teaching sewing confidence, tip by tip

Monday 20 April 2015

"It's The Stupidest Tea Party I Was Ever At" Said Alice


Super, super excited to share April's NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild Bee Block with you, I'm just loving the challenge set by
Queen Bee Emily N.


The Bee Block package included a piece of green cotton and instructions to create an applique block on the theme of 'Tea'.  Emily is obviously a girl after my own heart and tells us she's obsessed with tea.  We can use any fabrics from our stash as long as we use the green fabric somewhere in the block and Emily suggests to applique items such as cups & saucers, mugs, tiered cake stands, teapots and more.

It doesn't get any better for this English girl abroad, immediately I knew what I was making - it just had to be a teapot and rather than sketching my own to save time I pulled this teapot image by Colleen from her blog justpaintit.


Pulling fabrics was easy - 
in my stash I had this scrap of British Icons: London by Timeless Treasures and then I pulled some Olive the Ostrich pink heart fabric by Laurie Wisbrun.  A multi dot (C3095 White) fabric from the Timeless Treasures Indian Summer collection is absolutely perfect to link the colours together with the given green which I'm going to use as the background fabric for the finished block.

I've an idea to include some of my Queen's Guard ribbon (Berisfords Ribbons - The Best Of British Art 13605 Soldiers) and a strip of Alice in Wonderland cotton twill ribbon too.


The strip of Alice ribbon was given to me by Dee, one of my Late Night Sewing students,


she's used it in my classes to make tea cosies for a couple of her friends and she gave me this piece.  This seemed like the perfect time to use it, thanks Dee xxx

Here's a look at one of Dee's tea cosies too, isn't it fab?


 Back to making the block, here we go, step by step:

I cut the image into sections - I'm not going to use the lid handle so I didn't cut that bit out;


I transferred each section onto the paper side of the Pellon Wonder Under fusible web Emily provided being sure to draw the pieces back to front so the final applique will come out the correct way round;


I pressed each piece of Wonder Under on to the appropriate fabrics


and cut the pieces out.


Emily asked for a 9.5" block so I placed the pieces under a 9.5" square ruler to see how best to lay them out.  I'm opting for a blown apart design, having gaps between each section leaves the background fabric visible and pulls the colours together more.


With the placement decided I marked the outline of the block and the pieces on the green background fabric using a FriXion pen that'll disappear with the heat of the iron then peeled the backing paper from each piece and pressed to fix them in place.  (Be sure to test any marking pen first on a scrap of fabric first to be certain it will 'disappear' from your project - also note that FriXion pen marks are known to 'reappear' in cold temperatures.)


Before fixing the teapot lid I sewed the looped piece of Soldier ribbon in place as the handle.


With everything ironed and permanently fixed in place I freemotion scribble-stitched two or three times around the pieces and within minutes it was all done.

 I love, love, love how easy raw edge applique is and if you're interested in learning more click through to any of my other applique tutes below:


And photos of that finished block


  with a closer look at the scribble stitching,


and the tea pot lid/handle


and a peep at the back.


I've put so much of me and my home country into creating this block, I do hope Emily loves it as much as I do.

And now I think it's time for a well earned cup of tea x




Clicking on a image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)
 




     

38 comments:

  1. That is just such a great block. The soldier ribbon and Alice comment add a touch of humour. A nice simple tutorial too.

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  2. Really very lovely post and thanks for share. I like it.
    Forgot bt password

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  3. Lovely! I like your choice of fabric and the Alice quote. I was in Oxford on Sunday and many shop windows feature Alice souvenirs. With so many famous literary people having lived and written in Oxford, it's funny how this children's novel by a professor of Mathematics appears to be the only work to have inspired the local souvenir industry!

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    1. You've reminded me of home Marley, I lived near Oxford and visited frequently. I know it's the 150th anniversary of Carroll's Alice this year, I've watched a couple of English documentaries about it, so I'm wondering if that's what's influencing the souvenir trade too. Did you visit the Ashmolean or go up St Martin's 'Carfax' Tower, I'm very envious - Chris :D

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  4. Very cool little teapot! Love the edge stitch-sketching, it adds a neat detail.

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  5. Cute teapot! And the Alice quote made me laugh!

    Thanks for linking up to And Sew We Craft Together x

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  6. I love it!! You did a fantastic job and I'm sure she'll love it too.

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  7. So sweet! It really does look very British. What a lucky recipient for this block!

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  8. Great block - very English. And I love the scribble stitching - just keeps things a little bit edgy.

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  9. Adorable! I love the fabric and the quote :D

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  10. Ooh, I love Alice in Wonderland, and I love your teapot! Especially how you separated the elements of the applique rather than connecting them. It works great with the raw edge applique and gives a lot of energy to the piece somehow, like I can FEEL the chaos of the Mad Hatter's tea party. Your Queen Bee will love it!

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  11. That's fab, you definitely deserved a cuppa after that!

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  12. Here from HomeMattersParty
    Love this, so cute. What is freemotion scribble-stitch? I sew, but only have a plain machine.
    Raw edge applique would be more my style! Loved Dee's tea cozy as well.
    I blog about my journey as a homemaker, with some sewing thrown in
    http://purpleslobinrecovery.wordpress.com
    Melinda

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    1. Hi Melinda, When I draw with my machine I call it freemotion scribble-stitch, not sure what others call it but it's very similar to free motion quilting which you can find more info about on Google and YouTube. You can do it with any type of sewing machine you can lower your feed dogs or if your feed dogs don't lower your machine probably came with a darning plate that clips over the feed dogs to cover them. Once the feed dogs are out of the way, switch your foot to a darning or free motion foot and now you can sew in any direction not just backwards and forwards. Using this method you can draw pictures or 'scribble' and that's what I've done on this block around each teapot piece rather than using regular straight stitches. Give it a go, it's a lot of fun - Chris :D

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  13. I'm sure that Emily can't help but love it... you've taken such thought and care in the making of it.

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  14. Fab Block! Thanks for linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday. I always enjoy seeing what you have going on.

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  15. What a fabulous image to use for the block, I love the British fabric youve used for the body of the teapot too xx

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  16. What a great looking quilt block. I love the teapot and the little label finishes it off so well.

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  17. Oooo a very British block, I do love a cup of tea from a teapot. I love the way you have left a gap between the sections, it helps make the whole thing quirky and so fit's so well with the Alice quote. :)

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  18. What a fun design! Such cute fabrics too :) x

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  19. Alice in Wonderland is such a classic and appeals to young and old. Keep meaning to replace my 'Alice' items as know popular atm. Love the tea pot

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  20. I love that Alice quote ribbon! What a wonderful project to use it for. Gorgeously done!

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  21. It's beautiful Chrissie and I love the quote.

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  22. This is adorable! Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty :)

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  23. My goodness that is AMAZING. I'm in awe (and have never done this before so totally in awe!). Visiting from Sew Cute Tuesday by Blossom Heart Quilts.

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  24. Fab make, great fabric too, love it! Creative Blessings, Tracy x

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  25. That's an interesting project! And a beautiful tea pot too!

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  26. What a great block. I love your use of ribbon, and of the Alice quote. Defintiely the prefect block for a tea themed quilt.

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  27. Love the block! I made a set of teapot blocks and framed them for my mother a few years ago. She has them hanging in her kitchen.

    I hope you can stop by:

    http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2015/04/make-it-monday-stained-glass-granny_27.html

    Colletta

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  28. Beautiful work and a great tutorial. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  29. This is such a cute block you made. I love the way you designed the teapot and the little "ribbon" at the top if perfect!

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  30. What a wonderful block!!!! I love it!!

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  31. Another lovely block. I particularly enjoy the print with the Double Decker buses! Thanks for linking up (again) with TGIFF!

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  32. OH! I LOVE this! Oh, to be able to whip something like this up - you are so talented! Thanks so much for taking the time to link up with us over at the #HomeMattersParty - we hope to see you again on Friday! Feel free to bring a friend or two :)

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I love to hear from everyone, thank you for taking the time to read my blog and share your thoughts. Please leave a message to let me know you visited, it's a great way to get to know you all better too :)

Chris Dodsley


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