Sunbonnet Fabric Postcard
I thought perhaps some of you might be interested in how I made my Sunbonnet Postcard. So I thought I’d write down a little about how I stitched it. I encourage you to play with your machines to see how much fun they are, and this is one way you can do that.
In case any of you want to try duplicating this post card, here’s what I did. I made this on a Pfaff 7550. I use that machine for anything that I do that requires use of the feed dog designs. Now, if you have another machine, you can probably duplicate this, as the stitches I used are quite common. For stitching, it helps if you have a single pattern key and a needle down key on your machine, though. None of this requires the computer.
Making a Sunbonnet Postcard
To make this postcard, I used Peltex to make it stiff, Wonder Under to adhere the fabrics to the Peltex and to each other, and a piece of card stock under the post card to make it easier to write on. I cut the Peltex about 4.5 X 6.5″, but the finished postcard should be about 3.75″ X 5.75″. After the stitching is done, you can trim the work to the right size. That allows the postcard to fall well within the limits imposed by the post office. Keep in mind as you stitch that the actual postcard won’t completely fill the whole piece you’re working on. There’s no sense putting something interesting or fun way out at the edge of the card if you’re going to wind up trimming it off later. You want nothing thick or loose on the postcard. As you stitch and press, the Peltex will compress, and it will be a little thinner than it was when you bought it.
Applying the background
I used several pieces of fabric for the background:
Sky fabric, this was a batiked piece. I tried to use a part that looked like clouds in it.
Brick fabric, preprinted.
Cobblestone fabric, preprinted.
Tree fabric, preprinted.
Each piece was ironed onto Wonder Under, and then it was assembled onto the Peltex. Put the sky down first, then the brick for the wall, and then the cobblestones.
Machine Setup
I set up my machine with the open toed 9mm applique foot so that I could see exactly what I was stitching. I used a variety of rayon and cotton embroidery threads–just using up ends of spools, really, and, of course, I had bobbin thread in the bobbin. I set my tension so that the upper tension was a little looser than the bobbin tension and wrapped to the back when I did a sample satin stitch. Usually, on the Pfaff you can set the upper tension to the buttonhole setting [3]. If that doesn’t do it for your machine, fiddle with it a little until you have the satin stitching wrapping to the back and only about a third of the stitch on the reverse side being the actual bobbin thread. You will applique the bricks and cobblestones first. The sky is behind everything, so it won’t need to be appliqued. I like to add the Sunbonnet before I do any applique.
Adding the Sunbonnet
At this point, cut and assemble the little sunbonnet. You’ll need two coordinating pieces of fabric for the bonnet and her dress. You’ll also need two small bits of a lace that are no wider than 1/2″ to use for the pantaloons. Press each piece onto Wonder Under and cut out, including the lace. Assemble them on the block, and note where the pantaloons need to come. You might like to use a fabric marking pen to mark the position of the legs, and I drew in the general shape of the shoes. Before I did any pressing, though, I stitched the shoes. This will depend on how you’ve drawn them. On my Pfaff 7550, I used stitch #2, which is a satin-stitched zig-zag, set to .4 length and 5.0 width. Always start with the needle down button and the tie-on button engaged. I stitched the shoe from heel to mid-foot with the wide satin stitch in black. Then I began to taper the width, keeping the fabric turned so that the sole remained flat. End with a tie-off again. (To make a tie-off, you can do this by going to stitch 0, and setting the length to 0. Stitch several stitches in place.) Once I had one shoe done, I did the other. Then I pinned the pantaloons in place. I tried to gather the lace just a little as I put them in place. Use my illustration for an idea of how to arrange it. Then press them and the dress and sunbonnet in place over them. Now they are ready to applique.
Appliqueing the Background and the Sunbonnet
For the brick wall, use a beige or grey and use stitch #2 set to .4mm length and 2 or 2.5 mm width. Use a tie-on and tie-off to start and end the stitching as it crosses the path of the Sunbonnet. For the cobblestones, I used a beige cotton embroidery thread, set to the same width and length as the brick wall. For the dress and sunbonnet, use a coordinating embroidery thread, in rayon or cotton and do the same applique stitch. Since these are so small, and it is just for a postcard, you may opt, as I did, not to miter the applique corners. It makes life a little easier. Do as you like about that. I used an open zig-zag around the lace on the pantaloons just to be sure it didn’t snag on postal equipment. I embroidered a little ribbon around the hat brim. I just used the same #2 stitch set to about 3.5 width and tapered it slightly as it went toward the back of the bonnet. You can add the sash with the same zig-zag stitch in a tapered width for the loops of the sash and a 2.0 width satin stitch for the tie; you will also need to add a triple stitch line to indicate where the arm is.
Creating the Trees
Now, you have the sky, wall, cobblestones and the dress, hat and pantaloons adhered to the peltex and embroidered . Now, we want to do the trees. For this I had some tree fabric which had been aging some time and needed to be used. It had a lot of trees, some larger, some smaller, and there was sky on it. I didn’t need the sky, so after I applied Wonder Under to the reverse of the trees, I began cutting out the trees I wanted to use. I cut out all the sky and any branches that I didn’t like. This feels like you’re playing with spaghetti, but it will work out. Remember, you only need about 5″ tall trees at the most, and not all of that will be used. Then play with them and see where you want to place them. I wanted it to appear that the Sunbonnet girl was walking between the trees and the brick wall. So I made the trunks go off the bottom of the card. Even though the trunks may be perfectly straight on the fabric as it was printed, you can make them tilt to appear more natural. When you’re satisfied with your placement, press them into place. You can applique them with either a buttonhole stitch set however you like it, or you can use the satin stitch, #2, set to .4 length, 2 width in a color to match your trees. I stitched all the trunks in place, and then I took my marking pen and began to draw in branches to embroider. Some of these go over the other trunks; some don’t. I tried to make the part of the branches closest to the tree trunk larger than the ends of the branches. I used stitch #2, set to .4 length, and about 2.5 or 3 width to start a branch at the trunk. Sometimes I started the branch with a narrower satin stitch and increased the width almost immediately to round the base of the branch off. Then begin tapering the branch as you sew it. If you like, you can get down to about 1.0 width on your machine and switch to stitch #1, which is a triple stitch, set to 2.0 length, and continue stitching the branch to the end, and tie off. Then go back and add twigs along the length of the branch with the same triple stitch. Do this over and over, wherever you want a twig. Now, you may want some of the branches to be sturdier than others. If so, don’t switch to the triple stitch. Instead, continue stitching the branch at a 1.0 width until you get it the length you like.
Creating the Leaves in the M-Memory
Once you have the branches in place, you can begin to add the leaves. I set up two leaves in separate M-Memories as a convenience for me. Once they were there, I could instantly pull them up and stitch them in place with the single pattern key on and sometimes the needle down engaged, and I didn’t have to reset the pattern every time I wanted to use it. If you don’t have an M-Memory on your machine, you may have to bring up and reset the leaf each time.
This is how to enter the leaves into the M-Memories on the Pfaff. I brought up the M-Memories and hit okay on one of the empty slots. Once you have this on the screen, the machine will ask you to choose a pattern; enter 62 on the machine and okay. Set stitch #62 for 6.0 length, and 3.0 width and hit okay. That will enter the rounded leaf preset to the length and width you need into the machine’s M-Memory. It will show in the M-Memory. Hit the sewing machine icon to escape.
Now hit the M-Memory key again and find another empty M-Memory slot. This time we’ll enter another leaf for the bouquet that the little Sunbonnet girl is carrying. This time when the machine asks you to enter a stitch pattern, choose #65. This will make a pointy leaf. Set it for 6.0 length, 3.0 width and hit okay. The pointy leaf will show up in the new M-Memory. Again, hit the sewing machine icon to escape. Now, you have two different leaves to put onto your design. The advantage of using the leaves in the M-Memory is that the leaves are preset. You don’t have to fiddle with setting the machine for every stitch every time you leave the pattern and come back to it. As I was stitching now and then I’d be sewing leaves, and then I’d realize I wanted another branch somewhere else, so I’d stop and do another branch and come back to the leaves in the M-Memory. Because they were preset, I had no problem forgetting how I’d had it set.
Stitching the leaves in place
Bring up the rounded leaf made from stitch #62 in the M-Memory, and hit the single pattern key. This leaf stitches the same from either end, so you can use it stitching out from a branch or toward a branch. I like to use variegated thread when I stitch leaves. It gives depth to them, and makes the whole thing more interesting. At the tip of each branch, I stitched a single leaf. Insert your needle into the fabric before the last stitch of the branch if you like. Stitching over that last stitch of the branch will make sure that you’ve got the branch secured on the end.
TIP: It doesn’t hurt to pull the threads to the back of the work as you finish a line of stitching. When you trim them off, the ends will be on the reverse side, and when you adhere the card stock on the back of the work, the Wonder Under will help hold the ends in place.
Stitching a Pair of Leaves at One Time from the M-Memory
If you use the single pattern key, the machine will tie on and off for you automatically each time the leaf is stitched. Trim all your threads front and back. If you hit the single pattern key and also hit the needle down key, you can stitch two leaves, tying off between them and at the start and end. To stitch them, find a place on a small branch that you want leaves on either side of the branch. About the length of the leaf from the branch, begin stitching the first leaf. (I like to start stitching the leaves near the end of the branch first and add leaves as I work toward the trunk of the tree.) Angle the leaf toward the branch. When the leaf meets the branch, the machine will stop to tie off. With the needle down, pivot the fabric and stitch one more leaf away from the small branch. The machine will tie off again. You will have a leaf on either side of the branch. Cut your threads. Continue to do this all over the tree. You may sometimes have leaves overlapping. That’s fine. You may want two leaves with their bases joined on the same side of the branch. That’s okay too. If you find that you need another small twig somewhere, you don’t have to rethread the machine; it’s okay to stitch that one with the variegated green thread. Some twigs are more green than grey or brown. It’ll give more interest and depth to your design if you vary it some.
When all the leaves are stitched the way you like them, you should have most of the sky fabric held in place with leaves and branches. You want enough that you don’t necessarily have to add clouds or anything to hold the sky fabric in place. Now you can begin to work on the Sunbonnet’s bouquet.
Creating the Bouquet
This little bouquet is really just a suggestion of one. For it, I used several stitches. I used the fern stitch, #126, set to 16 length and 6 width. You will use it every time with the single pattern key on. This will tie down both ends of the fern. You will also use it mirrored sometimes, so be sure you check which way your fern is facing before you stitch it down. Stitch several into place as you like.
Then you will need a vine. I drew in a sinuous line with my fabric marking pen and then stitched the triple stitch I used for the ends of the branches on the trees down that curving line. If you need to stop to pivot, do so as the third pass is made on the triple stitch. (That is, the stitch will go forward, back, forward. At that point, stop with the needle down and pivot. If you don’t, your line will be spikey.) When I finished with that vine, I added the pointy leaf that I placed into an M-Memory to the tip without cutting my thread, and then when that tied off, I stitched pairs of them up the vine.
Creating the Flower in the P-Memory
Last of all, you need some flowers. For that, I entered the flower #136 into my P-memory. (Note that we are working in the P-Memory now, not the M-Memory.) Here’s how: Hit your P-Memory key on the machine, and when it comes up, choose a blank P-Memory. Once that screen is on your machine, hit rom/0-9 key/136/m-/okay/okay. That will take the last two stitches off the flower. (If you don’t do this, every flower stitched will have some connecting stitches that go nowhere. I just got rid of them. It makes the flowers neater. I could just as easily have left them on, not tied the program off at the end of stitching, and left a long tail when I finished stitching each one. Then I could have picked out the last two long stitches, pulled the thread ends to the back, and tied them off.) Now, hit the sewing machine icon, and you are in a position to get ready to stitch it. Before I stitched mine, I changed the length and width to make them smaller. I hit the key below the 9.5 length, and changed the length to 6.0; then I hit the key below the 9.0 width and changed that to 6.0. Hit okay. Now, you’re ready to test the flower on a scrap of fabric with stabilizer. Sometimes at this small size, the daisy needs balancing. If the design is unbalanced–that is, if the design falls apart, you’ll need to balance it. Once you get the design balanced, stitch it in the bouquet with the single pattern key on. Repeat several times. I used a variegated pink rayon thread, but whatever color suits you is fine.
All that remains is to add the card stock to the back of the work and trim the card to size with a ruler and a rotary cutter. Put Wonder Under on one side of some card stock, press it to the back of your postcard fabric and trim all of it to size at one time. Be sure to put the word Postcard on the card side, draw a line down the middle of the card so that you can separate the address and the message, and you are ready to finish the edges of the postcard.
Finishing the Edges
Now, if you wish, you can add a frame to this, but I found that I’d worked so closely to the edge of the card, I was going to make it look crowded. So I opted to just do a narrow zig-zag stitch around the whole thing, through all the layers. I did open the zig-zag stitch up some as I didn’t want the card stock to fall apart. I think I used stitch #2 set to 2 or 2.5 width and .5 length. I stitched my edging in brown, but you could use whatever color worked well with your design. End with a tie off and clip your threads. That finishes this little postcard.
As you can see, the little Sunbonnet is really nothing difficult at all. You can get lost doing leaves. So stop now and then and walk away from it for a while. When you come back to it, you’ll know whether you need to add more leaves or consider it finished. Creating little scenes on your postcards can be fun and challenging too. Enjoy your sewing.
Copyright 2006 by Glynda Black. All Rights Reserved.