Friday, September 22, 2017

Batik is back!

20170921-P1470092 So I am finally back at the sewing machine. I have taken a week off work to settle Penelope into school so every morning I get three hours to myself. I admit, the first few days I just sat on the sofa worrying but by day three I had poked my nose into the cellar to bring up all the stuff I needed. My sewing world is so messy I have to keep it hidden away. I mean just look at the mess of my public shelf.

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What a mess! Anyway, after a bit of a tidy up I got out all my batik blocks and laid them out. I was three blocks short so I got to use some of my new fabric as I was running low on mum's stash.

20170919-P1470075 Finally I trimmed each block, some of mine were way off. Should have measured as I went along. Luckily nothing much needs to line up. I used my great new ruler I bought ages ago for some project or other. It's really great. I love Le Summit rulers.

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This is the perfect size and the markings are really useful. Then I laid them out and numbered them.

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I sewed the blocks into strips and ironed them. They are a bit lumpy because of the seams and the steam iron warped them a bit. Out of practice...

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It came together really quickly in the end and the central block is made! I do think it looks a bit odd laid out like this but it's when it scrunches up that it looks great. You need to have it on your lap to truly appreciate it. It's much brighter than mums which was not my intention at all. Plus mine has blue in it which I didn't realise hers did not. I think if I were to do it again I would choose less bright Batiks, but it's so weird trying to pick them out when I buy them. I just look at them and think 'ew, disgusting' but then, later on, I love them. So I found it very hard to choose them. I still think it will be great when it's done. Now I just need to sew on the borders today.

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