I needed to make a present and thought that a crazy quilt picture frame would be the perfect thing. In this case it's one for the person who helped us find Fearghus and now Fiona. The picture is of their grandsire, General Patton, who's now 13 years old.
The first thing that I did was to take a paper printout of the photo and decide what size I'd make the frame and the window opening. Once I had that pattern I set it aside. The next step was to print the photo on cotton fabric using an inkjet printer. Since this isn't a removal picture frame I wanted to have something more permanent than paper. When that's dry and heat set according to the instructions, then iron on a layer of fusible interfacing to give it a bit of body.
I cut out a piece of muslin a bit larger than the pattern and added a layer of Lite Steam-a-Seam 2 on it. The next part is fun - cutting out pieces of fabric to layer on the muslin. I like using batiks because they're so rich. I then layer ribbons on some of the seams. Next comes time to play with all those fancy stitches on your sewing machine (or time for some hand sewing treatment, either way is good). Lay your pattern over this and trim it to size.
Now comes time for the window. Pick out a contrast fabric. Only a sliver will show so a solid is better than a print. Lay it on top of the trimmed frame, right sides together. Place the pattern over everything, matching the edges and trace the window. Pin it in place and sew along the traced line.
Cut an X to the corners of the window and trim so that you have about 5/8" borders. Make sure that you cut to the stitches, but not clipping the threads, of the corners. This will make it turn easier. Now pull the fabric towards the back, smoothing as you go. Once it's right then a quick ironing will help keep it in place. It'll create a little piping along the opening of the window frame.
Lay the frame on the fused cotton photo. When you like the placement, use a glue stick to keep it in place. Pins seem to create too much bulk. Now very slowly, sew in the ditch of the frame and that contrast piping. This will keep the photo in place as well as keeping the piping down.
I've made these frames before when making the hand drawn faces from Angela Jarecki's Windows class. But they've been a bit flimsy in the past. This time I thought that I'd add a stiff fusible heavy interfacing, a timtex type material called InnerFuse. I just layered it and then another piece of muslin to the back of the frame. Once it was fused I trimmed the edges again.
Ah, now comes the very fun part - adding beads! I sewed through the InnerFuse and just added beads in various sizes and colors as a bit of accent. When that was done I fused another layer of muslin to keep the threads protected.
I didn't want a binding on this one so I zig-zagged the edges with a bit of rattail cording to add some weight. Just in case this didn't cover up the white sides of the InnerFuse, I first colored that with a matching sharpie. The final step was adding some macrame loops as hangers. Voila', a nice present.
The finished crazy quilt picture frame. I hope that Susan likes it. I can't wait, we'll see her and Fiona on Saturday. I wonder how Fearghus will feel about his new sister?
