As a child, I remember looking forward to something like a book of the month coming in the mail. Running to the mailbox and returning to the house, all the while wondering what the book might be this time?! Some of my favorites were by Dr. Seuss. All that rhyming … I could be lost in Whoville all afternoon!!
Over the years in my teaching career, I have done many presentations on Dr. Seuss and some of his whimsical characters. Several were around the celebration of Theodor Seuss Geisel’s birthday, March 2, and Read Across America.
Like Sam I Am, I didn’t think I would like Green Eggs and Ham, however after trying them, I found them edible. Over the years I’ve had green omelettes, green deviled eggs and even green jello eggs. Just like Sam, you don’t know if you like it unless you try it!!
One year I was asked if my Home Economics sewing class would do something for Read Across America for the local library. Naturally a Dr. Seuss quilt square project came to mind.
I went to the library and checked out all the Dr. Seuss books available. Students were to think about their favorite character or object from a book and get it onto fabric. I gave each student a 14” x 14” white or off-white square for their design. I was hoping they wouldn’t all pick the same character and as it turned out, all were different.
For a visual as I introduced the unit, I decided to make a square of one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. Hop on Pop.
For this project, I introduced the class to appliqué because I felt it was the easiest way to transfer the characters on the fabric. I have had this Hop on Pop square pinned to my design board for years since the presentation. Recently I decided to add a few more squares and maybe make a table runner or wall hanging to finish the square. Since I’ve been doing a few tutorials for the blog, I thought I would do an appliqué tutorial. Get out your scraps and be creative!!
Appliqué is fabric attached to fabric. Usually smaller pieces are added to a larger piece of fabric for a design and attached by some type of embroidery stitch. Depending on the design it could be several layers of fabric on the square. So depending on the complexity of your design you may have to do some old-fashioned thinking about which piece to appliqué first. Usually you would start with the bigger pieces, and add smaller pieces as you go.
Some people draw or sketch out a pattern and this was one of the options that I let my students know they could do. When I do appliqué I sometimes just draw my character on fabric. Depending on what I’m making, I will sometimes cut the pattern out of the paper and use that as a guide.
In some of my sewing magazines, they will trace a design and use fusible webbing, however I haven’t tried this method. Mainly because even using a press cloth, my iron will get sticky, there’s nothing worse than a sticky iron in my sewing world!! I might have to try it sometime.
For Hop on Pop, I added the grass first to create depth, then added Pop. Most of the time I use my zigzag stitch as wide as I can get it proportional to the design and stitch length quite close together. You don’t want to be able to see the raw edges of the design through the stitches, so I test first and decide how close the stitches need to be. Place the main part on the square and pin in place. Add the rest of your design, pin in place and readjust as necessary.
Decide on thread color. Most of the time I use matching threads and change as I go along. For my Dr. Seuss characters, I tried to get the look of the book, so I did the outlines and most details in black. I usually start at a section that is kind of long to get it attached. Remove pins as you get to them.
Using an open-toe foot, align the needle and cut edge of the fabric so that about three quarters of the zigzag stitch will be on the design and the other quarter on the background. When coming to curves or turns, plan to pivot leaving needle down on the outside of the design. Occasionally you might have to backstitch or go over it again. Next, appliqué the other layers, in this case with Pop, the mouth and eyes. Then be a bit creative and try different stitches for eyebrows or whiskers. Once you start adding in some of these other pieces and details your characters will begin to take shape. Or, get a little personality.
Sometimes if I haven’t done appliqué in a while I forget how much space the zigzag takes up on my fabric design. Such is the case with Horton. I should have made his trunk a little wider to allow for the zigzag stitches and be able to see more of his trunk. A second option might have been to use a narrower zigzag as I went around his trunk, but I didn’t think of it at the time.
For Fox in Socks, I tried using a different embroidery stitch to show his fur, but it wasn’t really doing what I wanted. Sometimes you just have to experiment a little for what you like and the look you want to achieve. There’s a lot of forgiveness in appliqué projects!! Don’t you just love his socks?!
My class finished the quilt for the local library and donated it for the children’s reading room. The librarian had a Read Across America event and three of my classes participated.
The food nutrition classes made Green Eggs and Ham dishes and served them up on a platter. My child development classes dressed up as Dr. Seuss characters and read Dr. Seuss stories to the children in attendance. The sewing class presented the quilt to the library and even invented a game to play with the kids to guess the characters. A fun time was had by all. I thought I had a picture of the Dr. Seuss quilt presentation, but I wasn’t able to find it.
Dr. Seuss has encouraged many people to read and even a few of us to sew his characters on fabric.
Romans 15:4 Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises.
The Nose Bump 