Little Bird's been fussy, needy and clingy lately (teething), so I haven't been sewing as much as I'd like to, although I've made a few things during his naptimes that I'll post about at some point.
I did learn a technique this week called chain piecing, something I'd never heard or read about before. It's a great trick, but it feels strange at first, especially for a new sewer, to sew without any fabric underneath the foot!
I first came across this technique while sewing a fabric ball for Little Bird using Purl Bee's tutorial here. After doing a Google search for more information, it seems to be used mostly by quilters, but could be useful in other areas of sewing, too.
For example, I needed to sew a seam through several different flower petals for the brooches I am making (awesome pattern by Fabric Boutique for purchase here on Etsy). Rather than clip my thread each time, I would just place my next flower right behind the previous one and keep on stitching. When I was finished, I would snip between each flower to disconnect them all. It looks like this when you're finished sewing, before you snip:
Saves a little bit of thread and a lot of time trimming ends when you're finished. I think I could go even closer next time.
Quiltcetera provides a great photo-tutorial on flickr here. I also came across chain piecing in action here, again on The Purl Bee, as part of a party garland (I was doing a little first-birthday-party planning!)
No comments:
Post a Comment