One Man in a Boat
Oh, there are posts queueing up in my head waiting to be written, but this evening I must content myself with showing you some progress on my latest Oyster-inspired project. I’ve been nudging it gently along over the past few days, and it’s now at the point where I can start adding the surface stitching.
You can just faintly see the mast and the broadly grinning boatman, which will be stitched using colours chosen in consultation with the artist.
The boat and sail are reverse-appliquéd. This means that the pattern pieces sit behind the main fabric, which is cut to reveal them and sewn down.1 The sea section uses normal appliqué (or obverse appliqué, you could say, if you wanted to be infuriatingly pedantic … which, let’s face it, I generally do).
I decided to do it this way for a few reasons. Chief among them was the fact that I’d never tried reverse appliqué before, and I was curious wildly excited to give it a go.
But also, the acute angles on the boat and sail are much easier to handle with the reverse method, because you’re not trying to fold two edges under the same tiny point of fabric. Considering that the pattern pieces are themselves made up of several tiny scraps, the less finicky tucking and pinching I have to do, the better. (By “better” I mean “not so sweary, and with less of that ear-prickling frustration that is unique to fiddly sewing”.)
By contrast, the obtuse angles on the sea section work fine with ordinary appliqué – which is good, because the reverse method would leave only a few threads of background fabric between the sea and the boat, as well as causing problems with colliding turnunders (is that even a word?). I wanted to preserve that narrow strip, because it’s in the original drawing. The way I’ve done it, the three pieces of fabric (sea, background, boat) are tiered comfortably and do exactly what they’re told.
So now I’ve hooped it up, quite loosely so as not to put too much pressure on my stitching, and I’ll be embroidering it – all going to plan – over the next few days. The coarse weave of the background fabric means that those acute angles, despite their unfiddliness, are a little ragged, so I think I’ll be disguising that with some embroidery too.
I’m really pleased with how this is turning out. Children’s art for the win!
1 If you’re interested in the technique, I recommend Diane Gilleland’s tutorial How to Reverse-Applique a Tote Bag.
You’ve inspired me. I have a simple boat drawing that I did for silk painting. I think I’ll try applique-ing it. Maybe with felt so I don’t have to worry about turnunders (I have sewing fear)
Very intriguing! I like combining applique with embroidery on small pieces but have never been brave enough to try reverse applique. Looking forward to seeing more of this piece as it progresses.
@Mollydot: Go you! I’ve seen your boat drawing, and I think it’d look great. Felt would be perfect for it, too. Can you do blanket stitch? That can make a really pretty edge on felt appliqué pieces.
@Tracy: I’m grinning at the idea that I’ve been brave … although now I think of it, if I’d messed up my background fabric that would’ve been a bit of a disaster! Eep! Let’s say it didn’t seem brave at the time
I don’t know blanket stitch, but I could give it a go. I assume you do that before appliqué-ing (is there a better way of writing that?), so I could always cuts out another piece of felt if it doesn’t work.
@Mollydot: Ooh, good question! No, you’d do the blanket stitch as the appliqué stitch, if that makes sense. (If it doesn’t, I’d be delighted – nay, overjoyed – to give you an in-person tutorial some time.)