Applique Thread: what a difference 80wt makes...

I've been steadily progressing with my Sarah Fielke Simple Folk quilt.  The animals are so enjoyable to sew.  I usually use Aurifil 50wt for applique; I have so many colours that I can nearly always colour match and I found the stitches were hardly visible.  I do have one or two reels of 80wt thread from retreat goodie bags and although I've tried this lighter weight for piecing (which didn't work out), I hadn't tried it for applique and the grey seemed like a good match.  It was amazing, invisible stitches even at the V areas around the feet where there are many extra stitches to compensate for fraying fabric.

It's hard to see the difference but you can feel it as you stitch.  For hand piecing, I found the thread just didn't hold up to the pulling, especially loading several stitches onto a needle at once.  But, for applique it's a game changer for me.  I only have three colours of 80wt so I'm planning some future additions.  As it's so lightweight, there's so much thread on each bobbin (274 metres) that it would take forever to finish one so it seems like a soound investment for future applique!   I used it with a size 11 Jeana Kimball straw needle, very fine, and it flowed through the fabric with no knots or tangles.

Rainbow Rack of Spools

Amber's theme for Ringo Pie in April was 'Sewing' and I have just finished her block- a Rainbow Rack of Spools.  Sewing is always a great theme and has brought inspirational blocks from Ringo Pie members!

All freezer paper pieced, the same method that I did at the Fat Quarterly Retreat- and there are more spool patterns and how to do Y seams in the Fat Quarterly Retreat issue- available here!

I love spools, I never tire of them, even with all the Y seams- practice really helps.  I added a few Aurifil spools here too, in amongst the wooden ones!  I am working on a pattern for this and variations with Penny for a mini sewing starter themed set for Sew-Ichigo- more news soon!

Zakka Style Sew a long Week 5

I have been seeing lots of Zakka style projects on all over blogland and Flickr, it seems a lot of you are sewing a long.  Many of the patterns are so quick and easy and offer a great opportunity to personalise  add your own spin so you can make them for special recipients.  If you are really organised, you can get all your Christmas makes done extra early!  I opted for the scrappy Patchwork Pencil Case designed by Shannon Dreval of Petits Details.  Mine is a gift for a horsey girl- I just need to add her initial to the fastener at the front to finish it off.  Shannon has some lovely embroidery and French inspired stitching on her website, well worth a look.

The pattern suggests using tightly woven lightweight linen and I used Essex linen/cotton blend in 'Sand' by Robert Kaufman.  I always have a little stash of this as it is a great basic to work with and I get mine from Mandy at Simply Solids.  It doesn't fray as easily as 100% linen and is perfect for stamping and adding embroidery thread/floss.  I used the pattern measurements but added extra scraps to the linen and lining sections to squeeze more fabrics in.

The fabrics are mainly Heather Ross prints ( thankyou Amber and Krista for sharing scraps) with a few extra text and fruit stash additions to keep those horses fed.  I regularly use stamping in my makes so I thought I would share a little tip.   Take the pad to the stamp and tap the ink onto the stamp.  this is a lot more effective than pressing the stamp onto the pad.  Small ink pads are easier to work with than large ones.  I use Versacraft.  It sets easily with an iron and has staying power.

I love this alphabet rolling stamp, it has small letters and is quick to use.  I got the idea when Penny used one at Sew-Ichigo.  You can find them on Etsy under supplies with the search 'alphabet rolling stamp'.

By taking the pad to the stamp there is less mess and excess ink, I use a bit of wet kitchen paper roll to catch any unwanted bits.

And stamping does work rather well with a little stitching.  Lecien were kind enough to send all the blog hop project makers a selection of floss and a colour card of their Cosmo threads, and Katy was even kinder and shared some of her Cosmo with me to give me even more colours!

 Cosmo threads seem to be easily available in USA but for those of us outside, I found a good selection at Pink Castle Fabrics on Etsy and a great choice at The Workroom.

They are the silkiest and prettiest threads.  I have done a fair amount of cross stitch in my time and tended to use DMC but these outclass those, more sheen I think, all I know is I totally fell in love with them!  I used a chenille needle which has a blunt narrow end for my stitching.

 This is the back, I enjoyed the fussy cutting here!

There is a good technique for joining the lining to the outer but take your time and read the instructions carefully at this point otherwise everything will be the wrong way round!  It is a quick make and, like many of the projects, a versatile pattern.

And of course, my piecing was done as always with Aurifil 50wt.  I cannot do anything other than wholly and completely recommend this thread, I use it for all my piecing and a lot of my quilting and  nothing beats it.  Want some?  Five variety packs await your comments.  I will give 3 to UK residents, 2  for outside the UK.  To enter leave a comment and tell me about a food from your country.  I'll start you off, when we visit my husband's parents in Preston, Lancashire, we always pick up a couple of Butter Pies. These are a local delicacy restricted to the Preston area only.  Meat free and a reminder of the strong Catholic links to Lancashire I can't tell you how delicious they are.  They taste strongly savoury and definitely not of butter.  I am not a fan of pastry or butter but these surpass both those things!  

So share some of your culinary heritage and don't forget to incude the country that you are in.  Giveaway closes midnight 6th May GMT, I need to be able to contact the winners so add your email address if it is not in your profile.

You can add pics of your makes to  the Zakka Style Sew a long Flickr group and find the blog hop info here! And for more giving away, visit Lindsey's blog here where you will find all the sew-along info along with new Kaufman linen essex printed fabrics to win!

***Comments are now closed!***

Threads

I am spending a lot of time  fumbling around with technology.  I just got an ipad, I don't have an iphone so this is instead I guess and sort of like a laptop.  Some of it is intuitive and some of it I spend ages trying to work out using google.   This parcel arrived today, super fast from Lecien- that alone made me squeak but the contents really did make me very happy.  This is Cosmo stranded embroidery thread/floss and it is the first time I have seen any.  It is absolutely beautiful.

Lecien are one of the sponsors for the Zakka Style Sew Along- the latest post for this is over at Amy's blog with a very cute house, or even cottage style zipper pouch.  I haven't had sponsors on the blog here, only on projects that I have been a little part of.  No one has contacted me and I haven't searched for it.  I have mixed feelings on sponsorship.  I do get sent materials and I am happy promoting what I really like to use, like Aurifil- I could endorse that all day long.   I am more than happy to mention the Cosmo embroider thread , it is of the most incredible quality- even though I have no idea where I am going to buy more in the UK, and I am definitely planning on more of this!  If you know of UK suppliers, please let me know!  My turn in the Zakka Sew-a-long is coming soon and the Cosmo will feature in my take on the project I am making. There is an Aurifil giveaway at each Zakka sew along blog post and these little trial packs are a great way to fmailiarise yourself with the different weights of thread and Lynne is hosting chance to win a lot more and indulge your creativity in creating a thread mosaic.  You really should look at these, there are some amazing images in this group.
Meanwhile, the Sew-Ichigo patterns are nearly ready, we are just at the final formating stage and I posted a new tote bag tutorial today that uses three of the blocks from the new pattern collection.

 I have also added an extra bonus quicker stage to the lasso tutorial with a great tip supplied by Alison of Little Island.  And if you have had problems leaving a comment, I have sorted a little glitch that was hiding the comment link.  I changed my blog layout recently so I could get bigger pics and that always creates some invisible hiccups!  Any other problems,  please let me know.

A* for Aurifil

 I guess you've seen the hype.  Aurifil threads have been all over blogland.   Until relatively recently I thought Aurifil was for overlockers and they only produced cones of overlock thread, I don't know where I got that notion but the only bit that is correct is the massive cones!  Aurifil are obviously on a big promo push and I was happy to test their threads out.  I was pretty keen on the thread I already used, especially YLI soft touch for piecing- did you notice the past tense there?  My allegiance has changed.

This is what has turned me, Ne 50/2 ply for piecing and applique.  It has a beautiful sheen and feels incredibly fine and smooth.  Thread weight is not always easy to spot on a spool but it is significant- the higher the large number the finer the thread.  You can read more about thread weights here.  A freebie is not enough to win my stitching pennies, performance is everything- I feel like I am talking about a sports car now- but this thread really performs!

You can see why whenyou look at it next to the YLI soft touch- the secret is in the fibres- both have long staple cotton fibres but you can see the fuzz of the grey YLI, the red Aurifil has much silkier smoother. I am guessing that the length of the Aurifil fibres is quite a bit longer than the YLI fibres resulting in smoother thread and less fluffy deposits in your machine.  

As a result this thread sews like a dream, it produces less tangles when starting and securing  a seam and gives amazing accuracy.  The Ne. 50 weight 2 ply is fine so it takes up less space in the seam.  In a 1/4 inch seam every little bit that is lost and gained makes a significant difference to accuracy so a good piecing thread is a vital tool for me.  It is going to be a dream to freezer paper piece with! 

A back view just so you can see more stitching.  These tiny stitches  are 1.5 length on my Janome.

You can see all the points match up nicely, not always easy when 100% linen is involved.

I tired a different thread for some hand sewn top stitch detail.  This was Ne. 12 described as suitable for Sashiko and embellishment.  It is silky smooth and glided through the linen.

I tested some of the other threads for hand stitch details.  Firstly, you can see the 12 weight wool thread 50% wool, 50% cotton.  This is more fluffy and gives a bit of texture on the linen.  I used a sashiko needle and thimble to add these thicker threads.

I ran another line of stitches with Ne. 12 in cotton in  gold.

Aurifil have  a huge variety of colours-216 for each thread weight.  I was lucky enough to have shade cards sent and as I have never seen this thread in a bricks and mortar shop I can see they will be incredibly useful.  I mainly use neutrals and those are what I am going to buy first. Where to buy from?  I found these UK online suppliers via google but there are more...  A further plus is that the spools contain a lot of thread for your money- for me this is going to be more economical, gotta love that...

http://thetabbycat.com/shop/

http://www.cottonpatch.co.uk/acatalog/Aurifil_50.html

http://www.new-threads.com/aurifil-thread-15-c.asp - a very large selection

http://www.thefatquarters.co.uk/threads-aurifil-threads.irc

So now the giveaway.  Four packs, each containing a selection of different colours and weights  await your comments- to enter please leave a comment, if you want a theme for your comment recommend me some great music to listen to, I am still obsessed with Ben Howard and welcome any new suggestions.  Otherwise any old comment will do.  I need your email in your profile or  your comment so I can notify the winners.  Comments close  Midnight GMT Sunday 14th August.  I'll use a random type choosing method.  International entries are welcome- I am happy to post these anywhere, but meanwhile they are staying with me- don't worry I'll take good care of them.  I won't respond to giveaway comments but good luck and enjoy a  bit of Ben.  He is gigging around the UK from October and I got tickets!

Errant behaviour

Damian and Lula are away visiting relatives  so only 36 hours after they have left I am practically feral, having to remind myself to eat at regular intervals, returning to the house because I  am wearing odd flip flops- definitely not a matching pair.  My hands can't take the strain if I sew non stop- which is what I really want to so- so I have to break it up with dog walks, phone calls, paperwork, faffing around, but I have made good progress on my Portfolio Dress.

The main fabric is from some curtains I found at the car boot sale a few months back.  They are cotton with cotton lining so I cut the fabric as if it was two layers to make a lined dress the easy way!

The contrast fabric is Sweetwater Sunkissed- nice to have a bit of text fabric in clothing.  I have completed one arm- the left in this picture but I am going to make the sleeve detail the Sweetwater print too- it doesn't quite balance without the contrast.  It is a well behaved pattern with interesting construction, especially the front pockets.  It did come up quite large and I have taken the sides in.  I also put tucks rather than gathers down the front, I find it a more flattering effect!

I have recently had some great deliveries.  This was a large parcel from the states of a few Etsy vintage lots.

This was not an easy venture.  The seller hadn't sold overseas before, I gave her links to USPS website and the fixed price mailing system, she then agreed to sell and a few days later cancelled the purchase.  In the end I had to use my friend Kathy's mother's USA address and then have it mailed from there to UK, so I have Kathy to thank for its arrival.  It was worth it, there is fabric treasure within!  The fabric had come from an estate sale and had belonged to an elderly and life long quilter looking at the age of some of the pieces.  The sorting and washing of these has taken ages.  There is a large pile of scraps and also some bigger bits- mainly in red.   The print on the bottom is especially good- large sketchy grey apples and little red apples dotted on top.

These are solo scraps, bits that are just too precious to discard despite their marks and stains- I have soaked them so they are clean.  The designs are so reminiscent of different eras, I can't tell you how much I love them.

These are some of my favourite florals from the scraps- again these are mainly solo bits but I do have some multiples here.  

I have already started using them in my Pay it forward pincushions for Rachael, Suzanne and Leila

And these pretty Aurifil threads arrived today plus some testers for me.  I have already started my stringent testing procedure- lets just say these threads do not disappoint.  I'll add more details soon and I'll be giving these packs away so you can try them too.  Now the bath is probably overflowing as I am doing my usual trick of trying to push as much into the time as possible and over running.

Back soon x