Some people refer to it as 'frogging'. . . I have to say, I've never embraced that term.
Maybe because I like frogs. I love the sound of peeper frogs in the spring, a sure sign of warmer weather. It's great fun when a frog, or several, show up in the garden pond, no invitation needed. Kermit - have always been a fan - I bet I could sing The Rainbow Connection start to finish from memory without missing a single word.
And, I don't necessarily like reverse stitching, even though sometimes, it's necessary.
Here's one example.
I've had this stitched square in my stack of unfinished business for a while. Originally, it was going to become a biscornu. But it felt like it was too big for a biscornu, and I didn't care for the variegated thread I chose - making a second panel for a biscornu held no appeal for me.
At the end of 2020, a few projects landed on my sewing table, it was their turn to be finished into something. This panel was destined to become a mug mat - on the large side, but not large enough to be a place mat.
I chose some coordinating fabric and started sewing.
Nothing fancy here, but when handling loose-weave linen, I like to trim the piece carefully, and add borders using a standard 1/4" seam . . .
. . . then go back over the edge of the quilt and stitching fabric with a zig zag stitch to avoid fraying over time.
So far so good, right?
Well I added a middle border that didn't add anything to the project (I didn't take a photo). Reverse sewed that and tried another . .
Moving on.
I cut a piece of fusible foam batting, and quilted and trimmed the piece. Time to bind.
When I've got a small piece like this, I like to measure the perimeter of the trimmed project, then add twice the width of the binding - that's how long to make my binding strip. I then connect the ends to make a binding loop before attaching it to the project edge.
Edited: This is where I went wrong. I should not have added twice the binding width, but only one binding width to the perimeter calculation.
For smaller pieces, this technique avoids all the squishing needed to connect the ends for a continuous binding closure.
This little heart mug mat is an example using this binding technique.
It works great when 1) you don't twist the binding when you connect the ends, and 2) measure the perimeter accurately.
You guessed it; 1) I twisted the binding strip on the first attempt.
Reverse sewed, then correctly connected the ends.
Time to add the binding loop to the mat. One side at a time, like you would with any binding. As I mitered the third corner, it was clear that 2) the strip was too long. By about 2". . Okay, I said to myself, I'll just snip this at the corner rather than reverse sew the parts of the binding I had already sewn.
Yeah, that didn't work.
I gave in, reverse sewed, then dropped the loop nonsense, added another strip of binding fabric because my 'clever' cutting maneuver made the dern binding too SHORT. Then I completed the continuous binding connection as I normally would on a larger quilt.
Needless to say, this little extra project took longer than it should. But it's done. Phew!
To add to the reverse sewing excitement this week, I was stitching along happily on this Merry Christmas piece (below) by The Cricket Collection (warning, the projects on this site are really cute, but the site is difficult to navigate, IMHO).
For my ground fabric, I chose a medium green evenweave fabric rather than the cream color recommended in the instructions
The recommended floss color for the "S" almost exactly matched the green background, so I substituted a medium brown and started stitching. Nice color. Looks better in the photo than in real life. The problem is that the brown did not have enough contrast with the background.
My project is on the left, below. The pattern cover with the recommended cream colored background on the right. The original floss color OR the brown substitute (in the middle and at the bottom of the S) would have been fine on the recommended cream fabric, I suspect.
t all the S was complete (of course), "Can you make out the S?" He hesitated, then said 'yes' with less enthusiasm than I had hoped for. (The tone was that same one you might expect when asking, 'does this outfit make me look fat?')
Gr-r-r.
Reverse stitch.
I've already selected a replacement color - you can see the lighter brown at the top of the "S" on the photo above. The medium brown is 'practice.'
Surely, I'm not the only one taking one step forward and two steps backward this week?
"Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection . .The lovers, the dreamers and me. . .La da da dee da da doo, La da da da da dee da doo-o-o-o!"
Happy Stitching!
Joan Ford
Head Hummingbird
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