Will this work? (strange new-to-me idea)

**lpsewing** · 10-07-2012, 04:11 PM

Amazing !!
Love the colors,very nicely done.

**QuiltE** · 10-06-2012, 06:24 AM

Beautiful and oh so effective, MTS!

**MTS** · 10-06-2012, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by QuiltE

Beautiful and oh so effective, MTS!

Thanks. In hindsight I probably should have curved the inner side as well but I was petrified of ruining the piece.
Doesn't matter anyway because the person who came after me screwed the whole aesthetic up - just slapped on a horrible border.
Yeah, I know, kumbaya and all that.
Too bad.

But you can see how a straight piano keys border, while still (would that be whilst?) having the ombre effect, would have been kinda boring.

It was incredibly easy to do once I got going.

@Jenel -
I think it's has a great idea of curving your underwater backgrounds.

Here's a quick tutorial - there are plenty more. Using "free form" gets you more than "freestyle" in your Google search.
http://www.sewn.net.au/TipsTools/Tut...edPiecing.aspx

**Tartan** · 10-06-2012, 06:36 AM

I think I would go with applique. Since they are batiks and they fray very little, I would draw a curvy line on a narrow stip of wonder under. I would iron it to the back of one section and then cut the wavy line. I would peel off the paper and lay it over the next colour and fuse it in place. I would either do a straight stitch about 1/8 of an inch inside the wave to secure it or a fancy stitch if it wouldn't interfer with what I wanted to put over top it. Are you other shapes going to be fused applique or needle turn? The line of fusible would not be any bulkier than two 1/4 inch seam line to me but if you were worried you could use mistyfuse for a softer feel.
You could just stitch down the background strip without fusible. If I did it that way, I would stitch down the line I wanted and then carefully trim close to the stitching line with my duck billed applique scissors. I look forward to seeing what your underwater scenes look like.

**JenelTX** · 10-06-2012, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by Tartan

Are you other shapes going to be fused applique or needle turn?

I don't know. I've never done applique before, so I'm going to have to figure that out. LOL

**QuiltE** · 10-06-2012, 06:49 AM

MTS ... ITA that a regular piano key border just would have been so boooooooring! Your curved piano keys set the pace in the first place. Then the effect of the straight edge vs. wave as the straight line frames the centre stark straight appearance. That wave pulls the centre curly-q right into action!

As for that following person and their non-enthusiasm for imagination in the final border ... argghhhh!!!!

**GrannieAnnie** · 10-06-2012, 07:07 AM

Originally Posted by JenelTX

I want to create two side-by-side applique'd wall hangings of an underwater scene. I've never done applique before, so it will be a fun challenge. For the underwater background, I found a great fat quarter bundle of Caribbean blue batiks, going from dark to light. What I'd like to do is cut the fat quarters into different width strips, put right sides together, sew together in a wavy line, and then cut away the additional fabric beyond the 1/4-inch seam allowance. Is there any reason this will not work? Are there any special tricks for pressing a curved seam?

Won't work because you fabric will never lay flat if you sew face to face.

What you can do is lay one face up on another and then sew wavy lines (tiny stitches) and then trim as close to the seam as possible--top only. You will have raw edges. OR if you're really ambitious, cut the edges 3/8" or so and then tuck under and sew a sort of hem on the top one.

**Deborahlees** · 10-06-2012, 08:51 AM

I did a wall hanging, early this year, for a School Raffel Fund Raiser, it was called "Under the Sea". It turned out so cute. It had a 'sand' bottom and then the sea in blue layers, and yes I used batiks, even found some with sea creatures in it, think they were whales, gentle curve can be sewn then trimed and clip heavy. my pattern added
little pieces of added seaweed on the bottom. I'm sorry I can't share of pic with you of what I did...a computer virus ate all my pictures from the last ten years

**JenelTX** · 10-06-2012, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by Deborahlees

a computer virus ate all my pictures from the last ten years

Oh, NO!!! That's TERRIBLE! I'm so sorry. Your underwater scene sounds wonderful. I would've loved to have seen it.

**Prism99** · 10-06-2012, 11:01 AM

Another way to do this is to first draw your applique piece on freezer paper, including the wavy lines going across. Number your piece in some way, and you may want to make a copy so you can put the pieces back exactly as drawn. Cut the freezer paper along the wavy lines. Iron the pieces to the wrong side of fabrics. Rough cut, leaving up to 1 inch extra around the freezer paper. Start reassembling the pieces. What you want to do is turn under the seam allowance on a top piece and then machine applique this to an underneath piece. For the top piece, you probably want to trim the seam allowance to 1/4" and turn under with a glue stick.

Sharon Malec describes this technique better than I have in some of her books. Here is a link to her website:
http://www.malec-designs.com/

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