Star Chair Pad Done

I'm finished with the chair pad, actually a stool pad for me.  Last night I even hooked another block on my Sincerely Jane challenge piece so my next posting will have a picture of my achievement.

Here is a picture of the black binding tape before it is sewn to the edge of the last row of hooking.  Cotton binding tape has a gathering thread on one side.  One edge is a little more rigid than the other and that is the side which has that gathering thread.  It requires you to do a little picking at that edge but eventually you will see a thread that if pulled will gather for you.  If you look closely you can see the thread and the gathering.

Next I hand sewed the straight edge of the binding tape close to the last row of hooking and then pulled gently on the thread so it would gather.  I carefully pushed the gathering toward the other end but no so far that it would pull the gathering thread in, thus not providing any gathering at the other end of the tape.

Here is what the back of the piece looks like after it has been hand sewn around the perimeter of the edge, but it still needs to be tacked down and steamed.

This is what it looks like steamed.  At almost the 3 o'clock and the 7 o'clock position it looks rather wavy and that is because that is primitive black hooking protruding beyond the cotton binding.  And, it goes without saying there would be an inevitable amount of puckering on the inside edge of the binding because the same amount of binding that is along the perimeter of the piece is now being forced into a smaller area.  But it is a more gentle puckering than if you were to bind it without gathering it.  And It is quite possible that had I pre-washed my stiff cotton binding there would have been a much nicer appearance to the back of the piece ~ but hey, I was in a hurry to get this baby done to put on my stool and get back to my SJ challenge piece.  Besides it is for me and no one will see the back side.

Here it is now on my computer stool.