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A Quick Way To Brighten Your Kitchen using the BERNINA 350PETwo of my favorite things are cooking and sewing patchwork projects. I have a serious stash of food related fabrics and needed something to brighten up my kitchen so this patchwork embellished kitchen towel was born.
I had a plain white waffle kitchen towel I got at WalMart. It measures 15 inches across. I started doing the math on how many prints I could fit in and decided if the patches were 1.5 inches across, that would work nicely. That meant I needed 10 different food fabrics. Did I have enough in my stash of scraps? You bet (and then some)!
Since each piece would get a 1/4 inch seam, I cut the prints 2 inches wide and settled on 3 inches for the height. Go ahead and wash your towel before you get started, in case it shrinks.
The BERNINA 350 Patchwork Edition has an optional expanded work surface. It slides right in and pops in place, giving you a larger area to sew piecework. I started by placing the first two prints right side together then sewing up the 3 inch sides with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I pressed the seam open, grabbed the next print and sewed that one on.
Here's the last piece being sewn on. It came together really fast!
I decided that red ric rac would make an excellent accent to the patchwork piece. This is jumbo sized ric rac and my first time working with it. I pinned it to the right side of the patchwork.
Then I just sewed straight down the center of the ric rac. It was really easy to keep it centered, using the BERNINA's pressure foot as a guide. Here's a side view showing how straight down the center the seam was.
Once it's sewed on, just turn it under and press. How easy and how fancy looking!
I pinned the patchwork strip to the towel about 5 inches up from the bottom. The extra 1/4 inch of fabric on both end pieces (the blueberries and the blackberries) got tucked under and pinned in place. I didn't want the stitching to be obvious from the back of the towel so I kept the bobbin thread white when I switched the top thread to a vibrant red. The patchwork was secured to the towel with a straight stitch along all four sides.
I love how this quick project turned out and plan to make bunches more.
Packaged with some homemade soap and strawberry preserves in a handmade pottery bowl, it makes the perfect hostess gift!
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