Saturday, January 9, 2010

Needle Turn Saga Part 2

Sorry, these posts are out of order, I was having trouble uploading the pictures, so I posted what I had done, upgraded the software and now will finish up. Scroll down the page for the starting steps, then come back here.

Here are some tricks I discovered about stitchinig down those raw edges to the new filler strips.

First off, I found that it works much better to be working on a flat surface.  This allowed me to turn under about 1/3 of the petal then finger-press. 

Pin the finger pressed section in place then stitch. 
As you approach the outer edge of the petal, stop about 1 1/2 inches from the end and tuck under the point.  Give it a good pinch to finger press a sharp point. 

Use the needle to smooth the edge from the point to where you paused...then stitch to the point and secure your stitches on the back. 
Finish the opposing petal from the outside-in. 



Have those center points "kiss". Tack them in place and finish the raw edges on the left and right as with the previous trio.


2 comments:

-girl from the bush said...

hi Marjorie, just been looking at the blocks. they are looking good. Do you use spray starch when doing the applique to give it 'body' ? I was thinking of trying this in nedle turn too, but when kellie said it would be hard i was put off. I want to do it but am still looking and thinking. sue

Marjorie said...

Hi Sue. The basic blocks were extremely easy using back-basting needle turn. In fact it's much faster, as back-basting skips 5-6 steps of petal prep and positioning from Kellie's technique (plus a rather expensive product that wasn't in my budget). I did steam/starch the background blocks to get sharp 1/4 lines for placement, but it doesn't make any difference in the applique process. I also ironed after stitching to keep everything laying flat.
The only place it gets tricky using needle turn is the joining. If you are new to applique, Kellie's technique is much better. If you have experience with needle turn, this is pretty easy.
If you want to give this a go...I'd be happy to coach you. And also post more details on my process.