In this lesson you will again be making a strip that has multiple strips of different sizes. It is easiest if you set your bridging strips aside until you have sewn the Seminole Strips. This way you will not get them confused.

You will also be sewing some very narrow strips. When you sew a 3/4" strip, you will end up with a 1/4" finished strip. If you have inaccuracies in your cutting, the seam can be slightly off and with such a small strip, it will show. Sew your first seam as usual but when you sew the second seam, use the first seam as a guide. Place your presser foot so that the needle will be 1/4" from the sewn seam. This only works if your presser foot is truly 1/4" on both sides. If it is not, check to see if you have another foot that is correct. If you have a movable needle, use that function.

Here is a little trick for pressing the seams. Press the narrow seams from the center out. That will give you less bulk around those narrow strips.

With that in mind, let's get on to this month's strip.

Seminole Strips	# of Strips	Width to Cut Strips
Light	2	3/4"
Medium	1	1-1/4"
Dark	2	1-3/4"

Bridging Strips	# of Strips	Width to Cut Strips
Light	2	1"
Medium	2	1-1/4"

Sew in the order shown below. Press the seams in one direction and cut the strip into 1-1/4" segments. Step down as shown below. You may want to turn every other segment 180° to make it easier to nest the seams.

You will need to straighten the top and side edges as shown in lesson two.

Bridging Strips:

Mark a line 1/2" from the top and the bottom of the light strips. Sew the light and dark strips together into pairs. Press in one direction. Sew one pair to the top and one pair to the bottom of the strip.

© 1998-2003 Barbara M. Siedlecki
All Rights Reserved

Every effort has been made to insure that the contents of the pattern are accurate. However, we cannot be responsible for human error, printing or typographical mistakes or variations in individual workmanship. This pattern is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without the written consent of CABIN FEVER CRAFTS

Seminole Sampler Strip of the Month
Month #4 Project

Plastic Bag Holder or Pillow

You will need:

• 1 Fat Quarter
• 1 strip Seminole patchwork any width by 18"
• 2 pieces 3/8" elastic each 8" long

Cut a 2-1/2" strip along the 18" width of the fat quarter. With right sides together, sew along the long edge with a 1/4" seam. Turn right side out and press. Set this aside for now. This will be the handle.

Cut the remainder of the fat quarter in half along the 18" length. Piece one of these background sections to each side of the Seminole patchwork strip. Press to the background sections.

Place the raw edges of the handles to one of the long edges of the bag holder about 3" from one end. Baste in place.

Fold the bag section with the right sides together and sew along the long edge forming a tube. (The Seminole strip goes around the tube, not up and down).

On each end of the tube, parallel to the Seminole Strip, fold under and press 1/4". Now fold under 1/2" and press. This is the casing for the elastic. Topstitch the casing close to the folded edge leaving about 1" open to thread the elastic. Thread the elastic through the casing, overlap slightly and stitch to hold. Topstitch the remainder of the casing being careful not to catch the elastic.

Hang on a convenient doorknob and stuff with plastic bags.

Option:

Sew without the handle and stuff with batting to use as a fantastic neck pillow.

You can also use a cord in the ends rather than elastic to make it easier to add and remove the batting. I roll up a length of batting and then add it to the tube. Then close the tube by using cording rather than elastic in the casings. This makes it easy to remove the batting when you want to wash the pillow cover.

© 1998-2003 Barbara M. Siedlecki
All Rights Reserved