You have to be a bit smitten by this cranky, rampaging robot, don't you? He is the inspiration for reworking Ayumi's Polkadot Cafe Apron into a toy tidy for my little boy's high-chair toys.
This week's Patchwork Please Zakka Along project has been worrying me for a few weeks. I knew I wanted to make the gorgeous patchwork panel, but I didn't think I could bring myself to make an apron. How could I wipe my hands on a lovingly and painstakingly constructed patchwork panel such as the one Ayumi designed?
I was pondering the above as I trod on one of my baby boy's high chair toys (for the umpteenth time). Inspiration struck. I would make a toy tidy to hang from the rail on the back on the kitchen door!
My first two panels, below, were made using traditional piecing, as called for in the pattern.
I wrestled a bit with the bias edges, so I tried my next panel using paper piecing - and this is how it turned out -
The paper piecing took about three times as long as the traditional piecing, but the construction felt more stable and the finished measurement was perfect, whereas the finished measurement for the traditionally pieced block was 1/4 inch smaller. This is good to know, because it tells me that when I'm using the traditional piecing method, I might be a bit generous with my 1/4 inch seams, and I need to make my 1/4 inch seems a bit smaller.
I would recommend using the paper pieicing method, if you have the time - it's worth it for the extra stability and to get a perfectly sized finished panel.
My patchwork panel is topstitched to a mini-quilt. I also topstitched between the left hand block and the middle block to make one narrow pocket (one block wide) and one wide pocket (two blocks wide) to hold Bunny's toys. The toy tidy is secured to the rail by a pair of ribons sewn into the binding on each side of the toy tidy.
I made curved corners on the mini-quilt so I used bias binding to bind the quilt.
I am planning to sit out the next couple of weeks of the Zakka Along to focus on the Books for Baby Quilt. I also have the Flower Sugar quilt for my niece to quilt and bind and a whole pile of winter woolies that need darning. So much to do!
Happy sewing!
Amber x
