Yesterday's Squirrel -

Isn't what you think - ;))

I forgot to mention that it measures 6-1/2" square -

And that it is NOT fabric - and it's NOT pieced -

It's ribbon - and it's woven - ;))

I saw a video on the technique - HERE - and thought that it was VERY clever and wanted to try it - then when I mentioned it to Gene Black - my bloggy buddy and sometime cohort in Squirrel Chasing - he sent me a link to another video - HERE - it's not in English - but it does show STEP #3 in more detail.

Go ahead and follow the links - watch the videos - I'll wait - ;))

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So - after watching those two videos -

I cut some strips and started chasing that dang Squirrel - ;))

I understood the strips to be pressed like bias tape - fold the strips in half - press the fold - open it up and fold in each raw edge to the middle - so the sides are "turned under" - like bias tape. Made sense to me - no raw edges on the sides to fray - but that prep work took a looooooooong time and when my strips didn't want to stay pressed, I decided to check my bin of ribbon for something else to use. Something that didn't have raw edges. Something that wouldn't fray -

The pretty colors are only 1/8" wide - a bit too narrow for what I needed - but I figured the 5/8" wide ribbon would work. For the 3-D effect I chose a dark green - a pale/light "shiny" green - and a white grosgrain.   I didn't have much dark green so decided to "downsize" the project  a little and cut the long ribbon in half - then half again - and again - until I got about 15 sections about 7" long.  I thought that a 7" square should/would let me try the technique without a huge commitment in time - HAHA - silly me - ;))

Anyway -

STEP #1 - I only used 11 of the dark green strips -
Laid them all out vertically on a piece of fusible interfacing - on a padded surface - next to each other with sides touching - pinned the tops and bottom to keep them in place - and forgot to take a photo of that step.  You should get the idea from the next photo -

STEP #2 - I did it LEFT-HANDED - (I'll explain WHY it's LEFT-HANDED in a minute.)
I marked a 30-degree line from the BOTTOM LEFT corner to the TOP RIGHT corner with some yellow chalk.  Then using the "shiny" light green - I started in the BOTTOM LEFT corner and wove my may UP to the TOP RIGHT corner - following the chalk line to get the correct angle - just like in the first video - ONE OVER - two under - ONE OVER - two under - all the way to the other corner.  Next row - above the first one - and right next to it - with the sides touching - but the ONE OVER is offset by one.  To see it - take look at the BOTTOM LEFT corner and follow the light green ribbon to the other side - then the row above it - follow the light green ribbon to the other side.  The dark green will be the bottom LEFT side of my tumbling block - and the light green will be the bottom RIGHT side of my block.  I did the same pattern to cover the whole area - and it was beginning to look really cool - ;))

Then I got confused - and this dang squirrel had me up a tree for a couple of days until I figured out how to do STEP #3 - ;))

When I couldn't get it to "work" - I re-watched the second video - the one that showed the third step in more detail. I watched it and re-watched it several times UNTIL I finally realized that the reason that I couldn't get it to work was that I was LEFT-HANDED - and the lady in the video was doing hers RIGHT-HANDED!!

I said that I would explain in a minute - here goes -

The first video by Rami Kim is LEFT-HANDED - she starts her STEP #2 in the BOTTOM LEFT corner - like I did - so I had no trouble following that part - my light green goes diagonally the same way hers does -

BUT the SECOND video is by a lady who is RIGHT-HANDED. Her "pink" is her STEP #2 and it starts in the BOTTOM RIGHT corner and goes to the TOP LEFT.

No wonder I couldn't get the weave to work - the diagonals were in the opposite direction and the "gaps" for the weave weren't where they were supposed to be - ;))

So I went back to the first video - and she kind of skims over STEP #3 - except to say that the weave is THE SAME and goes in the OPPOSITE direction.

ONE OVER and two under - OK - but WHERE do I start?!?!?

After I stared at it for a while - the "light bulb" finally went ON - not OFF - LOL - ;))

And I realized that since the dark green was the BOTTOM LEFT of my tumbling block and the light green was the BOTTOM RIGHT of my tumbling block - I needed to figure out where I wanted/needed the "top" of the block to be - and that THAT spot was where I wanted/needed the ONE OVER to be - so that the WHITE would show on TOP of the other strips.

I started in the middle of the piece and put the white on TOP of the dark green between two light greens that were next to each other on the diagonal - then tucked the ends UNDER in both directions. Then the question was WHERE to come back OUT for the next TOP.

That part is tricky - BUT - follow the white ribbon from the TOP LEFT to BOTTOM RIGHT - it goes IN in the top of one light green and comes OUT from the bottom of the next light green one over to the right - and then back IN at the top of the next one to the right and below.  The ONE OVER is actually OVER TWO dark greens and the TWO UNDER actually comes out THREE UNDER - the light green and next dark green AND the next light green. Once you get that first row - the rest is a piece of cake - (and by that time I wanted a big piece of CHOCOLATE cake - but I settled for a brownie - LOL - ;))

Each of the following rows sits right next to the last one with the sides touching - and is offset by one -

When you get to the corners - you have the pattern in place to get the over/under worked out - 

All of the white "tops" extend past the top and are next to each other -

The same on the LEFT side - the white strips all come out side by side -

On the RIGHT side - the light greens come out next to each other -

I put the extra dark green strips on it to see what it would look like when it was trimmed -

And I thought of making it into a potholder - but it didn't want to cooperate - so that's about as far as I got - ;))

If you are RIGHT-HANDED - you will want to weave from RIGHT to LEFT - so you can REVERSE it by starting in the BOTTOM RIGHT corner and working your way up to the TOP LEFT corner.  The over/under stays the same - the only thing that changes is the direction of your diagonal weave.  Your vertical strips will be the BOTTOM RIGHT side of your tumbling block - and your STEP #2 will be the BOTTOM LEFT sides of your block.  Your STEP #3 - TOPS will be woven from BOTTOM LEFT to TOP RIGHT. I hope that helps - if not - take another look at the second video - see if you can figure out what she's trying to show you - LOL - ;))

All in all - it was a FUN Squirrel to chase -

And it wasn't a complete waste of time - since I did finally figure it out - ;))

Now that I did a "test" piece and I know what NOT to do -

I might try it on a larger scale - like a wall hanging -

It might be easier than trying piece a bunch of 60-degree diamonds - ;))

And there are some things that I forgot to mention. The fusible interfacing sounded like a great way to keep it all "stuck" together - but mine didn't want to "stick". It may have been because the ribbon is/was polyester - but I'll have to think of some other way to stabilize it. The padded surface was great for the pins - but the pins themselves got in my way at times - like when I needed to mark the 30-degree lines. And I wound up hand-basting it around the edges to a piece of muslin then machine basting it to keep all of the ribbon "tails" from coming loose.

Trail and error -

And learning new things -

That's the FUN of chasing Squirrels - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -