Sweetbriar Sisters

Adorable Sewing Patterns

Splendid Snowmen Sew Along Week 2

Week 2 of our Splendid Snowmen Sew Along is upon us.  How did your first week go?  I have to admit, sewing all the little advent pieces is where I always lose patience- so let’s all give ourselves a pat on the back for getting those out of the way!   

This week we’re going to work on steps 3-5 in the pattern, which includes marking our pocket placement and appliqueing the center design (don’t worry, if you use buttons for the snowmen, there are only 8 applique pieces this week- not 24!)

Here we go- don’t forget to share your progress shots with #SplendidSnowmen on your favorite social media site!

Marking Pocket Placement

marking sky piece

Those faint red lines mark where our pockets will go, which helps us see how to center our design.

Nothing too complicated here, we just need to mark our background fabric to be sure we know where to place our snowmen, trees and ground.  I know it’s tempting to skip some of the ‘marking’ steps- but I’d really suggest marking your fabric on this one!  If you don’t already have a removable marking pen, I’d definitely suggest a Frixion pen to get started.

 

Making Snowmen, Trees and Ground Pieces

After last week, you’re a pro at applique.  This week is basically the same old story.  This week we’ll be working with some larger pieces, and instead of ironing our pieces onto a background of felt we’ll be ironing onto our sky fabric.  Let’s take a look at what those changes mean.

cutting double stick interfacing copy
First off, lets talk about those bigger applique pieces.  The trees are larger shapes, and I plan on quilting the inside of the greenery so I want the fabric to stay nice and soft. We really only need the fusible adhesive around the edges of the big shapes to keep them from fraying and to keep them in place.  Once you trace your large shapes onto the paper side of your adhesive, you can cut out the inside of the shape about a 1/4″ in from the traced line. The above photo is a good example of what that will look like as you iron your adhesive onto the back of your fabrics.  (The rectangles at the bottom are tree trunks and are small enough I didn’t worry about cutting any access adhesive in the middle of the design.)
iron on applique copy
Once you’ve got your applique pieces cut out of the appropriate fabrics, it’s time to arrange them on the Sky background fabric.  Last week, our placement on this step wasn’t important because we were cutting the pieces out of the felt background fabric.  This week we’re making a permanent layout- so it’s worth taking a few minutes and making sure you like where everything is.  It might even make sense to pull out your applique pieces and dress up your snowmen to make sure you’ve got room on each snowman for all the accessories to fit.  Remember that everything outside of the Pocket Placement Guides that we drew onto our sky piece will be covered with our pockets.  I think it looks nice to crop the scene just a little and have the trees poke behind the pockets- but you can place them however you like them.
When you have your snowmen, trees and ground piece just where you want them, iron them in place.  This will stick them to the background fabric so they’ll stay where you want them while you sew them on.  (Note that you’ll cover up some of your pocket placement marks, so you’ll want to redraw those over your applique pieces)

Finishing Snowmen, Trees and Ground Pieces

snowman applique detail

sewn applique copy

All sewn up

Now it’s time to sew those applique pieces in place!  Traditionally a blanket stitch is used for this step, but you can use a variety of stitches.  On my design, the stitch used on the tree is a blanket stitch.  I used a nice, tight zigzag stitch on the ground piece because the fabric I used has a bigger weave and frays more easily than normal quilting cotton.  Zigzags are great for holding in fraying threads.  You can use just about any stitch you like for your design.  Something as simple as a straight stitch looks great.  So does using a different decorative stitch on each item.  The style is up to you- pick what you love!

button eyes

Buttons for eyes

Time Saving Technique #1: Using buttons for the snowmen makes the appliqueing go a bit faster, (sewing those little eyes can get a bit fussy) but you can applique their eyes and buttons with fabric or felt if you prefer.  I found some cute round black buttons at my local Joann Fabrics that made great eyes, and I had a blast raiding my button stash for their other, colorful buttons.  The pattern calls for specific sizes here, but you can feel free to change those sizes a bit.  Just make sure you’ll still be able to put their clothes on over the top when the time comes!

snowmenHere’s how your center design should look at the end of this week’s assignment! (*note* I sewed on my buttons a little early to show you how they’ll look in place of the applique pieces, HOWEVER- you might want to hold off on sewing on your buttons until AFTER you quilt your advent. )

Extra Credit:  If you know next week will be busy, go ahead and cut out your pocket pieces and prepare them for marking (Steps 6 & 7)

Comments

    • Jessica says

      You’ll want the snow to be an inch higher than it said in the testing pattern. Here’s the new, corrected image on how to cut it out- corrected snow pattern

  3. Marilyn S says

    I’m going back through the advent pieces and am only finding one bird pattern. It is on the second page of the applique patterns. Also, in the instructions you say we need a piece of “double sided interfacing”. Maybe I am being too picky, but I believe the correct item called “fusible web or webbing”. Interfacing is what is used to add body to a collar, shirt front or waist band. This is a fun project!!

    • Jessica says

      Marilyn- Please be picky! That’s exactly what I want from a tester! I will go and look up the official terms for fusible web to make sure I’ve get it just right in the instructions.

      As for the bird, the photo I sent out for testers is of the first version of my advent. As I went and made the pattern for it, I realized I had 25 pieces on there and only 24 pockets (whoops!) so before I sent the pattern out for you guys I took off a bird to make 24. You are not the first to notice the 2nd bird, so I will definitely be taking a new photo for the official pattern!

  4. Marilyn S says

    I actually want to make the cute second bird. I want to fuse the carrot noses on and add a couple more ornaments to the tree. Is that okay? I don’t want to stray too far from your pattern (but I’m afraid of losing the little carrots). Thanks!

  5. Jamie says

    Quick question about the order of appliqué. Did you sew the snow piece on before you ironed on the snowmen and trees? Or did you just iron everything on and then sew them all?