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The centre of my my kite window hanging... |
Before I get on with today's post, let me announce that due to an alignment of everything that's timely, wonderful, and serendipitous, I'm able to feature a theme this month: "Make it in May"! Every post this month is going to feature a tutorial. Is that worthy of celebration or what??
Anyhoo, it's been close to three months since I posted about a
mitten window hanging
that I put up to commemorate the winter season. Days after spring arrived, I took it down. I was in the process of completing
the other project that I had hinted at, at the conclusion of that
original post.
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I stopped here to make some 2" bias binding. If you do so using this method, start with a 14" square of fabric and you'll have enough for the entire perimeter (based on my original kite dimensions).
'Til next...
Yes, it's a kite.
Even though I've never flown a kite, I've always been enthralled by seeing them in the air.
When I considered what simple shape I could convert into the summer version of
my window hanging, the kite won over my first thought of a flip flop sandal.
Although nothing is as ubiquitous as a flip flip sandal in the summer, I very
much dislike them as footwear. So I guess that was my reason for not hanging a
representation of one in my front window.
This kite is made out of fabric, unlike my no sew ribbon
mitten. It can be used as a wall hanging or a window hanging. The "three
ways" descriptor in the title of this post refers to the fact that it can be
made by one of two methods to be hung up against a wall, or by using both
methods to yield a double-sided item that can freely hang from the ceiling
or in a window.
Being a quasi-tutorial, you get to decide on the dimensions. My kite is 22"
wide by 30" high. (Separated into quadrants, the upper triangles measured 11"
wide by 9" high and the lower triangles were 11" wide by 21" high.) For the
most part, I chose these measurements based on fabric constraints, while
keeping in mind that the finished item had to be somewhat large — since it was destined for the window — to have an
impact.
In part one of this tutorial, I will show you how I made my outward facing
side of this kite using strips of fabric.
Method #1 - Hanging Kite Using Fabric Strips
After confirming the size of my kite, I cut four triangular templates out of
Decor Bond, fusible side up.
I had already selected five fabrics for the project (from the
Lily and Loom bundle), so my next step was to draw lines on the interfacing to show where the
strips should be placed. The lines were spaced 1 to 2 inches apart. (In my
case, I only had so much red fabric remaining, so I cut out those pieces first
and pinned them in place; if you don't have similar concerns, just start from
one side.)
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| Method #1... |
Note that when you draw lines like this, you have to account for a seam
allowance or two when you cut the actual fabric. I used a 1/4" seam allowance,
so added 1/2" to the width of all of the strips except the first and last.
Those two strips can be placed flush against the edge of the
Decor Bond, but the other side needs to extend 1/4" beyond the line
marker in order to be seamed with the adjacent strip.
I fused each strip as I went along and sewed the required seam allowance
with the next strip by placing it right side down on top of the fused strip.
The process is shown in the grouped set of four photos above.
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| Cut and sew strips together to form each quadrant of the kite... |
I wanted a clean looking finish, so did not topstitch anything, although
that's certainly an option.
Once everything is fused, flip it over and trim off the overhanging fabric
(keep these scraps if you want to make a kite tail). Repeat with the remaining
three quadrants.
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| Another use for selvages... |
Knowing that the strips weren't going to match up precisely — I actually
purposely made some of them wider/narrower than others of the same fabric — I
planned on having a kite "frame" overlaying the panels, so as not to draw
attention to that fact.
My first thought was to use binding, but this was around the time that I was
gathering up my small collection of selvages, so a second thought
occurred to me: why not use the selvages from the fabric?
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| Joining the panels with selvages... |
The upper panels were connected to the lower panels first, then both halves
were joined with one long selvage. None of my selvages are long enough, so I
had to sew two of them together. You can see one of the joins in the the final
picture above.
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| Join the upper with the corresponding lower piece before joining the two halves... |
Hopefully, you can see the method I used to attach the selvage strips.
Pin right side down on top of first panel, leaving up to 1/4" of the panel
exposed. Sew as close to the printed fabric edge of the selvage as possible (unless your selvages have a lot more of the original fabric showing), then fold over, press
and sew onto the second panel to join.
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| Closer view of how the selvage is sewn to the panels... |
Once the panels are joined together, give it a good press.
I stopped here to make some 2" bias binding. If you do so using this method, start with a 14" square of fabric and you'll have enough for the entire perimeter (based on my original kite dimensions).
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| One side of my kite is finished! |
If you're very careful, a 13" square — what I started out with — will
suffice. It will be long enough if you stretch it a bit, and the 1" wide
strip that's left over can be used for a kite tail.
That said, the kite does not have curved edges, so you don't have cut your
binding fabric on the bias; you can cut and join straight 2" wide strips of
fabric if that's how you want to go.
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| The final result we're aiming for... |
If the kite is meant to hang against a wall, it can be bound now. In my
case, there's still the other side to make, which I will continue with next week, along with the finishing details.
I don't generally put my patterns on sale — due it being seemingly unfair to
those who purchase at full price — but I've conducted previous
pricing experiments
using my
Makerist shop
and am doing it again.
This time, there are five patterns on sale at 50% off and three of them will wind up being cheaper than what they're being sold for here on my
site. (These are the
Crafty Cosmetics Caddy, the
Load it Up Laptop Slipcase
and the
Bundled Up Bindle Bag; if you've ever wanted them, they are just $1.50 this weekend via those
links.)
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| $1.50 each this weekend only! |
Also included in this sale are two patterns that I've been charging for in my Makerist shop, but that are free here on my blog: the Crossbody Sling Bag and the Pandemic Puzzle Ball. Do not go and buy those.
In conjunction with the 50% off sale, I decided to do a
reverse sale with my normally free patterns. Therefore, if you were
looking for the PDFs for the
Quilted Hanging File Organizer, the
Portable Pocket Pouch
or the
Stacking CD Baskets, wait until Monday and they'll be free to download again. Yes, it's sneaky
of me, but it's part of my ongoing "research" into how carefully people
actually read and whether they are unusually influenced by a low price.
'Til next...
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