December 6, 2013

Stitching by Hand


I have been remiss in my pledge to post EVERY week so I am posting before my usual Sunday this time. I have no excuses other than the lack of ideas and projects.

I spent way too much time on this pillow. I noticed a resurgence of interest in paper piecing and had done it years ago back when I actually taught some quilting classes locally. Everything was by hand then. An organization I was in produced a full size quilt to raffle out of these little hexies.
It worked well for the group as everyone could learn the process quickly. It  didn't require exceptional sewing skills. Everyone could work at home and then we could assemble them. It was all in the typical 70's shades of brown and oranges, as I recall.

I had made a few other pillows for my Etsy shop using some of the rare reds and greens in my fabric stash. I prefer this acid green and red to the more traditional Christmas green. With absolutely no plan in mind for how these would be arranged, I began cutting out paper hexies and hand basting them into the fabric hexes. If you have never done it this tutorial is very good. Mine were not nearly as neatly sewn. I just baste through the paper and tear out the stitches later.

I sewed and sewed and sewed these little buggers and my hand got achy from it. THAT never happened back in the 70's!  I would lay them out just to see how much yardage I had created and was dismayed by the measly supply. 

I had great visions of a fabulous never before seen pattern of amazement like this:
Or this:


Alas, not even close and I was only aiming for pillow size. I have 43 hexagons in this tree and I am tired, tired, tired of sewing them and looking at them and the result is questionable. I did put it on my Etsy shop, though. Why not? Maybe someone out there will love it and give it a good home.


Whether you sell your sewing or not, do you think that you should love everything you make before you offer it at a price to someone else? Please comment.

2 comments:

  1. No. I don't think it is necessary to love everything you make before selling. Something about one man's trash is another man's treasure...At least by selling them, you know that your effort is not wasted since the things will be going to people who appreciate them enough to pay for them.

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  2. I don't personally love everything I make before I sell it, but almost always the person who commissioned it does, as they are getting as close to exactly what they want, what they have asked me to make... but then, I almost never make and sell things just at random, but rather mostly to folks that know my enameling, metalwork, and sewing skills, and request a particular thing that they cannot find elsewhere

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