No I’m not referring to the current political drama being played out in the US.  It’s compulsive viewing here in the UK, I can imagine it is mandatory viewing in the US.  No it’s a much more mundane cover up, that of my sewing machine. Yes not of world importance but as my 2 year old Pfaff got ever more grimy and dusty something had to be done.

I was much inspired by this sewing machine cover by Nicky of Mrs Sew and Sow. I liked the witty use of a vintage machine on the outside. Nicky used a screen print now no longer available. I am very capable of copying someone completely and utterly!! But foiled by this I came across this print. I’ve kept the details in in case you want to order a copy!

My plan was to sew some small squares together from a charm pack of Wordsmith by Janet Clare.  Fuse it onto some interfacing and cut out a vintage sewing machine shape and then sew the raw edges onto some Essex Dyed Linen Flax, my go to fabric for a neutral background.

But a couple of things changed my mind firstly an IG picture of Wordsmith hexies on a dark blue background by Karen, IG @kass_roberts. It looked very effective so that immediately meant my background changed and I chose the nautical colourway of this fabulous range. And then the purchase of Crafted Applique by Lara Buccella.

I’d followed Lara’s book blog hop and seen some great detailed  appliqué using her technique and lots of positive comments. Now of course you need to get the book to find out the process, all I can say it beats using lightweight fusible hands down. The cut edges are crisper and no fraying, there is no risk of gunk on your iron or ironing board when the fusible goes on the wrong side and best of all the appliqué pieces are movable. It really is a super technique and easy to do. I highly recommend the book. And of course I was itching for a project to play with the technique and this was perfect. It was also quick and fun.

I chose to do half square triangles rather like the original print, and then was enjoying myself so much did another version.  I placed the appliqué on dark grey fabric to hide the odd gap and then free hand drew a template of a vintage sewing machine and cut that out and sewed them onto the Essex Dyed Linen. I made up the pattern for the cover, it wasn’t hard, after all it’s just a rectangular box. I used piping to define the shape and Vilene H640 which is quite a stiff interfacing to give it structure

Sewing it together was a breeze with just a simple bias binding along the bottom and a handle on top to whisk it on and off.  At last some TLC for my machine….

This is my first Q4 FAL finish against my original target list here