Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Perfect Miter


I made this stitch sampler a long, long time ago when I was a different person, with different aesthetics. When I was done with the embroidery, I had no idea what to do with it. So it kept going into the store room and from time to time, I'll discover it and I'll say I must make something with it. But then I never do. The thing is I'm quite uncomfortable with unfinished projects especially if I've spent a huge amount of time on it already. If it's unfinished, I keep feeling that I need to finish it. Even if it takes years. Well, this time I'm happy to report that I finally finished it.

My idea is nothing fantastic. I thought I'll just make a border around the sampler so it looks like a photo frame. It came out more like a quilt. Except I didn't sew any quilting lines because well, it's a stitch sampler! But I added batting and a backing. I did a self-binding fold over thingy. Looking at the sampler, I don't have much empty space around the stitches. So I decided my finished fold will only be 1/2"  wide all around. To get that result I cut my backing larger all round by 1".

I make 2 folds for every side. The first fold is 1". Open up the fold again. Make a second fold 1/2" wide to hide the raw edges of the backing.

Position as above - raw edge of folds meets the raw edge of sampler. From each corner of backing fabric, mark 1" away from the corner. Why 1"? It's actually 2 X finished fold. So whatever your border width you use, just multiply the FINISHED FOLD WIDTH by 2. Mine is 2 X 1/2" = 1".

Draw a line to join the 2 points.

Right sides together, match the points.

Pinning on the line helps with the alignment.

Sew on line. Very important to backstitch. Trim bulk.

Turn to right side. Use a point turner to get your corners sharp. Repeat for all corners.

Pin border to sampler. Use walking foot to sew round the border close to the edge to secure all 3 layers together.

This is the back.

In front - perfect miter.

How many of these stitches do you recognise or use?

3rd UFO completed. YAY! This one, I'm patting myself on the back several times. Woo hoo!!!

3 comments:

Jane McLellan said...

Absolutely, pat on the back deserved.

Barwitzki said...

Jipieee... super laget :-))) Fantastisk. Gratulere deg.
Enig med deg. Det er flott å fullføre noe.
AdventsHILSEN til deg. Viola

Projects By Jane said...

Thanks Jane McLellan and Barwitzki. I just remembered the cross stitch fabric I used for the stitches was bought at least 25 years ago! That's like, like heirloom(ish).

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