Strawberry Pillows, Day 5

On the top of my list of things that I don't like about sewing is hand sewing.  For one, it involves dealing with sharps, and, as you may know, I try to avoid interacting with pins and needles as much as possible.  For two, it doesn't move as fast as, say, a sewing machine.  Or a racing turtle.  Or an ambitious snail.  And for three, I always feel like I'm doing it wrong.

So instead of sewing up my strawberry, I worked on the strawberry top.  I cut the two template pieces out, and I was fine with the stem top, but I was confused by the stem bottom.  It said to "Cut 2 and tape together along dotted line."  Did they mean to cut 2 of the templates and then tape them together before cutting the shape from the fabric?  And if so, would I cut one or two pieces from the fabric?  Or, did they mean to use the template to cut two pieces of fabric and then tape the two pieces of fabric together (for some strange reason)?

I read ahead and found no reason why I'd need to tape two pieces of fabric together, so I guessed that they meant that I was supposed to make two copies of the stem bottom template, tape those together, and cut one of those shapes from the fabric.

Instead, I folded some of my fabric up, placed the dotted line of the stem bottom along the fold, and pinned the stem top on the other part of the folded fabric.

After I finished outlining the patterns, I placed a few pins inside the outlines, then cut the shapes out.  The pins helped the fabric from shifting around while I trimmed.

There was a special bonus to using the pins, too (imagine THAT!).  For the stem top, instead of tracing and cutting two separate pieces of the stem top, then moving and flipping them around until they match up, if you cut once but with two layers of fabric, you'll have two pieces that match up exactly!  Then continue keeping the pins in until after you sew the 1/4" seam along the top.

As for the stem bottom, by placing the dotted line on the fold, you'll have a shape that will basically have two sets of symmetrical leaves, and you won't even need to dig through your junk drawer for Scotch tape!

Next I trimmed the seam allowance to 1/8", then notched the right angles before turning the stem inside out.  I used a chopstick to push the corners out.

I rearranged the order of some of the steps so that it makes it easier to finish the top.  First, I marked up a 1/4" seam allowance on the stem top.  Then, I matched the stem top and bottom so that the leaves matched.

You can either mark the pieces so that you know in what layout the leaves need to be so that the pieces line up, or you can sew half of the two pieces together and then sew a little bit more (but not completely!) after you stuff the stem.


The next couple of steps involve fiberfill, and if you've got sausage fingers like I do, it's a good idea to have that chopstick or other similar poking device around.  Grab two handfuls of fiberfill and stuff the stem until it stands up.  I used the chopstick to get as much of it in there as possible.  Then let the rest of the stuffing hang out.  It's so the top will stand up once you sew it on to the berry.

Don't do what I did and stuff the stem, then grab more stuffing and try to add it.  You'll have a difficult time trying to keep the stuffing in place while you finish up the rest of the steps.  It's a lot easier to have more fiberfill than you need and then just take out what you don't need.

After the stem was filled, I stitched the 1/4" seam allowance, making sure to leave an opening, and then notched all around.  Then I turned it inside out.  I found the easiest way to do this was to pull the stem out first.  Doing it this way also minimizes the mess with the fiberfill.  I stitched up the opening with a blind stitch, pressed the top, and that was it!