Crossroads

It's been three months since my last post, so it's time for an update on my latest project. During my summer hiatus there was not much sewing happening in the Studio (at least none worth sharing).

"Paraments R Us," Revisited

In previous posts I've shared details about stoles and paraments I've created for Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and recently I completed another commission for the church: a logo-based parament for the contemporary service which will somewhat conceal the front of the pulpit.

Our church logo is based on the crossroads where the building is located, and we strive to be "the presence of Christ at the crossroads of life."

This parament is constructed in a manner similar to others the church has obtained over the years (see above): batting-filled cotton quilted paraments with appliques and embellishments.

Planning and Shopping

To begin, I pulled together multiple blue and green cotton prints from the calico wall at the local Hobby Lobby fabric department, 5 different tonal prints for each color to match the colors in the logo. The background fabric is a tonal gray mini dot cotton print, also from the Hobby Lobby calico wall. For the batting I used a piece of Pellon cotton batting left over from one of my Quilts of Valor projects.

Tip: Hobby Lobby has a good basic calico selection at 30% off the marked price everyday, and the marked price is not marked up to be able to offer the discount, making it a good value.

Enlarging The Logo

I went old-school to enlarge the logo; I drew a 1" grid on a large piece of paper.

I then folded the gridded paper in quarters and marked the radius of the 27" diameter circle I needed, using the same method as creating a round tablecloth. Then I transferred the irregular cross shape detail by hand to the circle using a pencil.

Creating The Quadrants

To create the four blue and green sections of the logo, I cut the various fabrics into strips (2.5" x width of fabric), arranged the five pieces of each color family in a pleasing sequence, and stitched them together to form each separate quadrant. Next, the individual quadrants were stitched together, with the green quadrant positioned in the lower right.

Making A Sandwich

The next step was stacking the layers in the proper order, or what quilters call "making a sandwich." The backing was placed face down on the surface (I used one of those vintage cardboard cutting boards laid out on the top of a bed), followed by the piece of batting, then the quadrants layer face-up and finally the gray "background" fabric, also face-up.

Transferring The Logo Shape

In order to transfer the logo shape to the gray fabric, I positioned the paper pattern on the sandwich, ensuring it was centered properly, and traced perimeter of the circle using a water soluble marking pen. (The pen markings disappear with water.)

Then I cut the paper pattern apart and traced the cross inside the circle. I pinned through all layers of the sandwich on either side of all the traced lines to minimize shifting during stitching.

Reverse Applique

Typically an applique is stitched onto the background fabric, but the reverse applique technique is just the opposite. In this case, the applique (the quadrants) were placed under the background fabric. The outline markings were straight-stitched through all layers (see above), around all four quadrants.

The fabric covering the applique was then trimmed away using special applique scissors.

These scissors help protect the under fabric as you trim away the upper fabric.

With the applique revealed, the raw edge pf the gray fabric was covered with a row of machine feather-stitching, positioned directly over the prior straight stitching as well.

Why did I choose reverse applique over just appliqueing the quadrants directly onto the gray background fabric? I really think the curved edges of the quadrants look better this way, as I was not certain I could maintain the smooth curve by turning under the raw edge of the quadrant pieces if they were appliqued over the gray fabric. This was my first attempt at reverse applique, and I will definitely use this technique again.

With the feather-stitching completed, stray threads were trimmed, and the border was added using four of the five blue fabrics from the quadrants. Next, the entire parament was bound like a quilt using the gray background fabric. After a loopy strip of Velcro was added to the upper edge of the back of the parament (the hook side of the Velcro is attached to the edge of the pulpit for hanging all the paraments), the project was complete!

I love accepting a challenge, and it was fun to learn a new technique.

Until next time, keep those sewing machine humming, and I encourage you to accept a challenge where you can learn something new!

danthefabricman@yahoo.com

@danthefabricman