Welcome to day 6 of the sew along!
Today we're going to attach the tail to your monkey. Up until this point you could use the back stitch or the double running stitch on everything. I've been demonstrating all the steps in this sew along with the double running stitch.
To sew the tail we'll need to use the double running stitch so both sides of our piece look nice. The stitch gets a little trickier when both sides of what you are sewing are visible.
To sew the tail we'll need to use the double running stitch so both sides of our piece look nice. The stitch gets a little trickier when both sides of what you are sewing are visible.
Start by taking your 2 tails pieces and lining them up. Then place them on the body. You want the base of the tail to be at least 1/4 inch from the bottom of the body and centered. Remember to get enough thread to go around the tail about 4 times.
Just like everything, start your stitches from the back to hide the knot. You are going to sew through the body and both layers of the tail.
You want your stitches about 1/8 inch away from the edge of the shape and to measures about 1/4 of an inch with a 1/4 inch gap between each stitch.
Now the tail goes far past the edge of the body and you eventually won't be able to sew through the body and the tail. See how in the above picture there is only about enough room for one more stitch through both the body and tail?
When you get about 1/4 inch from the edge of the body, sew through just the tail. Don't put the needle through the body shape.
Then continue sewing around the tail with the running stitch.
As you sew around the tail you eventually get back to the body shape. I made a stitch through the tail and the body once I was at least 1/4 inch past the edge of the body shape.
Once you've gone all the way around and arrived back at your first stitch it is time to start filling in the gaps.
The blue mark represent the stitches you made the first time you went around, and the red marks are as you fill in the gaps.
Now we are at the trickiest part. Once again, when we get to the edge of the body and tail overlap, we don't want to sew through the body. We also want our stitches to line up both on the front and on the back.
Once you get to the part of the tail that isn't sewn to the body, when you make a stitch, you have to make sure your needle lines up with the stitches both on the back and the front side.
Just keep sewing around the tail with the running stitch until the gaps are filled in, make sure your needle lines up on both sides when you start a stitch. When you get back to the tail and body overlap, be sure to sew into the body only after you are a 1/4 inch past the edge.
Once you've filled in all the gaps your tail is done. Finish like all previous pieces with a knot hidden on the inside.
Next we'll be talking about finishing the monkey's body.
The Golden Lion Tamarin pattern is available for purchase here.