Quilt Designs

At our April 5, 2022 meeting, Leslie and DiAnne share tips, tricks and techniques on how to appliqué.

Here are the quick guides and some of close up photos to go along with the printouts and hyperlinks. Printouts can be found in the Documents section of the website.

Fusible Web Appliqué Demonstrated by DiAnne Hill Fusible web applique, sometimes called iron-on applique, eliminates the need for seam allowances. Instead, a thin sheet of sticky webbing is pressed onto the reverse side of the finished size of shapes. When the shapes are ready they are pressed to the background, sticky side down, using a hot iron. It's best to hand or machine sew the edges of fusible web shapes to the background to keep them from curling away from the fabric, even if the brand you choose says that stitches aren't necessary.

Needle Turn Appliqué – Hawaiian Method Demonstrated by DiAnne Hill Pin or baste the patch in place. Turn the seam allowances under just ahead of the needle as you stitch the patch down – either free hand or following a marked line. The key to maintaining a smooth curve in small ovals and circles is to turn, stitch, turn, stitch, one stitch at a time. Never needle turn a longerportion than is necessary.

Sew and Turn Appliqué Demonstrated by DiAnne Hill Sew and turn applique is an easy technique that eliminates the need to turn under seam allowances before sewing shapes to a background. Two identical shapes are positioned right sides together and a seam is sewn all the way around the shapes (on the seam line). The quilter makes a slit in the material (fabric or something lighter-weight) that will end up on the reverse side of the pair before turning the motifs inside out. Shapes can be added to the background using any method.

Raw-Edge Appliqué Demonstrated by Leslie MacDonald Perfect for small projects like fabric collage, raw-edge applique is what it sounds like – stitching pieces of fabric onto another piece of fabric by hand or machine without turning or finishing the edges.

Reverse Appliqué Demonstrated by Leslie MacDonald

Instead of stitching cut pieces of fabric onto a base fabric, you layer fabrics together, stitch motifs ontop and then cut away sections of the fabric to reveal the fabric below.

Freezer Paper Appliqué Demonstrated by Leslie MacDonald Purchase freezer paper from a grocery store and use it to trace and cut out your pattern shapes. There are different methods of turning under the seam allowance over the edge of the freezer paper to get crisp curves and points that allow you to hand stitch down the shape to the background fabric and then remove the freezer paper.

Stick it down. Sew with matching thread.

Reverse Appliqué

Freezer Paper Templates

Cut the shape and iron the waxy side to the fabric.

Front view with templates on the top

Back view

Freezer Paper Appliqué (template on the inside) on the left, Reverse Appliqué on the right

Trim away the back to remove bulk. Be careful!

Hawaiian Appliqué and the skill builder practice piece

Tips For Applique – In No Particular Order

• Be sure to check your printer settings. Remember that your finished appliqué will be a mirror image of your template.

• Reduce or enlarge your template on your printer to create a suitably sized appliqué for your project.

• 100% cotton fabrics work best.

• Use a bobbin thread that matches the colour of your garment or base fabric.

• Use top threads in colours that coordinate with your appliqué pieces.

• Use the best quality sewing thread you can. Silk is supposed to be the best. Gutermann and Aurifil are other brands of choice.

• Use an appliqué foot on your sewing machine if you can. It has a clear plastic base (often with a wide split at the front), so it’s much easier to see what you are doing.

• When sewing on t-shirts and knit fabric, use a ball point needle in your machine. This type of needle won’t break or damage knitted fibres, like a normal needle can.

• Some people like to use a stabiliser under the base fabric. ‘Tear-away’ or even freezer paper has been known to help keep stitching from puckering and moving during the appliqué stitch process. This is great when you choose a ‘satin stitch’ setting on your machine. I prefer not to use any form of stabiliser when using blanket stitch. This allows my sewing to have movement and flexibility while stitching, which gives a neater finish and allows my stitching to be more accurate.

• There are a number of online tutorials for tips and tricks when stitching appliqué with your machine. Get to know what your machine is capable of.

• Take your time when you are stitching. Practise makes perfect!

• Hand embroider and stitch using the best quality embroidery thread you can. I love DMC threads for their quality and range of colours too.

• Quilters sometimes use freezer paper (available at the grocery store) to prepare their applique shapes. The paper has a shiny side that sticks to fabric when pressed.

• Cut oversize backgrounds for all types of applique because they tend to 'shrink' and become distorted as shapes are added. Square up the backgrounds after all pieces are in place.

• Any type of invisible or decorative stitches can be used to surround applique shapes.

• For a large-scale applique work, also consider the option of quilting the background in advance. You can quilt the background fabric as if it were a whole-cloth quilt, with batting and backing fabric as usual. Then, add your hand stitched or machine stitched applique over the top of the already-quilted work. Your applique will definitely stand out!

Basted and needle turn practice piece