applique stitching – Snuggles Quilts

Loving Needle-turn Hand Appliqué – Final Part

Welcome back to my appliqué series… glad I haven’t scared you off! My purpose in doing this series and my mini video tutorials is to show that needle-turn hand appliqué is actually easier than most people think. If you get done with this series and still don’t want to try it or decide that you’ll stick with raw edge machine appliqué, that’s OK… no judgements! But, if I have converted a few of you to appliqué fans, then my time was well spent.

If you are just joining me, you can find part 1 of this series here and part 2 of this series here. This week, I will talk about how to make stems from strips of fabric and how to stitch points and inside corners on an appliqué piece. Let’s get started!

Making Stems

For floral appliqué projects you can have stems that are straight or curved. This project below has a combination:

You can cut straight fabric strips for the straight stems and then cut bias fabric strips to make the curved stems, but generally I just cut all my stems for a project like this from bias strips. The only time I will cut all straight fabric strips is if all the stems in my project are straight with no curves. Here are the steps for cutting bias fabric strips:

Step 1: To cut bias strips, first lay out your piece of fabric on the cutting mat and align the 45 degree line of your ruler with the bottom edge of the fabric.

Now using your rotary cutter, make the first cut and then cut strips on a 45 degree angle the width required for the design.

Cut the strips 1/2″ wider than the stems width you want. For example, if you want stems that are 1/4″ wide, you will need strips that are 3/4″ wide or if you want stems 1/2″ wide you will need strips 1″ wide.

Step 2: To make stems from these strips, the long sides of the strips need to be folded in 1/4″ on each side. I like to use a tool called a bias tape maker. Here’s what my old one looks like:

To use the tape maker, you slide the fabric strip into the wider end of the tool until the end of the strip starts to come out the narrow end. You will notice that the sides of the strip are folding in. Start pulling the strip through and iron the folds of the strips to crease them making the strip the stem width you want. There are different sizes of bias tools to make different widths of stems.

Here is what the stem will look like when you are done:

To secure the sides of the stem in place, especially if you are making a lot of stems, you can use a few dots of Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it on the wrong side of the strip inside the folds.

Like I discussed in last week’s post, stems are usually positioned and stitched down first when you have a floral appliqué project.

Here’s the mini video on making stems from fabric strips:

Stitching Points and Inside Corners

Most people just learning to appliqué, and even some experienced stitchers, have trouble with stitching points and inside corners. I found that is the question most asked when I am teaching an appliqué class. Because it’s often asked, I decided to make a short mini tutorial video on stitching that includes points and inside corners. It’s easier to demonstrate than to explain in words, so hopefully this helps you understand this part of appliqué stitching.

So that’s it for my appliqué series! I hope by reading these posts the last three weeks and watching my mini tutorial videos you have a better understanding of needle-turn hand appliqué and you want to try it! Leave a comment or ask questions below and you will be entered into the drawing for my appliqué prize kit:

The drawing will be next Monday, October 4th. Good luck! **We have a winner! Congrats, Sally Garon!**

Happy Quilting & Stitching!
Deanne

Loving Needle-turn Hand Appliqué – Part 2

Welcome back! I hope you learned a lot from last week’s introduction to needle-turn hand appliqué. If you missed the post from last week, you can find it here. Next week’s post will be the last in the series so you have time to comment and ask questions and be entered into the drawing for my appliqué prize package on October 4th!

Last week’s post covered my preferred and recommended needle-turn hand appliqué tools, how to prepare templates and use them and how to prepare the appliqué shapes for stitching. This week, we will cover preparing your quilt top or background block, laying out the appliqué design and the appliqué stitch.

Preparing the Background and Design Layout

First, whether your background for your appliqué design is a pieced quilt, a pieced block or just a plain piece of fabric, I recommend reinforcing the edges of the project with Fray Check.

The quilt or piece of fabric to which you will be stitching your appliqués will be handled a lot and can develop frayed edges. In the past my background piece frayed so much into the seam allowance that I had a hard time stitching blocks together or having a seam allowance to attach borders or binding. Applying Fray Check has stopped that. I. no longer have to worry!

Next, if my background is a plain piece of fabric I will fold it to make creases so I can find the middle of the project. I sometimes will draw chalk lines (very lightly) to also be used as a design layout guide. Rulers are also helpful in placing appliqué pieces. Below is a photo of a background I have folded to create lines.

On projects where the appliqué is in a border or along the edges of a quilt or blocks that will have to be pieced together, I like to draw a line 1/2″ in from the fabric edge (see below). This allows for the 1/4″ seam allowance and an extra 1/4″ to keep your appliqué design away from any future seams.

Before I did this, I would often get an appliqué stitched down and then notice it was too close to the edge of my project. Time to remove stitches & re-stitch…. and I like to avoid that as much as possible!

Finally, below are photos of using what I talked about above in laying out my design. I’m using creases in the background and my ruler to lay out my design. With stems, I also use other appliqué pieces as a guide to make sure they are placed in the correct place on the background.

Stitching the Appliqués

To start out, if an appliqué project has stems that will have flowers on them and have the raw ends covered by other appliqués, I recommend laying out and stitching those down first. Use the other design pieces to get the stems positioned correctly (as shown above) and then use small dots of Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it to secure them in place for stitching. I also use little dots of glue to place other appliqué pieces down for stitching:

Be sure to use small dots. Too much glue can seep through the fabric piece and show on top. Also, this glue is water soluble, but if you use too much it will still leave a small stain. Once you position the appliqué piece into place after gluing, it should be affixed after 30 seconds with a little pressure from your hand.

Now, it’s time to stitch that appliqué piece you just positioned. I like to start on a side of the piece that is the straightest. However, if you are stitching a circle, no side is straight! The goal when you are stitching is to hide the stitches on the top of your project as much as possible. That’s where thread color, good lighting and even a magnifier comes in handy (the lighting and magnifier was discussed last week). You can either use a thread that matches the color of your appliqué or use a neutral thread that blends in well with any color.

So here are the stitching steps:

First: use the tip of your needle to sweep the clipped seam allowance under, up to the drawn line, in the direction you will be stitching. You can hold it in place with your thumb as you move to the next step.

Next, start your stitch from underneath your project pushing the needle up and catching the edge of the fold on the appliqué created by sweeping the seam allowance under.

Then, push the needle back down, into the background fabric only, right next to where your needle came up initially. In the photo on the right, once the needle is pulled back through from underneath, you can see how the stitch is just a little “dot” visible on top. That’s what you want the stitches to look like… barely noticeable.

Here’s a few more photos up close of stitching on a different project:

So, that’s stitching! Below are two videos in my appliqué mini video series that covers what I talked about here. In the first video (part 3), I cover laying out the design and in the second video (part 4), I demonstrate the stitch.

Thanks for joining me again this week! Next week I will cover making stems from strips of fabric and stitching points and inside corners on an appliqué piece. Remember to leave your comments or questions below and you will be entered into a drawing for my appliqué prize package!

The drawing will be on Monday, October 4th after this appliqué series of blog posts is over. Time to get stitching!

Happy Quilting & Stitching!
Deanne

Time to Appliqué – Part Two

Welcome back! If you are just finding me now, this is part two of my needle turn hand appliqué series. For part one, click here: Time to Appliqué – Needle Turn Appliqué. The series will end next week and there will be drawings for prizes from those of you who comment!

Last week, I covered the tools you need for hand appliqué, preparing templates, tracing shapes and then preparing those shapes for stitching. This week, I will talk about preparing the background, laying out the appliqué design and stitching.

Preparing the Background and Laying Out the Design

Tip #1: Most backgrounds for needle-turn appliqué are a plain piece of fabric, but some are pieced blocks. One of the things I like to do for the background is to reinforce the edges of the piece with Fray Check.

In the past, my projects have developed frayed edges from all the handling while stitching. I have found that when I apply the Fray Check to the edges, it stops a lot of the fraying that sometimes was not contained to the seam allowance. Without it, I would often end up with a misshapen and badly frayed project. This is an optional step, but I highly recommend it.

Tip #2: Another way I prepare the background is to either make folds or draw lines (with removable chalk pencil) as a guide for placement of my design. Even though most patterns have photos or diagrams to help with the layout of the design, I still recommend folding your background to create subtle creases, almost like a grid. You can use these creases to help in laying out the design. You can also use rulers to find the center of your background.

Tips #3: To make sure that no part of your applique motif gets stitched into the seam allowance, mark a line 1/2″ in all the way around the background. That helps to define the stitching area. I do 1/2″ so my design is at least 1/4″ away from where the seam will be when I piece the block into the quilt or when I bind the quilt top.

Finally: Like mentioned above, use the folds of your background, rulers and other pieces of the applique motif to get the right placement for your design. Especially if your design has stems for flowers. In the example below, you see I am using the vase piece of the design to get the perfect alignment for my initial stem.

Stitching

First, I use the Roxanne’s glue to secure the appliqué piece I am stitching. Use only small dots of the glue. This glue is water soluble if you make a mistake in the placement. It takes about 30 seconds for the glue to create a really good bond, so you can move the appliqué if needed.

Next, once you place the appliqué, it’s time to stitch. I recommend starting on the straightest part. The goal here is hiding the stitch as much as possible. To start out, choose thread that matches the appliqué shape as closely as possible. Some people will use neutral threads from dark to light to achieve the same effect as color matching.

The stitch that is similar to the one used when stitching binding to the back of a quilt, essentially a blind stitch. The following photos will display the stitch and how it should look. First, use the edge of the needle to sweep the clipped seam allowance under up to the drawn line:

Next, start from underneath pushing your needled up and catching the edge of the appliqué’s seam allowance:

Then push your needle back down, in the background only, right next to the place where your first stitch came up from the back. In the second photo below, you can see when you pull the thread all the way through, there is just a little “dot” of thread visible! Continue on stitching the way all around the shape. The stitches should be about a scant 1/8″ apart.

Here are some additional photos up close that I took on another project I was stitching:

That’s it for this week’s lesson. If you are interested in a video demonstration of stitching, here is a video:

Next week, I will cover making stems from bias strips and stitching inside corners and points. In the meantime, leave me your comments or questions below and be entered in a drawing for one of my favorite patterns: Scrappy Gardens. There will be 3 winners!

This pattern is simple enough for those beginning applique. I will also have a grand prize winner at the end of the series who will receive the pattern along with an applique “starter kit” which will include needles, Roxanne’s glue and a Sewline pencil!

All the drawings will take place on Monday, November 9th. So you have plenty of time to enter! Until next week….***We have a grand prize winner! Congrats, Kathy in WV. Also congrats to pattern winners: Janet, Edith and Christie***

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Needle-turn Applique Tips- Time to Stitch!

For the final installment in my needle-turn applique series, I will give you tips for stitching the design, including stitching points and inside corners. I have lots of photos for demonstration and also video tutorials. By the time you finish reading this post, you should be able to pick up that needle and stitch!

Tip #1

You should have all your applique pieces cut out and the seam allowances clipped (this was covered in part 2). Now we move on to placing the applique onto the background (or the piece you are stitching it to). To hold it in place, I use small dots of Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it as we talked about in part 1. Only use small dots…. this glue is strong even though it is water soluble. You don’t want too much on the piece because it could bleed through to the front of your applique piece.

Notice how I’ve also kept the glue dots away from the edge to leave room for turning under the seam allowance. Once you have the glue dots on the back, place the applique where you want to stitch it and allow the glue to dry for about 30 seconds.

Tip #2

Start the stitching by using your needle to turn under the seam allowance where you want to stitch (see photo below). It’s a good rule of thumb to start stitching on a straight area of the applique. Also, do not start on a point or inside corner. Of course, if you are appliqueing a circle, you have no choice but to start on a curve.

Now, bring your needle up from underneath the project catching the edge of the fold created by turning under the seam allowance:

Then bring your needle back down right next to where you came up but only into the background. By doing this, the stitch looks like a little “dot”. If you put your needle in a little forward from where you came up, the stitch will be more noticeable, something we’re trying to avoid.

The photo on the left is the needle going back in, and the photo on the right shows how the stitch is basically invisible because it’s just a little dot. That’s also the reason why I like to match the thread color to my applique piece.

Tip #3

Keep your stitches close together to avoid puckering on the edges of your applique. I recommend no more than 1/8″ apart. Continue working your way around the applique piece until it’s completely stitched in place. When done, you can trim away the excess fabric that is behind the applique piece. This was covered at the end of last week’s post.

Video Tutorials

Below are two video tutorials for you. The first one is a demonstration of the applique stitch described above. Sometimes it’s hard to learn from still photos and descriptions, so I made this video for that reason.

The second video tutorial is demonstrating stitching points and inside corners which tend to be the most difficult part of needle-turn hand applique.

I hope these blog posts and video tutorials on needle-turn hand applique have helped you with your applique technique or have inspired you to try! There’s still time to enter the drawing for my pattern, Sweet Harmony.

The drawing will be Monday, October 21st. **We have a winner! Congrats, Barbara Blair!**

Happy Stitching!
Deanne

Applique Stitching – Up Close

Over the last few weeks I have shared 5 mini tutorial videos demonstrating steps for hand applique, from preparing templates to making stems to stitching points and inside corners. To see these videos, you can go to my last blog post: Applique Mini Video Tutorial – Part 5
There you will find the final video as well as links to parts 1-4.

So now on to some up close views of stitching. To get started, you will want to come up from under the project with your needle catching the edge of the seam allowance of the applique piece:

Next, this is a photo of how I use the tip of the needle to sweep the clipped seam allowance under the applique piece before continuing to stitch…. this is where the term “needle-turn” hand applique comes from.

Now, insert your needle right next to where you came up but in the background fabric only:

Next, come back up with your needle once again catching the edge of the seam allowance:

By stitching this way, as you can see by this close up photo, the stitches show as small “dots” on the top of your project!

Using threads that match the color of your applique piece, or neutral threads that match closely, you can achieve almost invisible stitches. My favorite threads to use are 100% 50wt cotton threads with a silk finish. I like Mettler brand the best.

And my favorite needles are John James Gold ‘n Glide. I use size 9 which is the correct length for me. Try different size needles to see which is the best for you. Remember, the larger the number the shorter the needle.

So that’s it for my “up close” stitching! If you have some tips, questions or comments, feel free to post below. I will be holding a drawing for a free applique pattern from those of you who comment! Here’s the pattern you can win:

The drawing will be held on Tuesday, June 11th. ***We have a winner! Congrats, June!***

Until next time…. Happy stitching!
Deanne