Happy summer to my blog readers! I am going to be traveling the next few weeks, so I thought I would present my three-part needle-turn hand appliqué series for fabric appliqué. I know many people are afraid of that “A” word, but I think it’s just because they haven’t had good instruction. Of course once you learn the technique, the keys to good appliqué are to practice and to not be too hard on yourself while you are learning. If you are always criticizing your stitching, you’ll become discouraged and quit before you’ve had enough practice.
I do all my appliqué by hand however, you can do appliqué by machine too. I do not do or teach the machine appliqué technique very well, so I am not your resource for that. If you are interested in the machine appliqué technique, do a Google search and you will find many designers that specialize in this type of appliqué. So come along and let’s get started with the supplies and preparation you need to do for an appliqué project.
Supplies and Preparation
This week, I will talk about the supplies I recommend and the prep work that needs to be done before doing hand appliqué. This is only what I recommend. Other appliqué teachers may recommend different supplies and tips. Feel free to try them all and see what works best for you.
Needles: These are an essential tool for hand appliqué. Finding the right needle for you is important. These are my favorite brand, John James Gold ‘n Glide:
These needles come in various lengths. The higher the number, the shorter the needle. I like size 9 because I feel it’s the right length for me. Test different size needles to see which length fits you best. I’ve also found that this brand of needle glides easier through all types of fabric, including batiks. This is something you need to consider. If you have trouble getting your needle to go through the edge of your appliqué because you are not using a good needle, that will make appliqué process more frustrating.
Also, change your needle often if you appliqué a lot. Needles will bend out of shape and also become dull with usage. A good rule of thumb is to use a new needle every time you start a new project. Another piece of advice is change your needle for every 10 hours of use, which could happen if you are working on a large project.
Threads: This is actually where a lot of designers have different advice. My favorite thread to use is a 100% cotton thread. Here’s some of the threads I use:
I like Mettler brand 50 wt, 100% cotton with a silk finish. The silk finish helps it to glide through the fabric easier and there are a lot of different colors if you like to match your threads to the color of each appliqué piece. Some people doing appliqué prefer to use silk thread but I find those to be too thin for my liking. We’ll talk about color matching in a later post.
Other Tools: Here are two other items I can’t live without. Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it and Sewline brand marking pencils.
I love this glue because it replaced the pins I needed to secure my appliqué pieces. I’ve been doing hand appliqué for almost 30 years and have had many finger sticks from appliqué pins over those years. As for the Sewline marking pencil, this is a mechanical type pencil with chalk lead. The lead comes in a variety of colors (white, pink, green, and yellow) so the markings show up on all colors of fabric. It’s erasable and completely disappears with a bit of water on a Q-tip. The glue is also water soluble so the Q-tip trick will work to get rid of any glue residue that ends up on your background fabric.
Good Lighting: Finally, good lighting is essential when you are doing hand appliqué. If you want to keep your stitches as small as possible so they are almost invisible, you need to have good light to see and, in some cases, a magnifier on that light. I have a desk top light and a floor light, for when I am sewing in my TV chair.
Other items like scissors (both for fabric and paper) for working with templates and appliqué pieces and rulers for positioning appliqués come in handy.
Let’s Begin!
Templates: The first thing to learn about when beginning to appliqué is templates: what they are and how to work with them. Templates are what you use to create the units of an appliqué motif. Some patterns may come with already prepared, die-cut templates but most patterns will have the templates printed on the pattern pages (left photo, below) for you. I recommend copying those pages onto card stock and cutting out the templates to make them sturdier. That’s what I did with the templates on the right, below.
It’s a good idea to make these templates more sturdy so when you are tracing the shapes onto the fabric, the templates don’t lose their shape from repeated use. You can also store the reusable templates in the pattern bag with the pattern for when you want to make the project again.
Tracing: The next step is to trace your shapes onto the fabric for the appliqué piece, using the templates. For needle-turn appliqué, the templates are traced on the right side of the fabric. Templates are usually ready to use as is from the pattern, however, some patterns will tell you to also trace a template “reversed” which just means to flip it over and trace some that way. This usually happens with non-symmetrical shapes.
My example below shows the method I use. Trace around the template and leave at least 1/2″ between tracings if you are tracing several of the same shape on the same piece of fabric. For needle-turn appliqué, you need this space to cut out the shapes with enough fabric to turn under while stitching, as opposed to machine appliqué technique that requires no seam for turn-under.
Preparing the Appliqué for Stitching: Next step after tracing is to cut out the shapes and prepare them for stitching to the quilt top. Cut the shapes out about 1/8″ to a scant 1/4″ outside the drawn line. This creates the seam allowance that is turned under when stitching. Then, you will use your scissors to clip into the seam allowance up to, but not over, the drawn line (last two photos).
The clips in the seam allowance make it easier to turn under the seam and keep the original shape of the appliqué piece. The curvier an area of the appliqué piece, the closer together your clips should be and there should be more clips than you would have on a straight side.
So, this is it for this week. Below, I have a link to part 1 of my appliqué mini video tutorial series that covers the things I talked about today.
Next week, my post will cover laying out the motif and stitching. I’m giving away a prize package at the end of this series that includes my pattern, Winterberry Glow, as well as some appliqué supplies pictured below.
Leave a comment or ask a question below and you will be entered into this drawing! The winner will be chosen from all the commenters over the next three weeks and the will be announced on Monday, July 17th. **We have a winner! Congrats, Mary Borocz!**
Happy Quilting!
Deanne
Love, love the Winterberry Glow pattern! As always, excellent tips. I enjoy doing appliqué.
Why do you trace on front of fabric instead of back? Very informative for a newbie.
Hi Shelly,
I trace on the front of the fabric because the line from the chalk pencil provides the guide to turn under the fabric in the seam allowance.
Thanks for the info. Always looking for ways to make it better.
Thanks for the info on hand appliqué. I didn’t realize I needed to change a hand work needle every ten hours! I will look for some John James needles. I look forward to the next two installments.
Merci thank for appliqué
Revendeur Français ?
Thanks for the info, know I don’t clip as close around curves, this helps! I have John James needles and love them. But even these needles need to be changed. Look forward to all your blogs.
Good information! I’ll try the card stock, I’ve been using freezer paper.
I’m excited to try this because i have always shied away from needle turn applique. I do wool applique but I have always wanted to try ths method. I’ll be looking forward to the next installment. Thanks so much!
I love doing appliqué so much and always love reading or seeing the method that others use. I can always learn something from them, thank you for showing us how you do appliqué. I don’t think I have thought about clipping the converse edges when appliquéing, I’ll remember this and give it a try..thanks again!!
Thank you for the tutorial. I love needle turn applique but i don’t get to do it very often.
millie
Thanks. I love hand appliqué and you have inspired me
I have usually done machine appliqué. This motivates me to try hand appliqué!
Thank you so much, great info.
I have learned so much from all of your tutorials. I’ve done a small amount of applique but I see now how to improve on it. Thanks for the chance to be in the drawing.
Hi Deanne,
I’ve been appliqueing for a while and I know about clipping inside curves, but I’ve never heard of clipping the outside curves. Can you explain a little more about this?
Thanks
Hi Eileen,
I clip the outside curves to help shape the curve more precisely. If I had fewer clips that were further apart, my circle edges might have some flat areas instead of the smooth rounds of a circle. I hope that explains it.
Great info about the needles. And I love that pattern.
John James needles are my favorites for big stitch quilting. I did a leaf sampler with several types of applique methods used and my favorite look was the needle turned leaf. Thanks for the tips.
That pattern is beautiful! I started clipping my outside curves more after watching your tutorial a while back and boy does that make a difference in making a smooth curve.
I use wool on cotton when appliqueing but reading this post an watching the video I’m going to try using cotton on cotton. I ove applique.
Thanks!
Winterberry Glow is beautiful. Thanks for your tips on applique. I have not used glue in my applique, but maybe I should try it some day.
Good lighting is so important as is keeping a magnifier covered when not in use, even for 5 minutes. Sunlight going through the magnification lens can start a fire. My mom learned this lesson the hard way.
Great safety tip, Carmen! Thanks!
A concise review is always helpful!!
The last few years I’ve done mostly wool appliqué, but your tutorial has inspired me to resume cotton appliqué again. Thank you for the tips, especially the John James needles… I definitely will try them! Oh, I love the Winterberry Glow pattern… very pretty!
Great tip of drawing the shape on top of the applique. Wish the pattern would have mentioned that when I was working on my Hawaiian quilt. I ended up setting it aside, as my shapes were distorted and didn’t look at all like the pattern. I WILL get back to it, hopefully soon.
I’m new to applique but have done some. I’m always looking for new ways to do it. I did needle turn a couple time wasn’t bad. I like your suggestion on applique. I will have to try those needles. Thank you for sharing things that make applique easier.
I am new to applique and look forward to learning how to from this series. I have a question, which you may cover later. How do you keep the applique from getting bulky from layering shapes on top of each other? Thanks.
Hi Shirley,
If you have an appliqué motif with several layers, you can cut away the fabric on the back once you are done stitching. For example, if you have a flower with a center, once you have stitched the center to the flower, flip the appliqué over and cut out the flower fabric that falls inside the stitching of the center. Don’t get too close to the stitching though. Then once you appliqué the whole flower to the background, flip the project over and cut away the fabric under the appliqué area, once again not getting too close to the stitching.
I hope that is a good explanation. 😁
I’ve never done hand-turned applique before, so this blog and video were very informative. I would like to try and small project, but definitely need the needles and glue before I start.