I try to keep a travel sewing project ready at all times. I like to have something on hand to do whether I have a few minutes to spend on the porch, or we are heading out for a day trip, or we are off on an adventure for days or weeks.
My latest hand piecing project has been these blue and brown spools. When I don’t have another project for hand stitching, or for stitching on the go, I’ve been making spools. I put them on the design wall yesterday to evaluate my progress. I arrange them to check color placement and balance before sewing more together, and to choose colors for the next batch to be prepared. I had sewn twelve blocks together at first and liked them so well that I prepared more. And, now again, I need more.
These are all linen. Linen lends itself to hand piecing very well. It’s easy to slip the needle through the fabric between the threads. And hand fatigue is lessened if you can do that rather than pierce a tightly woven fabric. These finish at 3″ square.
All this linen is vintage. A lot is from worn clothing of mine and Jim’s, some vintage table linens, and some remnants I’ve found in antique stores. Often there are boxes of linens almost being given away. A stain here, a tear there; not a problem for me. I’m going to cut it up or dip it in the dye pot anyway.
This project rides in this darling little vintage train case. I loved that someone else had taken the time to clean it up and decorate it for me. The exterior appealed, but when I opened it up and saw that blue bow on the fabric lining, well, I guess I looked at the price tag…but maybe not. It had to be mine! I wrote about it earlier here: https://sandygilreath.com/on-the-road-again/.
The case holds some spool pieces (trapezoids and squares) that I’ve already cut out and pinned together as a block, some more pieces stamped on more linen, a pair of scissors with serrated edges, and my sewing roll.
These pieces are prepared using a set of stamps for this purpose. Talk about portable projects – the stamps and fabric ink can be carried along for the ride, too!
I used an old cutter quilt that had been dipped in the indigo dye pot as the basis of my sewing roll. It has a pocket for a spool of thread or two, a place for my needle threader, thimble, some pins and needles.
Maybe this need for portability came from the times I got last minute calls to head somewhere to help out with an ill or elderly relative. Those hours in waiting rooms can be very long with empty hands. So I still try to have some ready-to-go sewing at hand.
Maybe we should take a trip!
