Block 10- Jack in the Box

Sorry I got a little behind in posting!! Time flies as they say.  I have to say this block creeps me out a little bit! But he's starting to grow on me more and more.  This is another one with a little bit more embroidery, but still not hard at all. So enjoy Jack!

Mildred's Block

My Block

Block 10- The Jack-in-the-Box

The surprised expression on Jack’s face as he popped out of his box was mirrored on the faces of the quilt club members when they saw the pattern for the tenth block on the alphabet quilt.

They began to tell stories of the Jack’s they had had in childhood. One member recalled other toys with springs with which she had played. There was the reptile concealed in a simulated pot of jam. This snake uncoiled itself with frightened suddenness when the top of the ham pot was lifted.

This particular Jack was not difficult to appliqué since the spring and the face were expressed in stitchery. The the rest of the toy was done in appliqué.

The first step was the cutting of the square from the newspaper. **instructions for template making and embroidering the letter are repeated again here**

While Nancy was waiting for the pattern to dry she chose her other embroidery cottons. She was sure to use only fast color, washable ones. For the hair she chose yellow, for the mouth rose. And for the eyes she used brown. The same brown was used to make the spring.

Now that the pattern was dry she cut it, having the round pattern for the head, the two long pieces for arms. The box was cut all in one piece. Where the arm expended over the edge she acted as if it were not there and did not cut the indentation left by its overlapping.

In cutting all the pieces she allowed one=quarter inch on all sides for turning under. She cut the face from pale pink, fast color soft gingham. The arms were from a figured green print. The box was a pink and white material with pink dots sprinkled over its surface.

After the edges were turned under and basted down the pieces were pressed

She laid the box in place on the lead pencil outline of the white block. The box was appliquéd with fine, slanting invisible hemming stitches. Then she appliquéd the arms. The head went on last.

To get the effect of the box she used her brown fast color embroidery cotton and outlined the lines of the box as shown. It was the line on the front toward the right and the hinge line which needed to be stitched. The spiral spring was done in fine running stitch.

The eyes were outlined and the pupils worked in fine satin stitch. The mouth was done in sating stitch. The eyebrows were in running stitch. The hair was done with double strands of brown.

Click HERE to download the pattern