Friday 9 January 2015

Lily Rose: the Oval Frame

Its early morning when I take these images, apologies for the light quality. Today I'm working on the oval frame. I selected a gold fabric for my frame as I am after an antique patchy look. This is a fabric from my stash, its a few years old now but I always knew it would come in useful for something. I'm really pleased I didn't throw it out of my stash during my latest clear out in December. 
As you can see, I have created an oval frame from my template. Here I have selected my fabric. It's really important that your template is accurate, you don't want to have your oval cut at the wrong size. I'm actually gluing my template down onto the fabric to prevent warping. I only use Elmer's disappearing purple glue for this as its not a true 'glue' but rather a starch which makes it suitable for this purpose. You can also pin the template down accurately if you don't have the Elmer's.
Cut away the inside of the oval, 1/4 inch away from the seam (that is, the template)
I made my oval 'template' from Stitch n Wash fusible (that I had stuck together to create a big sheet before cutting out the oval template). This allows me to turn the edges of my seams and go ahead later and add batting (optional) without having the remove the template. I did this for ease and stability. And also, I happen to have a lot of fusible at the moment. If you made your template from paper, you would remove it now, and turn your edges over carefully according to the crease lines made by the paper when it was in position. This is another reason I can't recommend any other glue than Elmer's, because with the Elmer's, your paper template (if that is what you used) will release easily and won't skew your fabric or shape at this stage. 

With the fusible down, I don't need to remove it and this is what you see here. So I clip all the way around the oval carefully and not too deep. This allows me to turn the fabric without any buckling or creasing or ripples. 
Clip and turn all the way around. Your oval should be smooth with no bubbles of other turn indications on the front. When you place it over your paper pattern, it should fit perfectly.

It's time for me to make breakfast now - is a quilter's work never done??- and then I'll be returning to take take over the table once again and make my patchwork HST blocks.

5 comments:

  1. I did that with my mariner's compass for LE. Thanks for the photos, Esther.

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  2. Hi Esther it is lovely to see one of your tutorials again. It is so easy to follow and learn from. I have always enjoyed making ovals or circles for some reason. So glad you are having fun in the cooler days. Cheers Glenda

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  3. Oh I love seeing how you did this! That gold fabric is perfect!

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  4. I too use the Elmer's Purple Disappearing Glue. I love to English paper piece and use it to tack the papers to my fabric. All I need is the tiniest dab of glue to hold the paper templates in place. I had no idea that it is mainly starch but it makes sense. Thanks for that tidbit of information! Also thank you for the well explained tutorial!

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