a little bloom to go with the chirp

With the Art Star show coming up, I've been frantically trying to make as many coin purses as I can. I noticed the designs I had were almost all birds after about the 40th purse. I needed some flowers! I am "chirp & bloom" after all.

After fooling around with several different rose designs in Illustrator, I came up with this one. It's not so easy to reduce a lush, detailed flower like a cabbage rose down to two colors with pieces simple enough to applique.

I tried a few different shades of red & pink trying to find just the right contrast. Half the time, the fabrics I think will work don't have quite the right contrast once the pieces are cut & laid out.

The one think I was sure of is the linen background. I've been wanting to use it for a while and now I have even more ideas for linen-background things. For the lining, a recycled striped dress shirt.

My favorite part- getting down to business with the appliquéing. Just a simple zig-zag this time.

I should buy stock in Warm Company, the company that makes Steam-A-Seam Lite, my new favorite fusible web. It's essential for the type of appliqué I do. I iron-on my pieces and the web acts like glue during the applique process and after washings too, so the edges don't need turning under.

My least favorite part is assembling the pieces and gluing the frame on, but it has to be done. I'm always afraid I'll get glue on all over it and ruin my hard work. A purse takes about 3 hours to make!

I went ahead and did a few more colorways for variety and listed them in the shop. Cheers!