raggedy ruff designs raggedy ruff designs · p5 lbq pumpkin pie cobblestone cranberry patterned...

©Raggedy Ruff Designs Pattern is for personal use only. 18 Medina Close, Derby DE24 0UD England. www.raggedyruffdesigns.com email:[email protected]

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Raggedy Ruff Designs

Swallow and Cherry Blossom

Finished size 10.5” by 10.5” (or 15.5” by 15.5”)

Raggedy Ruff Designs

http://www.raggedyruffdesigns.com/

mailto:[email protected]


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You will need: Background fabric: Given in background section.

Wadding: 12 by 12” for the smaller size, and 17 by 17” for the larger size. I like to use Hobbs Premium

heirloom which is a poly cotton blend and easy to hand quilt as well as machine quilt.

Backing fabric: 12 by 12” for the smaller size and 17 by 17” for the larger size, minimum. I used a

Moda Bella Natural.

Stabiliser: 10 by 10” for the smaller size, and 15” by 15” for the larger size. There are lots of types of

stabilisers. For this project, I used a medium weight cut away stabiliser and just left it in when I had

finished. When I am hand quilting, I use a papery tear away one. It isn’t as nice as the cut away one

but you can get it out easily and then quilting is much better. I don’t like the soluble ones as I find they

stick a bit on the machine and don’t move as easily but that is a personal choice.

Thread: I used the following threads by Wonderfil:

Colour I used Purpose Alternatives

Cream Tutti 50wt cotton TU38

Outlining Wing details TU25

Off white Tutti 50wt cotton TU41

Eye details, blossom edges

Designer polyester DS115

Subdued pink Tutti 50wt cotton TU33

Blossom centres

Variegated tan Tutti 50wt cotton TU36

Chest feathers Tu35

Navy Designer polyester DS214

Blue feathers TU24

Variegated Navy Tutti 50wt polyester Blue feathers especially around the eye area.

DS214

Grey Tutti TU39 Filling in feet and beak TU40

Dark taupe Designer DS891 Outlining feet

Saddle brown Designer DS893 Outlining most parts

Dark brown Designer DS896 Eye and beak outline Designer DS110, Rayon 7124

Soft brown Silco 30wt SCM23 Blossom Branch DS886

You don’t need to use these colours, just have a look through your thread box and see what you have.

If you switch between types of thread like I do, then you may need to keep adjusting your tension as

you sew. Some of the quilting threads I use are quite thick and I must turn my tension wheel to half of

what I normally do so that I don’t get the bottom thread coming up. Tension problems show up a lot

more when you free motion than normal sewing, so if you get loops on the bottom either your upper

tension is probably too loose or it isn’t threaded correctly. I recommend using pre-wound bobbins.

Wonderfil do some lovely ones called Decobob pre-wounds and they take a lot of the stress about

tension from your project and don’t really cost very much more than winding your own.




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Applique Fabric: You can use any fabric you like but I would heartily recommend batiks for raw edge

applique. The thread count is higher so they stay together while you are sewing and don’t fray nearly

as quickly. I like to use hand dyed batiks with no printed pattern. They give a lovely water colour effect.

I use the Kota batiks by Moda and Sew Simple Batiks. For this embroidery, I used:

Code Item Colour Size for 10” Size for 15”

A1 Hoffman 1885 Taupe

Full Bird Taupe 6 by 7” 10.5 by 9”

A2 SSB109 Full bird minus tail and some wing parts

Navy Blue 5.5 by 7” 10.5 by 8.5”

A3 SSB046 Chest, under wing and belly

Chestnut 5 by 3.5” 7.5” by 5.5”

A4 Kota Hemp Under wing and belly

Beige 4 by 3” 6” by 4.5”

A5 Kota Vanilla Belly and tail stripe and flowers

Cream/white 8 by 4” 12 by 6”

A6 Kota Baby Lilac Flowers Pale pink 6 by 4” 9 by 6”

A7 TT Mauve Buds Mid pink 3 by 3” 4.5 by 4.5”

Freezer paper: Freezer paper is ideal to trace the pattern pieces and then you can iron them (warm

iron) onto your fabric and then cut them out and carefully peel away the paper.

Bottom bobbin threads: Just a note here to say that I am lazy so I only ever use either a dark

brown/grey/cream thread on my bottom bobbin. I adjust my tension to make sure I don’t get any

noticeable thread colour coming up from underneath. I recommend using pre-wound bobbins.

Wonderfil do some lovely ones called Decobob pre-wounds and they take a lot of the stress about

tension from your project and don’t really cost very much more than winding your own.

Free motion foot and ability to either drop or cover up your feed dogs: Everyone’s machine

is different and I’m not going to try and explain all the different types of free motion sewing foot. But

you are going to need one. And to know how to use it! This one is mine. I have a Pfaff Creative 2056

(which is getting on a bit.) I used to have the proper free motion foot for it but I broke it so I am back

to the darning foot the machine came with, but to be honest it works just as well so I haven’t bothered

changing it.

At the back of the instructions there are the outline drawings. If you wish to construct the embroidery

using needle turn applique you will need to add seam allowances on as they are not included. I am

not going to give the instructions for needle turn applique but if you follow the same order as for the

raw edge applique and remember to add on your seam allowance you should be fine, and you could

embroider the extra details or smaller pieces by hand.




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Background instructions for 10” panel Below are the fabric requirements for the 10” patchwork background. The placement for each piece

are indicated in the chart by the reference number. All the patchwork seams are constructed using a

¼ inch seam. I would highly recommend labelling with C1 etc which you have cut out your pieces so

you don’t get muddled!

Code Description Pieces to cut Fabric size supplied

G1 Bella Celery Light green plain 2.5" by 2.5" 3 by 3"

G2 SSB058 Light green batik 1.5 by 2.5" 2 by 3"

G3 Foam wash Island Batiks Spotty light green batik 2.5" by 2.5" 3 by 3"

G6 Kona Fog Light cool blue 5.5 by 1.5" 6 by 2"

G5 SSB065 Green/purple batik 1.5 by 1.5" 2 by 2"

G4 Winter garden Island Batiks

Light green/grey patterned batik 1.5 by 2.5" 2 by 3”

C1 Kota Ivory Ivory batik 2.5 by 5.5" 3 by 6"

C2 LBQ Over the rainbow toast

Warm cream patterned batik 2.5" by 5.5" 3 by 6"

C3 Bella Tan Tan plain 5.5" by 5.5" 6" by 6"

C4 Moda Solid Popcorn Mid beige batik 2.5 by 5.5" 3 by 6"

P1 Hoffman Lavender Warm purple batik 2.5 by 5.5" 3 by 6"5"

P2 Hoffman Skipper (purple) Lavender patterned batik 5.5 by 1.5" 6 by 2”

P3 Kona Plum Plum solid 2.5" by 2.5" 3 by 3"

P4 Bella Mulberry Dark plum solid 2.5 by 5.5" 3 by 6"

P5 LBQ Pumpkin Pie Cobblestone Cranberry Patterned plum batik 1.5 by 2.5" 2 by 3”

P6 SSB005 Mauve batik 2.5" by 2.5" 3 by 3"

Background instructions for 15” panel Below are the fabric requirements for the 15” patchwork background. The placement for each piece

are indicated in the chart by the reference number. All the patchwork seams are constructed using a

¼ inch seam. I would highly recommend labelling with C1 etc which you have cut out your pieces so

you don’t get muddled!


G1 Bella Celery Light green plain 3.5 by 3.5” 4 by 4”

G2 SSB058 Light green batik 2” by 3.5" 2.5 by 4"

G3 Foam wash Island Batiks Spotty light green batik 3.5 by 3.5” 4 by 4”

G6 Kona Fog Light cool blue 8 by 2" 8.5 by 2.5"

G5 SSB065 Green/purple batik 2 by 2" 2.5 by 2.5"

G4 Winter garden Island Batiks

Light green/grey patterned batik 2 by 3.5" 2.5 by 4”

C1 Kota Ivory Ivory batik 3.5 by 8" 4 by 9"




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C2 LBQ Over the rainbow toast

Warm cream patterned batik 3.5" by 8" 4 by 9"

C3 Bella Tan Tan plain 8" by 8" 9" by 9"

C4 Moda Solid Popcorn Mid beige batik 3.5 by 8" 4 by 9"

P1 Hoffman Lavender Warm purple batik 3.5 by 2" 4 by 2.5"

P2 Hoffman Skipper (purple) Lavender patterned batik 8 by 2" 9 by 2.5”

P3 Kona Plum Plum solid 3.5 by 3.5” 4 by 4”

P4 Bella Mulberry Dark plum solid 3.5 by 8" 4 by 9"

P5 LBQ Pumpkin Pie Cobblestone Cranberry Patterned plum batik 2 by 3.5" 2.5 by 4”

P6 SSB005 Mauve batik 3.5 by 3.5” 4 by 4”

Piecing Instructions

This is the pattern layout. I like to use grids and really you can construct this in any way you like but I

have put instructions on the next pages to show an order with pressing directions as well. Both the

larger and smaller panels have the same layout, although the size of your blocks will vary.

G1 C3 P1 P3

C1 C2 P2 P4

G2 G6 G5 P5

G3 C4 G4 P6




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1. Stitch P1 to P3. Press towards P1

2. Stitch P2 to P4. Press towards P4

3. Stitch both blocks together. Press towards p2/p4

4. Stitch C3 to C2. Press up to C3.

5. Stitch the purples and central blocks

together. Press to P1/P2

6. Stitch G1 to C1. Press down to C1

7. Stitch this strip to the rest of your block. Press seam to C3/C2

8. Stitch the strip together. Press to the

left. (G6 to G2 side etc.)

9. Stitch the bottom strip together. Press to the right (G3 to C4 side)

10. Stitch these two bottom strips together. Press seam down.

G2 G6 G5 P5

G3 C4 G4 P6

G2 G6 G5 P5

G3 C4 G4 P6

P1 P3

P2 P4

P1 P3

P2 P4

C3

C2

C3 P1 P3

C2 P2 P4

G1

C1

G1 C3 P1 P3

C1 C2 P2 P4




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11. Stitch the rest of the block to the bottom two strips and give it all a good press, pressing the last seam downwards.

Embroidery Instructions At the back of the instructions there are the outline drawings. If you wish to construct the embroidery

using needle turn applique you will need to add seam allowances on as they are not included. I am

not going to give the instructions for needle turn applique but if you follow the same order as for the

raw edge applique and remember to add on your seam allowance you should be fine, and you could

embroider the extra details or smaller pieces by hand.

Video links (In addition to the written instructions I also have videos on my YouTube channel. Please go to

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp1RjC_f3WiZiZWhyxzCZxw or search for Raggedy Ruff Designs

on YouTube. There isn’t a specific one for this pattern but the other tutorials might be helpful.)

Basic cutting out guidelines To use freezer paper, you do the following:

• Trace your design with a pencil on to the matt side of your freezer paper.

• Cut out your shape with paper scissors (or if you are naughty like me you can just roughly cut

out the shape with your fabric scissors and trim it down properly when you cut your fabric.

This isn’t great for the life of your scissors but it does improve your cutting accuracy.)

• With a warm iron, press your shape onto the right-hand side of your fabric. You can fussy cut

if you want but make sure that you have all the shapes fitting onto your fabric before you cut,

you don’t want to find that you only have enough fabric left for half a mouse!

• Cut the shape and peel off the freezer paper.

I like to build up my designs through layers where possible to reduce the amount of raw edge seams

cutting across a shape and make positioning easier. So, trace out all the design lines unless they are

clearly embroidery only (like the eyes or the mice paws, bird’s legs etc.). I try to show embroidery lines

with a thinner pen line, and fabric changes with a thicker pen line. When you peel off the freezer

paper, you can then trim down the shape to the next layer of fabric and reuse it.

G1 C3 P1 P3

C1 C2 P2 P4

G2 G6 G5 P5

G3 C4 G4 P6



https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp1RjC_f3WiZiZWhyxzCZxw


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If you are using a fabric kit to make this panel, please remember that some of the applique fabric

pieces will be used in different parts of the embroidery. It would be a good idea to trace out of the

designs and cut out all the pieces for one applique fabric colour at a time so that you ensure you

position the pieces optimally or you may not have sufficient fabric later.

Adhesives I don’t use any adhesives on my appliques. I don’t like the feel of them and I like the freedom to keep

arranging my pieces as I go along. You can pin your pieces down if you like or use adhesive but I won’t

be mentioning them in the patterns as it isn’t how I work. To stop the pieces from puckering, I keep

smoothing the applique fabric pieces away from the machine needle with my fingers. It is one of the

reasons I like to layer my fabric so if anything does shift a little bit, you don’t end up with a gap between

sections.

Cutting out 1. Trace around all the

pieces. Mark all the

changes in fabric colour but

don’t worry about

embroidery lines.

2. There are four

flower groups which are

the same template. Cut

two sets from the baby

lilac, and two sets from the

off white. You can then mix

them up when you arrange

them to get a mixture. If

the flowers are touching

draw around the whole

shape rather than cutting

out the flowers

individually.

3. Cut the buds from

the mauve.

4. For the bird, we are

going to work through

several layers.

5. Cut the whole bird from the Hoffman Taupe.

6. Trim your template down to remove the brown areas. (Keep the white stripe from the tail

section and put that part of the template to one side for now.)

7. Cut the remaining template out of the dark blue.

8. Trim your template down to remove the blue areas. Cut this from the chestnut colour.

9. Trim your template down to remove the chestnut head area only. Cut this from the beige

fabric.

10. Trim the beige underwing area from the template and cut the remaining shape from the off

white, you can also cut the tail stripe from the same fabric.




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I know this seems a little

wasteful of fabric as we are

making multiple layers but it is

a lot easier than trying to jigsaw

the pieces of fabric back

together again. And if a piece

shifts a bit when you are

sewing, it won’t matter. The

bird is quite complicated so I’ve

put in an exploded picture to

show the different shapes.

Arrange the pieces on your

background fabric with your

stabiliser underneath. For now,

take away the flowers as they

will only end up on your sewing

room floor!

Thread your machine with dark

brown (DS893 polyester). Take

a deep breath and with all the

free motion settings engaged correctly on your machine, position your needle about a millimetre from

the edge of the swallow and start sewing. A few stitches on top of each other fastens your end for

you. Each time you get to the end and want to cut off your thread remember to do a few stitches to

lock the thread so it

doesn’t undo. With

free motion sewing

there is no need to

stop and turn around,

you can sew in all

directions. After a few

stitches, I find it

helpful to cut off the

upper thread end so I

don’t keep sewing

over it. Go all the way

around the whole

embroidery, securing

all the edges of all the

fabric pieces. If you

miss a bit don’t go

back over what you

have done, just get back into position as quickly as you can and keep going. If you feel a bit panicky

then you can always just sew up and down on the same spot a bit or stop for a second! Don’t worry

about any of the details at this stage. We just want to get all the pieces sewn down so they don’t go

astray! Once you have gone around all the shapes, go around them again, making sure you catch down

any edges that you missed the first time. When you reach the wings, add in the individual shapes with

the brown thread.




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Don’t stitch the edge of the white

fabric around the under wing and

chest area, instead switch over to a

cream thread (I used TU38) and

stitch down the loose edge. You can

add in a few zig zags to give some

feather details and on the lower part

of the belly, add in a little extra zig

zags to go around where his feet will

be. Stitch down the long edge of the

tail feathers to bring it forward, and

you can also stitch around the lower

edges of the wings to define the

feathers better.

With a dark brown thread (DS896)

add in the eye and outline the beak.

Change over to a dark blue (DS214). I

used both a plain blue and a

variegated blue (TU24). I used the

plain one first and just stitched around the edges and added a few feather details.

Next I changed to the variegated

one and focused around the eye

area. This thread had some lighter

blue shades in so I used it to

highlight key areas. So, stitching

down the length of the wing and

making sure some of those lighter

blue tones were there for the wing

tip. With variegated thread, you

don’t need to treat it as random,

you can look at the thread that is

coming up and make sure you are

where you need to be for when

that shade comes in. I also added

in a fine stripe of blue

down the left-hand

side of the tail.




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The eye was outlining

in the off-white thread

with a highlight in the

eye itself.

People often have

trouble with eyes. The

thing to remember is

that eyeballs are

round. So, stitch

yourself a little round

eye to start, then

carefully outline it

with the off white two

times, then on the last

trip down, this is the

time that you can pull

the shape down a little

bit towards the beak

and up a little in the opposite direction at the other side. That will be enough to shape the eye. If you

start off with an oval or diamond, you will end up with a very slit like eye by the time you finish.

I then changed over to a tan thread (TU36)

and did a little stitching under the eye and

around the beak then around the edge of the

chest area.

The last thing to do on the bird is stitch in the

feet. I used a slightly softer thread colour

(DS891) which is a dark taupe, to outline the

feet. I coloured in the beak with the same

thread. I then coloured them in with a

variegated grey thread (DS39).

With the bird finished, I then lay out the

blossom pieces in a rough circle. I used the

darker taupe thread to outline stitch the

flowers rather than my normal DS893

saddle brown so that they didn’t

overpower the bird. I stitched around all

the outside edges twice and added in petal

divides where needed.

Switching over to a variegated brown I

stitched in the branch with Silco SCM23.

This is really quite a light colour for a cherry




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blossom branch but I didn’t want it to be too heavy. Take your time when stitching branches like this

as it is easy to get your

tension too high and

get it all gathered up.

Turn your tension

down a little and try

and ease your foot on

the gas a little so you

are stitching slowly.

When you need to

change direction, do a

couple of stitches in

one spot so you don’t

risk gathering it up

further.

Change over to your

off-white thread

(TU41) and then

outline around the

edge of the blossoms. With a darker pink (TU33) you can stitch the flower centres and add a little

detail to the flower buds.

Your panel is finished. Depending on what you want to do with it, you can turn it into a mini wall

hanging and quilt it, or a cushion cover would be lovely. Neaten up any loose ends on the back, but I

generally leave as many of the back threads uncut where possible so that it helps everything stay in

place on the front.

The templates are included in the following pages. The larger template will need to be cut out and

overlapped and stuck together to make the full templates.




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raggedy ruff designs raggedy ruff designs · p5 lbq pumpkin pie cobblestone cranberry patterned...

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