Sewing colorful backyard accessories | Husqvarna VIKING Opal 690Q

I’m excited to be back, and this week, I’ll be using the Husqvarna VIKING  Opal 690Q to make some accessories for the backyard.

I recently purchased patio chairs, as our others were toast by the end of last season. While shopping, I spotted a new table, as the old one looked shabby.

Well, new furniture requires new accessories!

I love being able to sew anything I want! I can’t imagine a house without a sewing machine!

Today is all about gathering the supplies and the accessories for the sewing machine, which is the hardest part of any project!

As mentioned, I’ll use the Opal 690Q this week, a fantastic sewing machine. What I love is that it’s lightweight, so it’s perfect for taking to sewing days and retreats, yet it packs a punch and has some great bells and whistles to make it an excellent choice for your sewing room.

This week, I’ll focus on making a project with the Opal 690Q. If you want to get a review of the sewing machine and all of its great features, check out this QUILTsocial blog post. Use the links at the bottom of that post to move through all five blog posts.

If you want more information about the Opal 690Q, I played with it again in this series of QUILTsocial blog posts. Again, scroll through all five of the posts.

Those posts have some great sewing tips and techniques, so check them out. And then come back here to see what I’m making this week. I enjoyed reviewing the posts and still use all those tips and techniques today!

Now, let’s start the gathering process!

Another great resource is the Husqvarna VIKING Accessory User’s Guide. Inside, there’s a chart that identifies the Machine Category for all the Husqvarna VIKING  sewing and embroidery machines. The Opal 690Q is a Category 7. When I shop for accessories, I know anything with a seven on the packaging will work.

The other reason the Accessory Catalogue is excellent is that I can find detailed instructions in the catalogue if I have a presser foot I’m unsure how to use.

The Accessory User’s Guide is available to download for free, so check out the link above. You can browse the catalogue online or download it. I like to download it to my tablet to browse at my leisure. I wouldn’t bother printing it – save some trees and look at it online.

Gathering supplies

It’s time to gather the supplies, the most challenging task when starting a new project. It’s better to take the time at the beginning to get everything so the project doesn’t stall because you can’t find something you need. No one needs another UFO!

I plan to make cushions for the new chairs and placemats for the new table. I bought a variety of outdoor fabrics that I’ll mix and match. I’m adding some piping, and using the solid blue fabric for that accent.

I debated prewashing these fabrics, but the content is 100% polyester, so I won’t have to worry about shrinkage. So, no prewashing. I did a rough calculation to figure out how much I need; if I have extra, I can use it for something else. The fabric is 54″ wide, and I have 1 meter of each color.

I found some great pillow inserts! I was excited because they are indoor/outdoor, which is perfect! They come in two sizes – 16″ square and 18″ square.

Fairfield Poly-fil Indoor/Outdoor Pillow Insert also comes in a 12″ x 18″ rectangular size.

I have some HeatnBond Iron-on Fusible Non-Woven Interfacing that I plan to use in the placemats. I think two layers of the decorator fabric will be too limp, and I don’t want to quilt the placemats, so the interfacing should be sufficient to give the placemats some extra body.

I plan to topstitch the placemats with this Gütermann 30-weight cotton thread. If you were paying attention, you would remember that I’m using polyester fabric and cotton thread. I’m OK with that – I could have used polyester thread for the topstitching, but I found cotton.

Oh my – look at this treasure. It’s a box of Gütermann 50-weight cotton thread. There are 48 gorgeous colors, making picking the appropriate color for sewing the projects easily. I can’t wait to bind a quilt because finding a matching color in this collection box will be easy. I might have to do a bonus project to try these colors for decorative thread work. You can never have too much thread!

I’ll use COSTUMAKERS Invisible Closed End Zippers and have several colors to mix and match with the pillows. Not that anyone will see them as they will be invisible, but it looks more exciting than one color! I always buy a longer-than-needed zipper and will cut off the excess. These zippers are 22″ long. The most common lengths for invisible zippers are 8″ or 22″, so you don’t have a lot of choice, but it’s easy to cut off the excess.

Let’s gather the presser feet for the Opal 690Q.

First on the list is the invisible zipper foot. There’s both a clear and a metal option, and both work equally well. Some people prefer the clear one because they feel they can see better.

I want to add piping to the placemats and the cushions, so I have yards of piping cord. There are three piping presser feet, depending on the size of the piping cord: the Mega Piping Foot, the Piping Foot, and the Mini Piping Foot. Don’t forget the two options for welting. As I explained in this QUILTsocial blog post, welting is another word for piping in the home-dec world. There’s a single and a double welt presser foot. I’ll use the single welt foot for the piping or, technically, the welting for the placemats and the cushions.

To add variety, I’ll color block one side of each cushion and placemat while leaving the other solid. Instead of a regular seam, I thought trying the Flat-Felled Foot would be fun. I’ve never used one, so I’m excited to see how it works. Notice the machine categories (in circles) on the packaging. The Opal 690Q is a Category 7 sewing machine.

I’m excited to get started for a couple of reasons. Starting a new project is always exciting, but I want to see those cushions and placemats in my backyard!

Be sure to follow along this week as I go through the steps, and I’m sure we’ll all learn something new!

I’ve got the Husqvarna VIKING  Opal 690Q set up and the supplies and sewing machine accessories organized, so I’m ready to start!

Have a great day!

Ciao!

This is part 1 of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: Right tools make cutting large pieces for perfect patio cushions a snap