Scarecrow Jack In The Sunflower Patch (Tutorial Part 2)

 

We’re going to make some Sunflowers today.  I love Sunflowers.

The road that runs along our house used to be called Sunflower Road. I always envisioned planting Sunflowers along the whole length of our property, but…. well … poison ivy and big tree roots make me lazy.

But I use a lot of sunflowers in my designs. 

So I’ll finish up the tutorial for my newest design “Scarecrow Jack in the Sunflower Patch” today.  I’ll try to have the pattern ready for sale for either tomorrow or Wednesday, for sure.  I ran into some computer problems yesterday, which kept me from finishing up the writing of the instructions. 

The previous post was the tutorial to create the scarecrow.

The sunflower grouping is a cinch compared to the scarecrow.

There are die cutters out there that easily cut flowers so if you have that available, then certainly use it to cut out the sunflower shapes.

Personally, I prefer the hand cut flowers because I like the look of imperfect flowers.   But the die cutters do save a lot of time especially if your fingers have trouble cutting fine details.

The instructions included with the pattern will give the exact measurement for the sunflower placement.  The sunflowers are attached by whip stitching around the centers.  The larger sunflower leaves are stitched on and now I’ll draw in the lines for the stems.

I prefer to use a chalk pencil to lightly draw in the line.  I’ve found that if I stitch without the drawn line, my stitching tends to get crooked. 

I stem stitched along the line and then I measured and drew in the line for the smaller sunflowers.

Remember, the instructions that come with the pattern will include the exact measurements for placing these stems.

Once the stems are finished the little sunflower leaves are stitched in place.

The outside edge blanket stitching is all that needs to be done now to finish the candle mat.

 

I do want to mention that this candle mat has a few different options for finishing.  I’ll show some pictures now so that you get the comparisons.

If you love those scarecrows but just want a simple, easy candle mat to show off the cute Scarecrow Jacks …..

Here’s the mat with just the scarecrows and the sunflowers.  The sunflower stems and the green scalloped background are left off.

It looks so very cute this way, with a lot less stitching and it saves on the cost for the backing.

Instead of costly wool, woolfelt can be substituted instead.  When the pattern instructions suggest steam pressing though … do not steam press that woolfelt.  Otherwise, the felt is a terrific alternative …and it’s more easily obtainable just by visiting your local Joann fabrics store.

Ok, moving on …

  

Here’s how the candle mat looks with the added green backing but without the sunflower stems and leaves.

And here’s the final option is all it’s detailed glory!

And you know what?  … Just the sunflower grouping without the scarecrows would make a really nice candle mat too!

As a pattern designer, one of the worst things that I would want to hear is that a customer started, but never finished one of my designs.

I think that a project sitting incomplete in a closet somewhere should be illegal! 

I want to give you options so that if you do happen to grow weary of stitching, you can still finish it and have a perfectly lovely candle mat without adding so many details. 

Ok, this completes the online pattern tutorial. 

The pattern for this, should be available for sale tomorrow or for sure by Wednesday, depending on how quickly I can get this to the printers today. 

I’ll also have a wool kit available for this too.

Happy Day everyone!