew it up on the photocopier and taped it all together ...
I traced it onto extra large tracing paper and then used that as my foundation, pre-folding all the lines before I started sewing ... I have to say that taking all the guesswork out of where the bloomin fabric goes made it a hell of a lot easier for me. That and the 'butterfly' trick really helped me keep my cool ... It came together pretty quickly.
I only had to rip one seam (forgot the butterfly trick! Doh!) and I used an add a 1/4" ruler for trimming back - what a brilliant thing it is (I bought it at Bletchley!)
I didn't even practice easier ones first ... But what I did do was unplug RoboSew (my sluggish one year old Brother) and dust off glorious beautiful Damiel - my 50s Novum again ... honestly ... it sews like butter, I may never go back to modernity ...
So here's how it came out! Not bad eh? Not perfect by any means, but I'm delighted and massively relieved that my partner will be getting something at least acceptable and only just fashionably late!
It's backed and bound with a deep turquoise linen and ready for quilting tomorrow and the post on Monday, so it's only a day or so late ... not bad considering what I took on! I'll post more pics another day but I just wanted to share my delight at conquering a fear! If any of you reading this are yet to take the leap I can only say that if I can ... anyone can ... You just need to be logical (and use tracing paper LOL!)
I think I might be a convert ...
