Hawaiian quilt

This is my first project for higher level course, Hawaiian quilt. I didn't take down the step for cutting down the fabric but this site has good explanation with photos. http://www.makehawaiianquilts.com/

After that, I need to perform basting to sew put up the pattern which was arranged properly onto the background fabric (as shown in photo) before starting the applique process.

When applique the pattern, first you need to fold the fabric by tracing along the pattern as shown.



then pin it. After that, have patient, slowly perform the applique. One key point is, never cut the fabric if you find that you cannot sew up the shape as you wish eg. the sharp edge, the round edge. There are ways to do it.




HOW TO MAKE THE SHARP EDGE
As usual make a trace line onto fabric as shown,



fold the fabric, this create the edge as shown in circle area


carefully fold the edge into the fabric again, and pin it tightly as shown below.



Sew up (applique method) the edge as shown below



there you go, a sharp edge.

Work place

I turned the study room of my Shanghai apartment into my work place. It is good that the landlord installed a big rack in this study room, I can display my work and do some decoration. This study room has a limitation though. I will need to move my working stuff to the living room because after 3 pm because it will be very dark that I can't even do anything.

casual sling bag

It is -3 degree in Shanghai today.



I didn't managed to record down the process of making this sling bag, regretful. I do remember after completing this project (14th Jul 2008), I suffered finger and muscle injury and required to stop working for patchwork for one month. I was too addicted to making bags that I continuously working on big project like this one. Lesson learnt, I have to cool down a bit, sometimes I need to switch to smaller pouch project to allow my fingers and muscle relax. To those handmade lovers out there, remember always treasure our health.