Using decorative stitches to make a selvage project by Sarah Vanderburgh February 23, 2016 written by Sarah Vanderburgh February 23, 2016 749 There are so many stitches to explore on the PFAFF Creative 4.5 that it’s hard to know where to start! My default *playground* is creating with selvages and then it’s pretty much follow my fancy 🙂 This post goes through my play process with the stitches and my selvages. Stitches created with PFAFF Creative 4.5. With so many stitches to choose from you may want to create selvage fabric with them all day! Stitch requires stabilizer Selecting Stitches I turned on the machine and opened the stitches file. I started selecting different ones to see what I liked. The manual also has all of them listed out with photos and the stitch numbers. The Color Touch Screen on the PFAFF Creative 4.5 gives icon details for every stitch selected – from what presser foot to use, if you need stabilizer and where the needle will start in the stitch. The screen showed me that most of them require using a stabilizer underneath – it’s the white rectangle icon above the stitch. I figured that the layer of cotton I use as a backing for the selvages could count as a stabilizer. I used a fat quarter from my stash with the wrong side up as my foundation/stabilizer. I chose selvages that are from fat quarters or longer yardage. I have my selvages sorted in a couple of different ways and chose to use the ones with no white strip, dots, or words for this project. I wanted to try creating my own selvage designs with the stitches! Next raw selvage edge tucked under preceding one’s finished edge Stitching Selvages Together I started with a selvage with the raw edge at the right edge of the stabilizer and tucked the raw edge of the next selvage underneath the other edge. As you can see in the photo, I played with quite a few stitches before a plan started to formulate on how I could use this piece of stitched fabric! These selvages are close to the end of my piece. After the pink I added one more wide selvage to get to my desired length. The green plus sign indicates needle start position Next I picked a stitch- stitch 4.3.19 to be exact! You’ll notice that the screen has a green *plus sign* that shows where the needle will start in the stitch. I also made sure I had the correct presser foot ready on the machine, in this case foot 2A. Stitch start position lined up under needle Line up the bound edge of the selvage with the middle of the stitch to be sure that the stitching will actually go across both selvages. The machine will guide the stitch – you should guide the fabric with your hands but the machine may move the fabric back and forth to complete the stitch. Pink selvage seam stitched The PFAFF Creative 4.5 makes it easy to play and create with stitches. With so many to choose from, it’s easy to add a personal touch to any project. In tomorrow’s post you’ll see what I created with mine – maybe you’ll make one too! This is part 2 of 5 in this series. Go back to part 1: A Quilter’s Review of the PFAFF Creative 4.5 Go to part 3: Perfect presser feet to make a zippered case [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”23735596″] Print this page or save as a PDF decorative stitchespfaff creative 4 5selecting stitchesselvage projectstitching FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinRedditWhatsappTelegramEmail Sarah Vanderburgh I love to play with color and *quilts* are my playground! A self-taught quilter, I've been designing quilts for almost 20 years. I'm inspired by happy fabrics, selvages, traditional blocks and nature. I'm also a wife, mother, and elementary school teacher, and enjoy drinking coffee on my front porch in northern Ontario. previous post A Quilter’s Review of the PFAFF Creative 4.5 next post Perfect presser feet to make a zippered case YOU MAY ALSO LIKE... Add charm to fabric with the Basic Shape... Embroidering a quilt label with the PFAFF Creative... Perfect presser feet to make a zippered case A Quilter’s Review of the PFAFF Creative 4.5 Quilting the Challenge Quilt Free Motion Quilting Motifs Free Motion Quilting is like Doodling Sewing the Applique Shapes to the Quilt More Decorative Stitches on the PFAFF Creative 4.5 7 comments Pam November 26, 2016 - 1:46 pm Thanks so much for this post! I’m going to make fabric for a pouch with this technique. Reply QuiltShop Gal March 14, 2016 - 1:14 pm Beautiful decorative stitches. QuiltShopGal http://www.quiltshopgal.com Reply Sarah Vanderburgh March 14, 2016 - 2:04 pm The Creative 4.5 comes with 480 decorative stitches! Plus you can edit and adjust them – lots to explore 🙂 Reply Cathie Scanlon March 1, 2016 - 10:44 pm This is a great idea for using up some of the selvages I have been collecting! Thank you. Reply Carla A. Canonico March 2, 2016 - 2:25 pm glad it helped! The salvages are always a love hate kind of thing wouldn’t you say? Reply Kathy E. February 27, 2016 - 9:36 pm I also keep all of my selvages, although I don’t organize them. I like this idea of using different stitches to showcase both the stitches and selvages in one project. Thanks for the ideas! Reply Sarah Vanderburgh February 27, 2016 - 10:26 pm Thanks Kathy. It’s always fun to think up another way to use selvages! Reply Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
