Midnight Garden - Jacket - Part XIII

Placing and Attaching the Vines

Placement of applique elements is critical to the final outcome of the project. The first layer of motifs is the most important, as the placement of all the other motifs will be either in place or out of place as a group due to those first motifs. For this project, the vines must line up properly with the center back, the side seams and the waistline. While rest of the flowers and leaves will be placed randomly except for the lilies, the vine must be equidistant from the final edge of the fabric.

The first step in getting the placement correct is to baste the center back line, cutting lines, stitching lines and the waist line on the front - these are important points where the vines cross. I've basted in yellow in order to be able to see the lines.

The next step is to get the vines into the proper curves. I use the artwork, tracing paper and a tracing wheel to trace the vines onto the garment.

After pinning the bias tubes to the garment, I double check their position from the edge with ruler.

Once the vines are in the proper place, they are stitched into place using a fell stitch. I've done a post before with pictorial on fell stitches and slip stitches. This is probably the last you'll see of this stage until I get all the vines in place. We'll then take a look at the making of the leaves and flowers and their placement. Meanwhile, we might take a peek at the skirt and what's going on with that portion of the ensemble.

Q/A: This one is about little Kiwi from Carolyndh: "Did this cat find the Banks' home somehow? You indicated that this is a feral cat. Did someone else previously own it but it spent some time in the wild?" We got the kitten from a coworker of my husband's. My husband mentioned we were going to get a new cat, and his friend and wife were in the process of trying to rescue a feral cat family and get them into good homes. Kiwi was one of those kittens. She still has feral tendencies but is coming around!

Parting Shot: I got flowers today at school! The occasion? My birthday. My husband sent me the flowers. Our coordinator was very confused, because he bought me flowers today, too. They were for destined for dissection in Biology class, though!