Royal School of Needlework-- 2015 Courses

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

New Project--Love Entwined (The Compass)

Esther Aliu (Australia) has just made patterns available for her reproduction of the 1790's Coverlet called "Love Entwined".

Over a year ago, I had a very bad fall and have not been doing applique since.  I thought this would be a good quilt to get me stitching again. 

We have started with the central compass.  One would tend to stitch this by machine, but I decided to applique the compass. Below are the steps I followed (in case anyone is interested):

The compass work completed so far.


I started by enhancing the pattern by drawing with a black pen on a copy of the initial compass.
I wrote the colors I thought I might use for each section, rather than take the time to color it.






On the back of a piece of background fabric, I drew the pattern with soft pencil (#4).







After drawing the pattern with pencil, I stitched large basting stitches on the drawn lines, using a dark colored thread.






I only cut out one of each of the templates I needed, using freezer paper.





Using the one template for each equal section, I cut out the fabric pieces. I did not iron the freezer paper to the fabric, since that process slows me down.  I drew around the freezer paper template, then cut approximately 1/8 inch for a turn under line. (One could cut 1/4 inch and trim back as the fabric is applied to the background fabric.)





I started with the greens, because I didn't want a darker color showing through the light green. None of the greens were turned, but rather, just basted to the background fabric.


Then I applied the dark rose fabric, turning under the fabric as I stitched.


Taking a contrasting thread, I re-basted the turn under line for the gold pieces, then stitched them down.
After I finished stitching the gold pieces, I re-basted the design I would need for the light rose colored pieces.


I stitched down the lighter rose colored pieces, then re-basted the lines needed for the light colored pieces, using a contrasting thread.


After stitching the 4 light colored pieces, I trimmed the center part to make it look more manageable, then re-basted the center circle line.


Following the standard techniques for making a circle (cardboard cut to size, fabric cut 1/4 inch larger, running stitch through the 1/4 inch, draw up the running stitch tightly, then continue with additional running stitches to hold it, spray with water, iron, clip a thread or two, remove cardboard), then I stitched the dark green circle to the center.


Using contrasting fabric, I appliqued the outer circle to the compass (smaller circles around this area will be added soon).




I thought that maybe that cute little flower which goes around the compass (not shown) would look nice in the center of the inner green circle, so I added that.






  If you have any questions, please ask. This may be clear as mud.



8 comments:

cottonreel said...

I have never used this method to do mariners compass , it looks interesting

Jane in Cumbria said...

It looks very clear, Margaret. I am sure it will be a help for those who want to applique the compass! I love the flower in the centre....

Anonymous said...

A very clever way to do the compass! I have tried hand piecing - too big, paper piecing - forgot to slice the quadrant in half... I may have to try this. Great job. Stella in Ottawa

Dolores said...

It really is amazing how many ways a compass can be made. Very clear instructions.

Judymc said...

I never thought of appliqueing a compass. I usually hand piece mine. Always good to learn a new trick!

Carin said...

You did a great job. Love it !!

Kathinca said...

Very clever! Now why didn't i think of this? Would have saved me a lot of struggle. Thank you for shareing!

Stitches said...

Thank you so much for the step by step tutorial on how you tackled the compass. I have not started this quilt yet but will keep this in my file for later use..Yours is looking wonderful..