Saturday, November 7, 2009

The Playmat Part 4

Next up were the butterflies. I sewed the big butterfly's wings together first with batting and cellophane inside - actually it's not regular wrapping cellophane as this didn't have a satisfying crackle when played with. I used a Glad oven roasting bag which is slightly thicker, will stand up to being washed and has a lovely snap when ruffled. The wings are three dimensional so they were sewn together then attached to the butterfly body on the playmat which had 4 layers of batting under it to make it really stand out.



The little butterflies were next sewn in place similar to how the flower leaves were. They have a single layer of batting under the wings but not the body...



...which I defined using a matching embroidery floss that contrasted nicely when sewn around the wings.





A little bit of back stitchng to sew the centre of the big butterfly's wings down and the edges are free for bubs to tug on...



...and this corner is complete too.



Next up was to sew all the worm's body segments in place and this went fairly fast. When I came to the blue fur I used a tiny blanket stitch as this is the only piece that doesn't have a folded edge so I couldn't use the ladder stitch and the fur covers the stitching anyway so it can't be seen.



My worm looked a bit naked once finished...



...so he wound up with antennas and feet and morphed into a caterpillar.



Last corner was the tree. The truck and branches were ironed in place with HEATnBOND...



...and then due to the nature of the material used which had such a loose weave that frayed very easily, I used a crossed back stitch with the wrong side of the stitch facing to secure the edges. This brown material has a lovely coarse feeling to it - great for a tree trunk.



And lastly, I secured the base of the felt leaves with a double cross stitch in a matching thread which leaves them free for ruffling tiny fingers through.



So all the hand sewing is finished....



...and now it's back to the sewing machine to add a border, backing piece and cover the half-hoops.

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