Cheaters Quilting Appliqué Dog Travel Mat.

As from my last post I said I would share with you my first cheat appliqué quilt doggy mat. I got the idea from a Pinrest post that lead to to blog. I have no idea what I would do with out Pinterest in my craft life.

As you can see I made straps at the bottom of my ruck sack to hold the mat in place, I also spared in mind the width of the rucksack and doubled it for the width of my mat so I knew it would fit.

The first thing I did was I measured the pattern paper and drew a template, I would be lost without a template. I transferred this on to my material giving an few inches and more for the wadding, I used a  7oz wadding, so nice and thick when you sit on it. I stitched them all together. My singer 201k was great with this, I thought the wadding would get caught in the feeder tether but I lessened them off and it slid through.

I then trimmed away the excess.

And turned the right way round and hand finished the gap.

I then did two rows of straight stitching around the edges. I found this pretty hard.

For the bones I again had to make a template, I also had to make sure that I interfaced it before cutting as so the edges didn't fray, it then got pinned and sewn. I know it's a little rough but for my first time I am really pleased as I was still using my Tedder teeth and I didn't have a free motion quilting foot.

First Singer 306k Project – Sewing Machine Mat

 When I Started sewing I joined Pinterest to see if I could get any good ideas for projects with regards to sewing leather, and I came across a sewing machine mat that had pockets. 

Here is the link 

http://kate-showandtell.blogspot.com.br/2011/11/bloom-sewing-machine-mat-finished.html?m=1 

I had to make this as I am always losing my scissors, pens, rulers ect, so I had to make it as my 306k was marking my table.

I had to decide how to make it, and I remember my mom using a felt tablecloth when ever she got hers out, but I also remember that it was my job to pick all the bits of cotton up as it stuck. Not the best job, so it had to be easy to sweep all the bits up.  It also used to slip everywhere, so I knew I had to have some sort of non slip matting underneath, so I used the stuff you put under rugs, off the roll from Dunelm Mill.

So my plan was to use oil cloth on the top, 2 layers of cheep grey felt underneath and white non slip matting on the bottom.

My singer 306k dealt with it really well, but there was one problem, the feeder teeth would get stuck, so I had to help feed it through. My other issue was the lack of needle available. I ended up getting a pack of 14s from the USA for around £8 and a pack of 16s from Australia for roughly the same price.

Since I made it, it really hasn’t moved off the kitchen table, and it fits perfectly. The husband said that it would make a good baby changing mat! No chance.

It also make are really good cutting/pattern mat.