Week number three- we’re almost half way! This week we’re going to prepare the pockets for our advent and cut out all the applique numbers. (Steps 6-8 and part of Step 9)
I’ve been loving the progress shots so many of you have shared- let’s keep them coming! Share yours with #SplendidSnowmen on your favorite social media site. (If you’re not familiar with how #s work, click here for a quick explanation)
Cutting Pockets
We’ll begin this week’s assignment by cutting out our pockets. If you haven’t done a lot of quilting, you’ll notice that the pattern only includes the measurements for the shapes we’ll be cutting, no pattern piece! This is pretty common with quilting patterns because custom rectangles can be cut so quickly with a rotary cutting set
Ironing Pockets
This step is simple, but it is pretty important to allow use to visualize where to place our pocket numbers. Simply take the top and bottom rectangles (the really long ones) and fold them each in half lengthwise (or as my elementary school art teach would say – hot dog style) with wrong sides together. The smaller side pockets are folded in half widthwise (or hamburger style) with the wrong sides together. Iron them in place to help you remember which way each will go.
Marking Pockets
When the pockets are attached to your advent, we’ll sew in some dividers to make the long top and bottom pockets into a row of small pockets. Right now we’re going to mark where those seams will go. This will help us visualize where our numbers will be sewn later on. We’ll be ironing the numbers onto the fabric before we sew the pockets, so make sure you use a marking pen that will stay around after you iron! (My photo is kind of a bad example- those frixion pen marks were totally gone after ironing! Should have pulled out my water soluble one.)
We’ll be sewing a seam around all the raw edges of the pockets, but the folded edges will stay the same. To help yourself visualize the exact size of each pocket, you can also mark a 1/4″ in from each raw edge. If you do this, you should have 9 pocket placements marked on both the top and bottom pieces. After marking off a 1/4″ on each raw edge, you should see that all pockets measure 3″ wide and 4″ tall. When you’re pockets are marked, go ahead and set them aside- we’ll pull them out next week to sew on the numbers.
Trace and Cut Numbers
Last of all, we’re going to get started on Step 9 by tracing out all the numbers needed on the paper side of your double sided fusible interfacing. Once they’re all traced, iron them onto the back of your Numbers Material and cut them out so they’ll be ready to sew next week.
***Time Saving Tip #1: The less fraying you have on your numbers, they faster they’ll be to applique onto your pockets. A material like felt that doesn’t fray can be easily sewn around with a straight stitch. A material with a larger weave may require a satin stitch. We’ll talk about that more next week- just know that if you want to save time, using wool felt for your numbers might just be the way to do it***
Extra Credit: If you know you’ll be busy next week, get yourself a step ahead by finishing Step 9. Once your numbers are cut out, center them onto each pocket and iron them in place. The majority of time next week will be spent sewing down those numbers, so start sewing away!