Thursday, September 23, 2010

Cathedral Windows ~ Step Three


The goal of this step is to sew up the unsewn edges, creating a fabric "pillow"

This is what we have, a nice rectangle, with the sides sewn.
short sides sewn

Now we are going to take the two seams and match up the centers.
matching points

We are going to be sewing along this line.
ready for sewing
We are NOT sewing over the center.  We are going to stop just short of the seam.
point sewing (2)

Since I like to chain piece, when I get to this point I stop with the needle down, lift the presser foot and turn the fabric.
turn and sewing
Then I lower the presser foot and sew off the edge, which serves nicely to lock the stitches.

Sew all of them like this.  Then clip them all apart.

This is what it looks like with one side sewn.

one side sewn (2)
Now, go back and do the same thing for the other side.

This is what it looks like at this point.
done sewing before turning
Remember, there's a hole at the center where all the seams meet. We want that.

Clip all four corners.
clip corners

Now the part I do in front of the tv. 
Turn them all inside out.
Generally the holes I leave at the center are on the small side, so I tug loose a few stitches to give me a bit more room to turn them.

Don't worry too much if you don't have nice sharp points, we'll fix that later.
hole in the middle

Voila, a fabric box/pillow thingy.
 
Mr. Chaos calls it "fabri-gami." (which I find funny 'cause I'm horrible at origami.) 

At this point, don't smooth them out.  Because of the way they're sewn, the edges are all on the bias, which means if you're not careful you can smooth them all out of whack and they aren't square anymore, which will cause difficulties later.

The next step will include ironing, so they will get nice and smooth.

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