A couple of our patterns use large ric rac to create spikes down the back of an animal. The finished product is so adorable- but wrapping your brain around Ric Rac placement can be a little tough. Hopefully these photos help the process along a bit 🙂
- Mark the start and end points on your fabric as marked on your pattern piece.
- For easier placement, take a ruler and line it up right below the middle point of the Ric Rac. An easy way to this is to play ‘connect the dots’ with the tips of the bottom waves.
- Draw a line with a removable marking pen to mark where your ruler met with those bottom waves.
- Place one of Spike’s body pieces in front of you, wrong side up. Lay your Ric Rac in front of you as well. Remember how we divided the Ric Rac so that one side is slightly larger than the other? Flip the Ric Rac so the larger side is down. Find the first full wave going up and line it up with the dot on your pattern. (I marked my first wave with a line down the center in the photo so you can see what I mean). You want this first wave to go up so that the raw edge of the Ric Rac will be hidden after you sew your dino.
- Once you’ve got you’re starting point lined up with the marked end point, go ahead and line your traced line up with the edge of the fabric. Pin your Ric Rac in place.
- Continue to line the trace line up with the edge of the fabric. Pin as you go.
- Flip your dino over. Trim the first wave of your Ric Rac, right where it goes up at the highest point.
- Trim the other side of the Ric Rac. Because Ric Rac can vary in size, your waves might not line up perfectly with the start and end dots you marked on the fabric. That’s ok! Notice where your ending point is, and then find the first wave that comes after it. Cut the wave at it’s highest point.
- This is what your Ric Rac should look like before you baste it in place.
- Baste the Ric Rac in place, using a long stitch on your sewing machine and sewing right inside of the edge of the fabric.
Bottom Photo: Check your work! Before I sewed my dino together, I flipped the Ric Rac up (after basting in place) to see how I did. The right side is great! Notice how the front wave goes all the way down into the fabric? That will hide our end very well. The left side needs a little work, it got a little too high. Notice how the last wave doesn’t go all the way past the fabric? If I sewed it this way, I would have a raw edge showing. I just unpicked the last inch or so of basting and re-adjusted so that the back edge looked more like the front.
Once you have your Ric Rac placed, you can go about sewing your dino like normal. The basting will keep everything in place and once you turn your dino right side out he’ll have adorable spikes 🙂
Hope this helps! Happy sewing!