Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Still doing 15 minute

challenges.  15 minutes per day to clean something as thoroughly as possible.  I started with the desk top and kept on going to shelf #1
and then the second shelf
 You'll notice I'm only showing the "after" photos.
Ursula and I have signed and sealed a pact.  We each want to purge, cull, get rid of junk!  We have to post on Facebook each day what we have done.  Ursula is only getting time off when she goes to Montreal to see her new grand baby sometime this month.  (As you know, she now has a beautiful new grandson.)
One afternoon I wanted something I didn't have to do too much thinking about.  Someone is getting a new quilt for her birthday, so I thought......
a pillowcase either to use or store the quilt in.
I had one metre of fabric left over and a bit of that wonderful red poinsettia fabric.  7" or something like that.
I had no co-ordinating cones of thread for the case, so I blended threads.  The only thing I should have thought of was that dark brown for the straight stitch.  It should have been one of the "overcast" stitches.  Ah well, that's what happens when you want a "think~less" project!
I opted to have the flowers right at the edge instead of way up on the inside of the band.  
I sewed the top seam and again where the body of the case and the inside band joined.
I then serged the edge of the band.
Serging the edge gave me the perfect amount to turn under to form the hem.
I sewed up the long side and I tie the threads off and then used Fray Check on the knots.  I know you don't have to do all that, but these are gifts for people and I don't want any mishaps.
I tucked the band up inside, pinned it and then I used a "fancy" stitch to sew it down.
A dark grey thread on the inside and a Gütermann #3880 in the bobbin.  It blended right into the fabric.
The first photo shows the inside which is the thread I used in the machine
and this shows the outside with the thread I used in the bobbin.  It pulled a bit of the "top" thread through and I like the way it turned out.  Muted yes, but it gave the "snowflakes" life.
I like how the inside of the band shows when it is on the pillow.  I hope she'll be happy with it.
I think I'm going to keep making my pillowcases with the serger.  I find I don't have all those little bits of "feathers" from the fabric showing up in the seams.  I don't know what I do wrong when I use the french seam method, but they are always there.  I'm not using "cheap" fabric although I must say the thread count on some of the fabrics I'm using seems to be pretty loose.













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