Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet

I'm very happy because I made time to finish the last two sections of my tuffet top. I've had several people comment that they bought the kit to make a tuffet but they haven't managed to make it yet. People have also asked if I could show how the sections are made. So when I started sewing the final sections I took pictures as I went along. Each section of the tuffet needs 8 two inch wide strips by 20 to 21 inches long. I used a Kaffe Fassett jelly roll to make the top. I sorted the strips into sets to begin with, making sure I liked the colour range. The strips of the jelly roll come as 44 inch lengths so I cut the length in half and  was able to make 2 sections from 8 strips. Apart from having to trim the strips to 2 inches the preparation was very easy.  To begin you lay out the 8 strips for the section and number them left to right from 1 to 8 ( or in the case of my photo from bottom to top).

To start the section you work with strip 4 and 5. Strip 4 is the red strip and 5 is the strip above it in the photo. With strip 4 on the bottom you put strip 5 on top with right sides together.

My kit came with fusible foundation which I fused onto muslin.The foundation is printed with the cutting and stitching lines. The foundation is laid on top of strips 4 and 5 and they are aligned with the dotted centre strip placement line (line A). I've put a pin horizontally to show this line. Also you can see the fabric through the foundation piece. When you are happy it's in the right position you pin through the 3 layers  and then stitch along the centre line

Once stitched turn the foundation over so the fabric is on top and press the fabric open.

Next you need your 'add a quarter' ruler. You need to keep the cardboard insert that comes in the packaging to do this next job.

Turn the foundation piece over again so the stitching lines are showing. Taking the card  place it along line B. This will be the next line to be stitched.

Fold the foundation fabric back over the card along the line. You can see the back of one of the strips..

Before I could do the next step I turned my cutting board round to make the cut easier for me since I'm right handed. Next you place the add a quarter ruler over the fold so that the lip of the ruler fits snugly against the fold and thus adds the extra quarter inch. Using a rotary cutter trim the fabric strip from the bottom of the foundation to the shoulder. This is where the foundation piece slopes away. The is also shown on the foundation piece  by a large dot.

Unfold the fabric and re position the card  using the shoulder mark and the top centre mark to align the card. Fold the foundation fabric over the card. Place the add a quarter ruler onto the fold  as in the previous step. Trim with a rotary cutter.

You are now ready to add the next strip. Turn the foundation piece over so the fabric is showing and now match the edges of the piece just trimmed with strip 3. Once happy that the position is right stitch along the stitching line. It is a good idea to alternate the starting point of the sewing, this time sewing bottom to top and next time top to bottom.

After each new strip is added you press the fabric open and repeat the process of trimming the stitched piece before adding the next one. Take care to fold the foundation piece back over the cardboard and then add the quarter inch ruler.This will ensure you cut in the right place and don't damage the strips you've stitched. I found I needed to check the instructions each time I added a new strip when making the first section. After that it all went smoothly except when I got back from holiday and was so sure I could remember what to do but unfortunately I forgot to add the ruler for the quarter inch and had a bit of unpicking to do. I was lucky I didn't damage the foundation piece. From then on I rechecked the instructions each time I worked on it.

These are the final two sections. With all 8 sections now complete I will sew them together either tomorrow evening or at the weekend and then move on to the next step of the process.

My tuffet is now one step nearer completion and soon Little Miss Muffet will be able to come visiting and sit on the tuffet..but only if she promises to leave the spider at home.

Now I'm going to make a cup of tea and watch some TV whilst getting on with my hand stitching.

Lyndsey