Monday, May 27, 2013

Another First For Me

I have a baby shower to go to this week before I head out to Raleigh on Friday 
so decided to make a chenille blanket for the gift. 
 I have been toying with learning how to sew the binding down by machine for some time now.  
I love the look of binding sewn by hand but
 it hurts my hand so much and the pain extends all the way into my shoulder by the time I am finished.  Sometimes my sweet friend offers to sew the binding down for me 
and I am always so thrilled as she does such beautiful work!  
Also with a project like a chenille blanket I figure it will be sturdier if sewn down using the machine.

First let me say it was not as hard as I thought it would be and
 second I certainly can use some additional practice! 
 I sewed the binding to the chenille side and turned it to the plain fabric side. 
 My hope was that the fluffiness of the chenille side would hide my less than perfect machine stitching,
 and I am happy to report that this was exactly the case!

Here is the less than perfect side, perfectly camoflauged


 Here is the back and the stitching looks great!


I decided to try black and white for the chenille, like the checkered flag and used red flannel for the base.
I have to say I am pretty pleased with the outcome.


Here are a few views of the finished blanket.



If you would like to make one too you can find the tutorial under the tutorial link on my blog
 or on the Moda Bake Shop too.

(silly Fatty McFatty photo)

On a side note, anyone out there live in the Raleigh area? 
 I will be there on Friday to visit my daughter for the week.  
I am already meeting up with 2 of my blogging buddies but would be happy to meet you as well.

Send me an email if so and we will see what we can arrange.  
mamaspark@gmail.com

On this Memorial Day here in the US I would like to thank all the military personnel 
for keeping me and my family safe. 
 I can't thank you all enough.

~XOP~


4 comments:

dianne said...

i love that kitty!!! and WAY CUTE blanket - i love the black and white fluff with the racecars!

gotta go get ready for the movie - SO psyched!!!

p.s. - give my Aiden hugs from her auntie dianne!

Katie M. said...

I rarely sew my bindings by hand anymore. I stitch my binding to the back, turn to the front and using a decorative stitch or a narrow zig zag stitch on the edge of the binding, holding that edge just a thread or two to the left of my stitching line where I stitched the binding on. I also use clear monofilament thread in my bobbin. Love your quilt with that soft, fluffy backing...

jeifner said...

The black and white chenille looks great with the red underneath!

Lisa D. said...

Your chenille blanket is adorable! And the binding looks pretty perfect to me.

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