Sunday 13 July 2014

Paper piecing ballerinas

I have been waiting for a break in the weather to take photos of my finished citrus sweet love quilt (Can't. Believe. It's. Finished.) but the sunshine only ever seems to come put when I'm at work.

Another wee project I've started in the meantime is a ballerina bag for Princess. She has recently started ballet lessons, which are ridiculously cute. All the little girls tiptoe around in lilac leotards with little ballerina skirts, having a lovely time. Hubby foolishly promised Princess I would make her a bag for her ballet gear when she started, but I've never quite got around to it. 

When I spotted Juliet's new pattern on Instagram I was all over her like a rash offering to pattern test - it looked perfect for job.  I totally was not creepy or beggy about it.  At all.  Right, Juliet?  Anyway it worked, because she sent the pattern through for testing.

This is to help you visualise what it will look like finished ...
It went together exactly like the instructions!  The only unpicking I did was due to my own stupidity, and had nothing to do with the pattern (the old wrong size fabric trick, and other such fun).

I think the result is fantastic - she is such a graceful ballerina - although these photos do not do her justice (blame the rubbish light, not my photo editing).

Pre-quilting

The block is 14" square, and I do not think you could make it much smaller, because two or three of those pieces were itty bitty.  But the great thing about paper piecing is that little pieces are no problem.  In fact I tend to have more problems with the great big pieces.  I have recently learned to use a few blobs of glue (from my Sewline glue pen) to fix the fabric to the paper - which keeps those big pieces from moving around until they are sewn in place.


The pattern did not have shoes, but I thought some pink at the bottom would balance her colours out.


I added some fabric to the top and bottom of the block, to make it the right size for a little Princess tote bag, and then quilted it in straight line quilting.

I now have to make the block for the back of the bag - I will be using Juliet's ballet shoes block for that.  Très perfect, huh?  But there is a little problem in that I am out of the aqua crab utensils fabric.  I need to have a rummage through the fabric boxes to see what I can find that will blend.  I definitely have more polka dots though - one must never run out of pink polka dots, you know?!  So finishing the bag is a job for another weekend!

I hope you have had a lovely weekend.  Nice of you to stop by!