I’ve documented my love for this little sewing book — and not just because there is a tree on the cover. (But hey, sewing trees is my thing.) Last week, after seeing a friend’s scrappy quilt posted on Instagram, I dug into one of the projects I’d long wanted to tackle: the French applique patchwork tree pillow.
Backstory: I was/am procrastinating giving my attention to a different rather large assignment. So why not get started with a fairly complicated sewing project?
Right.
This pattern is from Fussy Cut, whose blog is craft gold. I’d never before done French applique — the technique of cutting away a top layer to reveal a pattern beneath. It took guts after 5 hours of sewing to take scissors to the top piece of muslin, hoping for the best. But thank goodness — it worked.
However, before this pillow could be completed, I ran out of bias tape. Note — one package of 3 yards of bias tape is this much too short for this project:
Also note — the nearest fabric store to my NJ home is 35 minutes each direction. I’ll let you fill in the swears. They were plentiful.
I would not be deterred. I jumped in the car first thing Saturday morning and got the necessary supplies to finish up this baby.
I am so very pleased with how it came out. The points are far from perfect, but the technique has given me a slew of new ideas for projects. I can’t wait to play. And of course, I have to wait. Because once I had dragged out all of the sewing supplies and made our dining room a huge mess, I started another rather complicated patchwork sewing project only to have my sewing machine go kaput.
Yet another lesson in frustration.
Sadly, no more sewing until my machine sees the shop. Guess I can’t procrastinate all the other work awaiting my attention.
Wait. There is always knitting…
~K