Flashback: How I spent my Sunday afternoon

So Sunday, June 8, 2007, I went to my first needlework class at the Scarlet Thread. I'd wanted to take one, but could never find one in my skill bracket. Then I saw the newsletter about the upcoming biscornu class featuring a pattern inspired by "Take me Out to the Ballgame." What could be better? Combining my love of baseball and a curiosity about putting together biscornu.

What are biscornu? Near as I can figure, the term comes from the French and has various meanings. It's an oddly shaped pin cushion/ornament/fob/doo-dad created by stitching two pieces of fabric together. Instead of getting a square, you get biscornu. There's a great online tutorial translated by own_two_hands showing all the steps. Being one of those visual types who needs someone to show me how things work (and generally terrified by finishing/sewing techniques), this seemed like an ideal course.

The full piece is shown on My Ordinary Needle's blog. The instructor was Donna LeBranche. The kit came with the class and I intended to start tackling that before I went to the Stitch N Pitch, if only because the teacher was going, so I could ask tech support questions. She's a big baseball fan of the Red Sox persuasion. She was even interviewed by the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg at the 2006 Stitch N Pitch event.

Since we wouldn't have time to finish the full biscornu, the teacher created a mini version with "I Heart Baseball" on the top and a diamond eyelet on the bottom. The heart was done in a Rhodes Heart stitch. I'd never done either of the two specialty stitches. I ironically had an easier time with those than the back-stitching. Except for the part where I was stitching on the back of my fabric... oops. At least I hadn't done much yet.

Then came the fun of attaching the two pieces of fabric together with a whip stitch. Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy. I can definitely see why you need the squares to be exactly the same. Otherwise, it'll never work out right.