Without giving too much away, the May 2018 bird (that was shipped just prior to publishing this post), has a few long, skinny pieces that are cut at unusual angles. In other words, there is some stretchy bias piecing involved.
For instances like this, my ‘secret weapon’ is a fabric glue stick. I really like this one by Bohin. The same stuff recommended by many English Paper Piecing designers and teachers. It lasts forever, writes like a pen, so it’s comfortable in your hand, you can replace the glue cartridge when it runs out, and a little dab goes a long way to hold fabric where you want it.
Bohin Glue Stick
For a long potentially stretchy seam, I like to place just a tiny dab of the glue maybe every 1-1/2″ along the seam – only in the seam allowance, so there’s no interaction with the sewing machine needle.
One little dab about 1-2″ apart on a long seam.
Then I gently place the second fabric on top, right sides together, seam edge aligned, and press gently along the seam with my finger tip, without rubbin’ and scrubbin’. Then sew the requisite scant 1/4″ seam.
Once sewn, I like to use my ‘other’ secret weapon for these small FLOCK spaces – the Clover Mini Iron. First press the seam to compress the stitches. . .
Then press the seam as directed in the pattern instructions and illustrations.
And repeat. A few more dabs of glue – only in the seam allowance. Place the next piece of fabric right sides together with sewing edges aligned. . .
. . . and sew. Carefully and deliberately, keeping a consistent scant 1/4″ seam.
When there are more seams involved in the seam intersection, you can keep going with the dab of glue, but I prefer to switch to my old-faithful pins for a ‘sturdier’ hold.
Once the entire unit is sewn, I like to press the unit with my regular full-sized iron, then check the unit size against the pattern prescribed measurements.
Happy FLOCK Stitching! – joan
