Black & White Part Three

This is the part where I went a little crazy with the Black and White themed apron I made recently for Tie One On.  The previous posts can be found here and here.

I thought the apron was finished and I was really pleased with the result.

Then I decided the bottom section was a little too plain and black.  I've been doing a little bit of free motion quilting recently and I still don't feel as comfortable as I'd like to be when doing it.  I thought maybe I'd use this black "canvas" to practice some more.

i switched my presser foot from the one on the right to the one on the left

this free-motion quilting foot is great

i had to unscrew and remove the entire foot

then i screwed the other one on

i thought it might be a good idea to use a scrap piece of fabric

to test-run this flower idea i had

so far so good

ugh

ugh-ly

i might need some more practice...

at least the petals sort of met in the middle this time

also, you'll notice the freezer paper that i ironed on to the back

the freezer paper helped to give some bulk to the fabric

i thought maybe if i circled the center it might make the petals look like they meet up nicely

This is where i have a problem with my free-motion sewing.  I love the way it looks when someone else does it.  When I'm doing it however, I am way too critical and need things to line up too perfectly.  I am getting better about just enjoying the end result and not worrying too much about the few stray stitches along the way.  I do like the way it looks in the end, but I still have trouble letting myself go during the process.

So I thought I better just skip the FOURTH test run and dive in to the apron.  I also told myself that no matter how bad it came out I wouldn't use my seam ripper.

i ironed a big piece of freezer paper to the back of the apron bottom

i also grabbed my spray bottle which came in handy later

i sketched a flower chain with some chalk

just so i could have a general idea of where

the flowers should be placed

here it is after stitching

you can see that it doesn't line up exactly

that's ok

i like how it looks

i LIKE the imperfections

(those last three phrases are my new mantra)

this is how the freezer paper looks after stitching

it's a little easier to see the stiches here

you can also see how i got about two flowers in

when my bobbin thread ran out

seriously?

i was so nervous about the whole process

and it's going along great

i'm repeating my mantra

that's ok

i like how it looks

i LIKE the imperfections

then my bobbin thread ran out

so frustrating

it didn't stop me though

i just tied the threads together on the back

when i was done

then i used my trusty spray bottle

i like that it's orange

spraying the paper makes it a little easier to remove

peel away the pieces of the freezer paper from the back

gently use a tweezer if necessary

it helps to remove the smaller bits

this is the back and you can still see a few

pieces of the paper stuck in the centers

that's ok

they'll work their way out eventually

i also used the spray bottle to remove the chalk from the front

i must say i really do like how the flowers look

much better once the chalk lines were removed

now it doesn't look so plain right?

i can't wait to wear this apron

i had no idea what it would look like when i started

but i love how it turned out

now it's time to tackle a quilt using this flower chain stitch