Sunday, February 1, 2015

Hive 2 - February - Applique Butterfly/flies

I had a long hard think about this block...

Last year - I did an Applique flower block and the results we fabulous!  Please excuse the very wonky picture!!!





So I played around with something similar...  the final decision was a "Butterfly Block"




So.......

You will need:
·                     Background Block:     Scraps enough to make a scrappy 12.5" block
·                     Butterfly/flies:       Contrasting scraps to the background
·                      Applique method of your choice:  I used bondaweb and blanket stitched
·                     Threads:   Your choice for the blocks, and your choice for the buttefly/flies.  I used a contrast as I wanted to see the blanket stitch

Basic instructions:
I don't want to patronise so will not labour these too much!

Background Block
Please make a scrappy neutral background.  This can be bright, neutral, light or dark - as long as the butterfly you use stands out it doesn't matter.

Only two rules:
·                     Finished block is 12.5" Square
·                     Ideally NO Crazy patch (please!), i.e. all nice squares and rectangles, no triangles, wonky lines!  Sorry this plays with my head, so nice regular blocks please  :)


My Background:

·                     I used greys cut into 2.5 strips.
·                     Pieced horizontally to a block around 14” square….
·                     Then squared to 12.5” “squiffy” – i.e. not straight to give it a bit of interest!


Easy so far?


Now for the fun bit!

The Butterfly/flies:
Feel free to applique one or more butterflies in whichever method you feel most comfortable, i.e. turned edge, raw edge etc.

As we are not trying to turn this into a mammoth time frame, the raw edge method is by far the quickest!

If you aren't familiar with this, I've done a brief tutorial below:
·                     Decide on a butterfly / flies design – I Googled a few things for inspiration:
·                      Butterfly Silhouettes
·                     Butterfly Applique


·                     All gave me a few options…..  I printed a few out and then had a play drawing them


·                     Select some fabric that will ensure this Butterfly/flies stands out from your background - you really don't want all this work to be lost and disappear into the background.
·                     Find a design you want then transfer the individual elements to bondaweb – don’t forget the overlaps!!,  (don't forget to draw on the non-sticky side, and that you get the opposite of what you draw!)
·                     Draw however many “Wings” you need for you design and cut out - NOT on the lines, but leaving a rough 1/8" - 1/4! around:




·                     Iron this onto the WRONG side of you fabric
·                     Cut out on the lines




·                     I used the Teflon sheet method to initially align.  Simply remove the backing and iron all the pieces onto a non-stick (baking) teflon sheet - EXACLTY how you want them to be as “butterflies”. 




·                     Allow to cool, peel off as one “solid” butterfly, position where you want the butterfly/flies on your background and re-iron in the final position (saves a lot of faffing with trying to get the wings in the right place!)


·                     As this is raw edge appliqué you need to stitch around.  How you do this is your choice.  A running stich all around?  Blanket stitch?  Wide zigzag?  YOU decide!
·                     I love blanket stitch so I used that in different colours – feel free to have  aplay with different stitched





If you are not confident or worried about a wavy line - have a practise on some scraps. A few wonky stitched wings, really isn't an issue, BUT if you are really worried, leave this bit and I'll do this when I receive - but go on have a go!

Hopefully - you'll end up with something like this! 









My question:

Who would your 4 ideal dinner guests be:  Real, imaginary, Dead or alive?

Mine are:  Stephen Fry, Einstein, Margaret Thatcher and Jools Holland






 Enjoy!  Any questions let me know!

2 comments:

Angela N. said...

Fun!
Question: for the butterflies, do you prefer for us to deviate the shapes/designs from the ones you used? Or would you like them to be similar in shapes?
Cant wait to get started!

Twinkle Toes said...

Angela - your block your design....

No stipulations from me at all... have fun playing :)

One big one, lots of little ones... completely up to you :)