Carolyn Pearce Strawberry Fayre heart etui 34: stitching the smalls onto the inner panels

I am currently stitching the Carolyn Pearce Strawberry Fayre heart etui as a stitchalong project. This week, I am stitching the smalls and pockets to keep the tools in, onto the inner heart panels. See the end of this post for all the information you’ll need to join in!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ***  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are four inner heart panels. Firstly  I’m working on the inner panels that will be attached to the front and back panels. Each one needs to be cut out with a one inch seam allowance, and iron on Vilene attached to the reverse of the stitched side, up to the tacked line. The muslin backing is also cut back to the tacked line, to reduce bulk.

Identify each panel, and which pockets and smalls go on it (as all four inner panels have the same embroidery on them it helps to just label them at this point). The heart shaped pockets go on the reverse of the front panel, and the pincushion and tape measure rectangular pocket goes on the reverse of the back panel.

For the panel with the pincushion, determine where the pincushion will go BUT DON’T STITCH IT ON YET!! Determine the position for the rectangular pocket (make sure it’s the correct sized one of the three), and pin then tack the pocket in place, then work Knotted Pearl Stitch (without beads in between) around the edge of the pocket,working through all layers of fabric to attach the pocket to the panel.

For the panel with the heart pockets, determine where the pockets will go first.

Then slipstitch the Ultrasuede reinforcing triangular pieces into place on the panel fabric itself.

Tack the pocket pieces into position over the triangles.

Then work Knotted Pearl Stitch around the edges, as you did with the rectangular pocket. If you are going to keep a long bodkin in the heart pocket on the right, then leave a gap at the very tip of the pocket, but continue to do the knotted pearl Stitch on the pocket itself as you go around the point of the pocket. As I’m not going to keep a bodkin in that pocket, I attached both pockets in the same way, stitching it to the fabric all round the tip on each one.

This is what Knotted Pearl Stitch looks like, sideways on – it’s a really good decorative stitch to use to attach the pockets.

Now reinforce the top V on each heart panel with small stitches done in sewing cotton that matches your fabric, for about half an inch out on each side of the V.

Run a gathering thread in the seam allowance and pull up to gather the fabric over the sides of the template plastic and two layers of thin wadding, as you did previously with the front and back panels. Lace across the back as before, taking care not to make the panels buckle. Lastly, remove any tacking stitches.

With the two side inner heart panels, they have iron on Vilene ironed to the backs, but they don’t have any template plastic used to stiffen them, as these panels need to be foldable. Iron Vilene to the remaining two plain fabric heart shaped pieces, too. These will be the backings for the folding inner heart panels.

Attach the mother of pearl thread rings to the right hand side of one of the side inner panels, and a pocket to the other side. Make sure that this pocket doesn’t extend over the centre line of the heart, as this heart needs to fold in half later!

Tack the pocket into position, and attach it using Knotted Pearl Stitch without beads.

With the final side inner heart panel, attach the flannel needle pages on the right hand side with a small button, and attach the smallest pocket on the left hand side as before with Knotted Pearl Stitch (again, making sure it doesn’t extend beyond the centre line of the panel).

The front and back (stiffened) panels with the inner (stiffened) panels can now be stitched together all the way round, wrong sides together, with strong sewing cotton in a shade to match your fabric.  The unstiffened inner side panels will be finished next week – this post has gone on for ages, sorry!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ***  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~INFORMATION~~~

The Strawberry Fayre design, plus the complete list of materials, appears in Inspirations magazine number 95. The publishers do sell a full materials pack  (not including the mother of pearl ruler though!), but it’s rather expensive, so if you can use your stash, and just fill in with bits and pieces, then so much the better! The magazine is published in Australia – if you live in the UK, as I do, it is cheaper to buy a back copy from Manor House Magazines, and save a lot on the shipping. 

EDIT: The materials pack from Inspirations, and the magazine from Manor House in the UK are not available any more as at March 2018 – I don’t know if any more stocks will be available now, unfortunately. The publishers may bring out a digital pattern pack later, which they sometimes do with popular projects from their magazines, but we’ll have to wait and see…..

To read about this project stitchalong from the beginning, start here. The post about which FABRIC to use is here. The post about the THREAD SUBSTITUTIONS that I made, plus WHERE TO BUY the threads and beads, etc., is here.

To look up all the posts in this series in the sidebar, see under the CATEGORIES list, under: Embroidery / Full size (others’ designs) / Strawberry Fayre heart etui, or use the SEARCH BOX at the top of the blog, and search for ‘Strawberry Fayre’ to get a list of all the posts (but it’s in reverse order, sorry!).

I’d be interested to see images of how your project is progressing – please email large, clear, well-focused images to mail@janetgranger.co.uk  Please bear in mind that any images sent may be used in this blog and/or social media such as Facebook or Pinterest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~