I finally made something recognizable! lol. I made this as part of a messenger bag I'm planning, but now that I have finished it, I am loving it so much that I may end up making a quilt out of a bunch of these squares. Wanna see?
Once I got the hang of this, it was a LOT of fun. Things I learned:
1 - For me, the hoop was a big help - in the beginning. I outlined the project with it and then took it out of the hoop to add in some more lines.
2 - Use a thick, sturdy fabric, or really good stabilizer. I used some upholstery fabric and backed it with flannel because I was out of both stabilizer and interfacing. The fabric was strong enough to hold up well but my earlier attempts on thinner fabric were not quite so pretty.
3 - relax and have fun. Once you get a feeling for what's going to happen things go smoother.
4 - Make sure you're putting your darning foot on the right way (mine was upside down and things just don't work out right that way) and that you remember to put your presser foot switch thing down. It will be easy to forget since you aren't using your regular presser foot, but do it anyway. Unless you like thread tangles and jammed up bobbins, anyway.
5 - You can use regular old printer paper with your design printed on it as a template. I put mine right in the hoop with the fabric and sewed right through it. The only thing is, when I took the paper off, I wasn't careful enough and ripped a few stitches out. In my case, that was no biggie, since I was intending to go over everything a few more times anyway to give it that 'sketched' look. Also, I forgot to brush off a scrap of paper under the tree. It's really annoying in those pictures, but I swear, it's off now and looks much better!
And I think that's it as far as tips and what I learned. I really did have a lot of fun and am already looking around for my next idea!
