TUTORIALS

Square Within A Square Within A Square–A Tutorial

by Karen on February 2, 2012

in quilts, Square Within A Square Within A Square

I have had several beginning quilters ask me how I’m I making these colorful black/red/white squares.  I am sure there are pattern instructions out there somewhere in blog land but as I’m not even sure if there is a name for this I’m not sure where to direct you.  These have been in recent years referred to as “Modern Blocks” why? I don’t know – surely quilters have been making these for years.  Maybe it is because of the newer designs used in fabric?  I sometimes think it is just that the new designers of quilting blocks want it all to sound fresh and “modern”!!

So here is a tutorial for those of you who want to know how to make these blocks – if you know how to use your sewing machine, or hand piece you will learn it quickly.

1- For each square you need 3 colors – cut a 2 1/2 inch block for your center from one color, from the second color cut 2 – 2 1/2 inch blocks and 2- 6 1/2 inch strips.  From the 3rd color cut 2-6 1/2 inch strips and 2- 10 1/2 inch strips.  I use the assemble line process so I stack them up in order they will be used.

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2 – grab your center block and one of the 2 1/2 inch blocks from the next color and sew your 1/4 inch seam, for assembly line you leave it in the machine – sew as many blocks as you have assembled – I have 5 of them here I think. (this is also referred to as chain piecing)

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3 – when you are done with this group cut apart and stack them in order so your pieces will flow for the next section. Now you sew the next 2 1/2 inch square to the other side. When you are done, cut them apart and stack.

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4 – now I take them to the ironing board and I press the seams open – you can press to the side if you want to.  For hand quilting (I don’t know if this will be hand quilted or machine quilted) it is easier to quilt through seams that are pressed open.  Please forgive the scorched up board I really need to get a new one or make one.

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5- now take your 6 1/2 inch strips of the same color and again do the same way – sew one side, cut apart and then do the other side.  Take to the board to press your seams.  When doing it this way I sew without using pins – it goes faster and it all lays flat.

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This is what you now have.  A Square with in a Square

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6 – now take your 6 1/2 inch strips from your last color selection and repeat the steps you have already done finishing with your 10 1/2 inch strips last.  My completed block with the seams pressed open.

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the front, when you are done with your blocks trim them straight.  Make as many as you want to make – it just depends on how large or small you want your quilt.  Now you have a Square within a Square within a Square!

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What I have so far – yikes! I am running out of room – I think in a day or two I will need to get the big portable design wall out.  I am making more than I thought I would have and I still have about half of my strips left to make more blocks out of.  I think I will need to just stack them up from now on until I get the design wall out. This is not the final order of the blocks – I will play with it and move things around until I am satisfied with color placement.

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I hope this has helped you beginners out there in blog land – I am not the best at step by step, if you have questions – ask! Smile

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How To Cover Up Mistakes

by Karen on January 8, 2012

in circles, Joseph's Coat--Morning Glory, quilts

Now I know a lot of quilters – me included – make mistakes.  We don’t always point them out and sometimes we hope no one else will notice them.  We don’t always take close up photos of our mistakes – but  – I wanted to share this with you all because I know what has been happening with my Joseph’s Coat quilt might be something that would make some quilters toss it in their UFO pile and be so put out about it that they would never finish it.  I love my Joseph’s Coat quilt but I have been having a lot of trouble with the centers of the designs. So I’m sharing.  So as one quilter to others I am sharing my mistakes and showing what can be done to fix it – call it a learning experience Smile

Here are photos of some of the centers so you can see what I mean – some are pretty good, some aren’t – this one is one of the better ones!

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Kind of off but I can live with it.

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This one has a little hole in it – now I could do a applique stitch and pull it in and it might work, but I have more of these scattered around.  This happens when you have so many oval shapes coming together in the middle.

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This one –oops what happened here!  doesn’t look good at all, needs to be taken apart and fixed or maybe just covered up!

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One could fix all these centers up by covering them up!! Circles to the rescue Smile

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The black circles look good on all the colors.  It kind of makes it look like Daisy Chains.

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The red diagonal row is pressed in sections and ready to be sewed together to form the next diagonal row.

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The moral to this story is don’t let your piecing mistakes turn a quilt into a UFO – take a look at your quilt top and see if there is a fix for it that you can live with and make it into a quilt that you love enough to finish it.  This quilt is perfect for the circle fix – some quilt tops you can fix by placing an applique flower over a mistake or 5 or 6 flowers scattered though out – over the mistakes and in other places so it looks intentional – whatever it needs to fix it and still look good.  If you do not want to take time to go back over things taking pieces apart and re-sewing make a fix!

Looks like I will be making a lot of circles – but they are fun to make – here is a tutorial I did several years ago on my method.

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Loading a 3 Roller Hand Quilting Frame

by Karen on December 16, 2011

in Quilt Top on 3 Roller Hand Quilting Frame, quilts, TUTORIALS

tn_FreeVintageImagesofChristmasClipArt33_jpgI was asked by several to do a blog post on how I get a large quilt on my quilting frame.  As I was ready to put one on I thought I would blog about it.  This is a long post!

First off my hand quilting frame is not a Grace Frame or whatever brands are out there in quilt land so mine might work differently than those you might have seen.  My frame was hand crafted out of oak by an old gentleman near the Branson Missouri area about 12 to 15 years ago.  He had his own shop and some of us where lucky enough to purchase one before he passed away some years back.  The frame was his design so it is different from the Grace, Hinterburg – others?

This is how I load mine – as I say others might do it differently – I follow the instructions that he gave me.

Press your quilt and fold it in half lengthwise – press on the half way mark and mark it with a wash out pen if you want to.

On my bars there are half way marks so I know where the centers of the leaders are.  The black mark is on all three rollers for the center.  On my quilt top I have it iron pressed and a blue mark for my center.

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First I put my quilt top on the back bar pinning it to the cloth.  Then I roll it up, straightening it out as I go to make sure it is even and straight.

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I continue to roll it and walk back and forth along the back of the quilt (by the wall) smoothing it out as I go and continue until it is all on the back roller.

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It helps to drape the quilt over the rods and have it hanging as straight as you can to the floor – it helps with the flow of rolling.

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The rollers are a “cog” type of roller system, with the latches down in the slots it locks in place.  With the “lock” up you can move the rollers.

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When I get the top all rolled up on the back I pull some of it back out and pin it to the very front roller.  Then I roll it back and forth several times to make sure it is all straight and even.  Sometimes you only need to do this once, sometimes it takes several times to get it all straight.

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This time I only had to roll back and forth once to get it all straight.  Now I roll it all back to the back roller and unpin from the front.

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As you can see in this photo the quilt top is now on the back rod and out of my way so I can work on the batting and the back.  This morning was quilt group – we have a large room to work in so I brought my backing and batting with me. I placed my batting on the floor getting all of the wrinkles out and then placed my backing fabric on top of it.  This way I was able to make sure it was all straight and even.  I then folded it and brought it home.  You can load both pieces at once if you know what you are doing – otherwise you might need to load one at a time.  I pin both layers to the middle roller and now repeat the quilt top instructions.  Roll both layers on to the middle roller – walking back and forth in back of the frame I ease the wrinkles out and make sure it is loading smoothly as I roll.  I leave it draped over the front roller and have it as straight as I can so when I roll it = it will flow smoothly.

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Once the backing and batting are all rolled to the middle roller you are ready to pull that section to the front roller and pin in place.  The “leaders” as I believe they are called have stripe fabric and were glued onto the rollers straight so it is best to use a stripe as your marker to pin the fabric to.

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Here my batting and backing are rolled and pinned in place.  Now I do exactly as I do with the top – I roll it back and forth a couple times – loading all that is on the middle roll to the front and then back again just to make sure the wrinkles are out and that it is flowing right.  End with it all on the middle roller and lock in place.

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Unlock the back roller that the quilt top is on and gently pull it to the front over the middle roller holding the backing and the batting (that is why you lock the middle roller to hold all in place).  I have this end of the quilt top marked also for the center and I start pinning it to the front roller.

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Now on the sides of the quilt frame are pieces of fabric that you pin to the side of the quilt and tighten – this pulls the quilt tight on the frame with no wrinkles on the back or top.

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The whole quilt on the frame – I haven’t decided what pattern I will be quilting on this large border as of yet.  I thought I had a stencil that fit it but then found out I never bought the corner section that goes with it!  I bought it when traveling once and doubt I can find it now so I will come up with something new.

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This is the thread I will be using – I have 3 spools of it that I got on sale someplace – two will most likely be enough.  It is King Tut #917.  I won’t be starting on this quilt for a little bit – I need to figure out the border first.  I keep it tight while I draw the lines or design on and then I loosen it a little bit for the quilting –the needle glides though easier if it isn’t too tight.

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I hope this helps those that are thinking of getting a 3 roller frame or those that aren’t sure how to use the one you have.  I do this by myself but it works easier and faster to have help.  I have been doing it for so many years now that one this size takes me about 75 minutes to load the quilt by myself.

EDITED: I should have mentioned that when I first got this frame it took me about 3 hours to get a queen size quilt on the frame – it gets much, much easier as you do it over and over again :)

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The Next Step

by Karen on July 21, 2011

in Joseph's Coat, Joseph's Coat--Morning Glory, quilts

I showed earlier today how to get started on the Joseph’s Coat quilt.  I am continuing on from there – keep in mind that with as many colors that I am using it is harder to put together because you have to constantly be checking for color placement – if you are doing a two color quilt it will go much faster. The section on the top is the one that I showed you how to do this morning.  I then put these two pieces together after I went back to the design wall to check and make sure it was the pieces I wanted.

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Now after I sewed these two segment together which just entailed the one seam – the melon nesting next to the back ground piece I had to join it to the first circle.

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I lay both of the pieces on my design board so I make sure I don’t get confused on where I want them – yes it is easy to get mixed up!

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Match up your center of the two pieces.

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Pin in the center and then pin as I did earlier doing a whole melon on each side of the center.

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I use little pencil dashes on these until I get some of the pieces printed out using the Inklingo method – which I will show tomorrow or another day.

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When I get to the center point I kind of ease it open a bit holding back seams so I can see how far in to sew – then I slip the needle through all those seams to start stitching on the next melon.

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Pressed and stuck back up on the wall.  I wasn’t pleased with how the center came together, the points didn’t match quite right – but I wasn’t displeased enough to take it apart – this will be a big quilt – lots of points – if anyone wants to find all the places they don’t match let them Smile As I get pieces stitched the pieces on the wall look like they don’t match – that is just because of the seams being in there now – as I go I will move things over in place a bit so that I don’t get confused on what goes where!

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I might get back to this one later today – but maybe not.  I hope this has helped some of you who have not worked with melon shapes – this quilt could also be appliqued if you would want to I have seen it done both ways.

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How To Hand Piece Joseph’s Coat–A Tutorial

by Karen on July 21, 2011

in Inklingo, Joseph's Coat, Joseph's Coat--Morning Glory, quilts, TUTORIALS

I have had several write me that they think this quilt will be very difficult and would be hard to make.  I thought I would show you how to do it in sections – it probably looks like it is more difficult than it actually is.  I do believe all quilts when broken down into sections is much easier to do than one might think.  We all do this in our own way of course as we all have learned or taught ourselves our own method.

First of all, I said I was doing Joseph’s Coat with Inklingo a method of printing your templates directly onto fabric.  I will be printing out most of my melons with Inklingo but I found that I could get more pieces out of my yardage for the odd shape background pieces by just pressing my freezer paper templates onto the fabric and squeezing as many as I can on it and then cutting out with the rotary cutter and/or scissors. (this is due to the odd shape, when using most other shapes you do not waste a lot of fabric)  I have on these first melon pieces used pencil to draw out seam lines – but will be using the Inklingo to print on the melon pieces from now and spent part of yesterday preparing some.  This piece I am showing you has the pencil marks – I will show the Inklingo another day.

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I have these pieces cut and ready to go.  I take them off of my wall and put on this small felt board to keep them in order and not forget placement – the empty spot on the lower area shows where I took them from. As you can see I have put my first colors of yellow/orange on the wall – I will need to work this whole section before I add more color as I have no plans to get my portable design wall out right now.

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Don’t take too many pieces off of your design area at one time or you might get mixed up also I have a 12 inch square here so can’t fit many on it which is a good thing I think.

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step 2:  finger press the center of your pieces – I do this as I work so only the two pieces I am ready to sew are finger pressed in the center.

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Step 3:  pin, these melon shapes are gently curved there is no need to clip anything to help it along – start in the center and pin the center, then work out – use as many pins as you are comfortable with – it doesn’t matter if you need more or less than I do – it is for you to be comfortable with what you are working on.

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Step 4:  hand stitch or machine stitch – up to you – I am hand piecing – this one little section just took a couple minutes – I use a running stitch and back stitch every 10 stitches or so for added strength.  The melons are six inches so big enough to handle easily.

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Step 5: when I am working on each section in the living room or where ever I am stitching I just gently finger press the seam down a little – press towards the melon, it lays flat easily.

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it is now ready to move to the next melon.

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When I get this whole section sewn I will take another photo and show you later today or tomorrow how this is attached to what is now on the wall.  A section this size doesn’t take long to make at all – depending on how often you get up to do something else that is!!

By working on one section at a time = I get plenty of exercise because I normally work in the living room for hand piecing and then get up and go to the sewing room to press with the iron and place on the wall and get more pieces.  This is important to me because I stiffen up easily in the hips and knees because of osteoarthritis.

I hope this little tutorial shows you how easy it is to do this and that it is easier to make than one might think.

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Sharing

by Karen on July 9, 2011

in paper piecing

To me one of the things about quilting is sharing information! As we all know prices are going up on everything – just plain everything from pins and needles and other notions to fabric and beyond.  I would not think that paper could be so much different in price though.  But it is!!

The other day on my yahoo group for the Farmer’s Wife some were talking of how they are paper piecing some or most of their blocks and that got me to thinking about paper Smile yes paper.  For paper piecing if you are printing your patterns out from a printer you need a clear sheet of paper.  Some people use regular copy paper for this.  To me – my opinion – I want something a little lighter than copy paper.

Some years back I came across some paper that Carol Doak sells – she is a queen of paper piecing so I thought I had to have it – it must be good.  Now if you only buy from quilt shops and on line quilt shops and do not shop for bargains don’t bother to read the rest of what I say – and this is nothing against Carol or any other well known quilter who is making some money off of the rest of us quilters who buy their stuff!!  We buy it and pay the prices because we just have to have it, right?

But if you want to save some money on paper piecing – read this! Smile

Paper piecing paper is Newsprint paper – the light slightly recycled look of paper – not white.  Did you know that newsprint is what some children’s scribble tablets are made from?  I did some comparison shopping – I was out shopping anyway so this did no hardship in time or gas money for me.

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Carol Doak – 100 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper – a big whopping $9.95 plus shipping and handling if you order on line.  I am using Carol as an example – I don’t have a clue who else sells under their name.

Wal-Mart – a 60 sheet tablet of 9 x 12 inch paper – $1.88

Hobby Lobby – a 100 sheet table 9 x 12 inch paper – after using my 40% off coupon $1.79

The tablets – the doodle pad on the left is Wal-Mart (in the school supply area) the one on the right is Hobby Lobby (comes in various sizes in the drawing section area)

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What I did – my start time:

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gently tear all of the sheets out of the tablets – you can do this using about 20 sheets at a time if you want.  Using you rotary blade – my blade needs changing so I used it – you might want to not use your sharp blade but use one of your old ones.  I cut the paper to 8 1/2 x 11 inches to fit the printer. I was able to cut through 20 to 30 sheets at a time easily.

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My stacks of cut down to size paper – Wal-Mart, Carol’s (didn’t need cutting) and Hobby Lobby.

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Finished time – took me 9 minutes – included pulling the paper out of the tablets, cutting and photos.

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I got 160 sheets of the same kind of paper, minus the brand name and saved money – my total –$3.76 the same amount with brand name would cost me $15.92 (the only plus is that I wouldn’t need to take several minutes to cut it down to size).  That might not be a big deal – but hey that could buy a yard of fabric – and it gave me a blog post Smile  I’m sure some of you can find even better prices and offers.  I do not do a whole lot of paper piecing but I like to have some on hand for when I do – well I now have enough to last me a very long time LOL

Have a good weekend everyone!

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Tutorial – Printing On Fabric

by Karen on June 12, 2011

in Printing on Fabric, quilts, TUTORIALS

Back to the Signature Wedding Quilt.  My next step was to get some photos printed out on fabric.  I don’t always have luck with this but I got some done last night and today.

So here is my tutorial on how to print photos on fabric – I’m sure there are other ways and some of them might be better than mine so if you want to try it out search around and and read up on it.  This is my way to do it.  This way involves treating your own fabric not purchasing the pretreated fabric that is ready to run through your printer – that kind is fine too but I find most brands are meant for machine sewing only and as we know I do more hand work than machine.

Step 1: Buy some Bubble Jet Set 2000.  You can find it at a variety of places and you can find it at some quilt shops and maybe even Hobby Lobby.  Everything you need to get started you can find at the link above – this is where I get my Bubble Jet from, the fabric and the freezer paper.

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Step 2:  Cut your fabric to fit the freezer paper – 8 1/2 x 11 inches if you have not purchased the freezer paper from the above link.  This is a little more expensive than the big butcher rolls of freezer paper but it is already cut and it is a little thicker I find then the rolls of paper you can buy at the grocery store.  It is so handy and always ready to feed through your printer or to use to trace something out of a book – it is flat!!

Step 3:  Put on your rubber gloves – I don’t know what happens if you don’t do this but maybe your skin will burn?  I don’t think so though – it also says to use in a well ventilated area but I have never smelled anything from it.

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Step 4: following the directions on the bottle place your fabric in a shallow pan and pour the chemical over it and let it soak for 5 minutes.  Make sure your fabric is completely covered with the liquid.

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I always set my timer to make sure I do it right!

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Step 5:  When the timer goes off take your fabric out of the pan, I squeeze gently to remove a lot of the excess liquid.  Lay the fabric on a towel and let it dry.  I always place the pan that I use the funnel in the dishwasher so I don’t forget they need cleaning before being used for anything else.

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Step 6: Pour the used liquid back in the bottle – it is still good and can be used some more – it has always worked for me Smilealso a money saver – sorry I forgot to clean my sink before I took the photo – I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead.

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Step 7:  I let my fabric dry over night and then this morning I got my iron out and found out it was no longer working – what is with irons – they never seem to last more than a year or two before they give out on you no matter the price – I always keep a small iron in the sewing room for pressing seams and it is also the iron I keep in the motorhome now I will have to find another for that purpose – I got out the iron I keep for pressing big pieces of fabric and clothes when they are too wrinkled to wear out in public.

Anyhow – I digress – iron your treated fabric to get all the wrinkles out of it.

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Step 8 : Iron your fabric with a hot iron to the shiny side of the freezer paper.

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Step 9:  Trim the edges so that there are no unraveled edges to get trapped in your printer.  If you are printing out something that is 8 1/2 x 11 inches make sure to only cut off a tiny bit on each side if there are raveled edges.

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Step 10:  Have your photos selected the size that you want and insert the freezer paper/treated fabric in your printer – in my printer that is the fabric side down but depending on the printer this might not work for you.  I have also found that not all printer ink stays in fabric – you need to check and see if your printer does that before you print out a bunch.  I have two HP printers – one is a wireless scanner/copier/printer and doesn’t work on fabric – it is the more expensive of the two also so one would think it would work but I have found that the color washes right out – the one I use for fabric is my HP Deskjet D2545 that if I recall right I got for under $100 and it seems to always work.

Step 11: Now that you have your photo printed on your fabric let it set for 30 minutes.

Step 12:  Peel off the freezer paper and take your fabric photo to a bowl of soapy water – use as gentle of a soap as you have – I found some Orvis Soap for quilts that Wanda from Exuberant Color recommended to me and it worked great.  A tiny bit goes a long way – I put in less than a quarter teaspoon of the soap in the bowl of cold water that I used and it was plenty.

Swish the fabric photo around in the soapy water and then rinse thoroughly in cold water.  Put on a towel to dry or dry with a hair dryer.

This one of the photos that I printed.  I printed some that the bride had in black and white and some in color.  I found my black and white prints turned out much better than the color – you might have different luck so try what you want.  Yes the edges on the right side are not very large but I am going to be taking care of that with some appliqued “pictured frames” around the photos – it will be ok.

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Step 13: turn your photo over and press with a hot iron – this is supposed to help set the ink.

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Step 14:  Work on your quilt!!  I will show more when I know what I am doing with the photos Smile I have to now figure out how I am designing the next step of the quilt to include the photos, some appliqued vines and leaves – I changed my mind on the pieced leave border – too much work!!

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Half Square Triangles = Mug Rug

by Karen on April 27, 2011

in quilts, triangulations

Just  last week I posted a tutorial on how to use the triangulations that I was practicing.  I had 24 half square triangles to make use of so I made a mug rug from them and practiced straight line machine quilting with it.  I forgot to post it

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Just the right size to add a small snack to it or to place a cup of tea on a saucer to catch spills – you don’t want to get it stained up too fast Smile the great things about these mug rugs though is the size – so fast to put these little babies together.  The lines aren’t perfectly straight but not too bad.

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We had more rain today but not bad rain – only heavy a couple times and not as heavy as it had been.  It is actually supposed to clear out in another hour and the sun come out for the next couple of days – I hope!!

The winners of the AQS quilt show in Paducah are posted.  Go HERE to see the winning quilts.  There are some really neat ones like usual.  I really like the applique on this ONE by Deborah Kemball – I liked it enough that I search for a book by her and ordered one this morning Smile more inspiration you know.

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Triangulations–Part Two–Tutorial

by Karen on April 22, 2011

in quilts, triangulations, TUTORIALS

I was asked yesterday how does this CD work  to get half square triangles as from looking at the sheet of paper it wasn’t clear – so here is a little tutorial.  Insert the CD in your computer and read the instructions – she has clear instructions.  Print out the size pattern you want on the kind of paper you want to use – I used Carol Doak’s paper piecing foundation paper as I had some on hand – you might want to print out several sizes and see exactly what they are – it displays on the computer screen really well so you can see what you have.

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The one I printed says 1  & 7/16th inches. I really do admit though that I do not understand the measurements.  If anyone can explain this please do! When I pressed my half squares out they measure 1 & 15/16ths square.  That is why I say you might want to make one and measure and see if it is the size you want. Trim your paper down – I leave about a quarter inch all the way around.  If anyone can tell me about the measurements I will let you all know what I learn. EDITED:  well don’t I feel stupid – there are 4 files on this program and I only looked at the first one.  The second file you can find the triangulations for finished sizes of 2 inches, 2 1/2 inches ect.

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Cut two pieces of cloth the same size (or a little larger is ok) and place right sides together and place the paper on top of it.  Put a couple pins in to hold the whole sandwich together.  Smooth out best you can.

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Sew on or right next to the dotted lines removing pins as you come to them – once you have some stitches in place it holds together well without pins – follow the arrows and use your up/down needle positions to turn the corners. Use a small stitch and your needle that you use for paper piecing or heavier than normal cloth – I use a #14 or #16

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Put the needle down, lift your presser foot, turn the paper and continue to follow the arrows.

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Yes I forgot to start with a full bobbin and ran out and had to take time to fill.  Even with following lines I can not stitch straight it seems Smile but that is ok with this as it is in the seam line – make sure you stay on the right side of the dotted lines!  You will need to make sure you are squared up and if you are off of the lines too much that means more squaring up is needed though.

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Using your ruler and rotary cutter cut on the solid lines, rows first, then do the individual blocks.

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cut the square in half on the solid line.

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trim your points on those solid lines

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Press to the print color fabric – or whichever way works for the color fabrics you are making. Peel the paper off. Pressing before you take the paper off helps to keep from stretching if you have a heavy hand – press straight down helps also.

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Then make into whatever design you want to make –

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This size makes 24 half square triangles with one sheet of paper.  I think I will turn this little experiment into a mug rug – maybe later today or Sunday.  There are so many sizes available on this CD that there is probably one in here someplace that finishes at 2 inches – I’m sure I just missed it.

You could print this onto fabric by putting your fabric on freezer paper and then put through your printer.  I would check though on a sample piece to see if any of the ink bleeds out onto the fabric.  You can also use this for hand piecing either by printing out directly onto the fabric or by printing out one on paper and using a light box  trace your lines on to your fabric.

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Clover Bias Stem Maker–Tutorial

by Karen on March 21, 2011

in Clover Bias Stem Maker, quilts, TUTORIALS

I was asked if I could show how to use the clover bias stem maker for applique by one of my readers.  Use the link above to see where you can buy it and what it looks like.  The bias stem makers come in a variety of sizes.  For all of them, cut the width of the opening plus a 1/8 to 1/4 inch on each side for the fold.  For the 1/4” that I am using I cut 3/4” inch strips of fabric.  If you have a 1/2” maker you cut your strips at least 1 inch ect.

1 – First you cut your fabric into bias strips.  I am using a stem maker that produces 1/4” stems, cut as many strips as you need.

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2- turning to the metal side of the gadget use a pointing object such as a stiletto to slide the fabric into the slot.  The fabric will fold automatically as you pull it out and press, you do not need to fold anything to get started.

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3- pull it out just a little bit to make sure the folds are even and you are ready to start.

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4- with your heated iron press down the edge that you pulled out, then gradually slide the gadget to your left while you press down on the folds on the right (if you are right handed – otherwise reverse order if you are a lefty)– you will get the hang of this and it goes quickly – just keep the iron down and keep pulling the gadget in the opposite direction.

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5- by keeping your iron down the whole time you will find you come to the end quickly and it all stays folded in place because you are pressing at the same time you are pulling the Clover product.

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6- When I am done I press the folded side one more time to make sure it is all in place, then I turn it over and press from the top.  Word of warning – if you decide to use spray starch after you have flipped it over it is possible from the moisture that your folds will come unfolded.

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Now I am ready to cut and glue baste in place.  Using my glue I dot on both sides of the fold to keep it in place.

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Press with your finger lightly and it will stay in place – you could pin if you prefer or pin and basting stitches.

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Part way done.  I will finish glue basting the stems in place then applique these flowers and stems in place then add a round of green at the base of each flower where the petals join the stems.  All of this will be needle turned applique in place then I will go on to the next round of applique which includes a different type of flower and the pineapples – with 27 tiny red circles in each 4 pineapples – won’t that be fun Sad smile

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I hope this helps.  These are inexpensive gadgets and I have at least 2 or 3 different sizes.  There is some fusible tape that you can also purchase that goes with these.  I have tried it and use it sometimes but I have found at times it shows through to the front and also when you iron it down it doesn’t always hold – or maybe my iron isn’t hot enough? I just know I have not always had luck with it.  If you use the fusible tape you put that in the gadget also.  The tape would go on the opposite side of the gadget – on the top – and you just move it along at the same time and your iron would be on top of the fusible tape.

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