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Applique Tips and New Pattern Feature!

Hi everyone!

It’s that time of the year where I have some new patterns that will be released at the end of the month when I attend Quilt Market in Houston. So, I thought I would share them with you along with the inspiration behind the quilt.

This week I am featuring my new lap quilt Stepping Stones. This is 70 x 70” lap quilt that has a scrappy pieced center and is framed by appliqué.

I wanted a block that would feature the color prints I chose but be easy to make. This simple square in a square design was the answer. Each block has 3 different color prints and a tan background. I alternate between blocks that have the tan print background as the corners and blocks that have the color prints as the corners. This creates the unique secondary design. Here are examples of the two blocks types:

Since this quilt also features an appliqué motif that frames the center, I wanted to review some appliqué tips.

First, for the stems I cut bias strips from a green print fabric. It’s easiest to cut the strips needed from fat quarters (or fat eighths if you don’t need a lot). To cut bias strips, lay the fabric on the cutting surface, lay the 45° line of your ruler on the fabric edge, and then start cutting strips. The photos below show these steps:

Once you have the strips cut, fold in the sides of the strip and press to make the stem. If you start with a 1” wide bias strip, after pressing, your stem will be 1/2” wide. Using a bias tool makes it easier to fold the strips into stems.

My second tip: start stitching your appliqué motif with the stems and then build the rest of the design from there. Use small dots of appliqué glue to shape and hold your stems in place for stitching. Here’s my favorite glue:

This is Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it. This is the best glue that I have used. It’s a small container, but you use so little of it at a time, that it lasts through several projects.

My final tip for this post: If you have an appliqué motif that is made up of several pieces layered on top of each other, stitch the smaller pieces to the larger pieces before stitching it all down to the quilt top. For example, here is the medallion corner stone:

The red penny circle was stitched to the gold circle. Then that unit was stitched to the blue medallion piece. After that was done, the excess fabric was trimmed out in the back before stitching the whole medallion to the quilt top.

I hope these tips were helpful and that you are excited to make this quilt! You will see announcements here and on my Facebook and Instagram pages when the pattern is available.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Applique Tips – How to make stems!

Have you ever admired a quilt with a beautiful appliqué motif and said: “I want to do this!”. Well, I hope you have. Needle-turn hand appliqué has been a passion of mine for almost as long as I have been quilting. Now, I know many of you do not like hand work and are afraid of the “A” word. But you don’t have to be! You can do your appliqué by machine. I just love the added something that appliqué gives to a quilt top, whether it is pieced or just a plain background.

I have done appliqué posts in the past talking about many of the different steps for doing hand appliqué but have never done a full post on making stems. So, here you have it …. a blog post on stems! If you are interested in appliqué instruction from start to finish, consider purchasing my video class Sew on the Go with Needle-turn Hand Appliqué. Once purchased it’s yours to keep forever!

Stems

I like to create my stems from bias cut strips since those are easier to manipulate into curves than straight cut strips. I usually use either a fat quarter or fat eighth depending on how many stems I need. Here is how to cut bias stems.

Press your fabric and lay it on the cutting table as shown:

Align the 45° line of your long (24″) ruler with the bottom of the fabric (the arrow in the photo is pointing to the 45° line):

Now, using the rotary cutter, make your first cut:

Then measure and cut out the amount of strips you need. If you need stems longer than the strips produced, you may have to stitch a few strips together before preparing them into stems.

Cut your strips 1/2″ wider than the width of your finished stem. For example, if you want 1/2″ stems you need to cut your bias strips 1″ wide.

Now it’s time to prepare the strips into stems. To do this, I use a bias tool.  They come in sizes from 1/4″ to 1″. The size of the tool in the finished size of the stem. So, for a 1/2″ stem, we will use a 1/2″ bias tool.

Feed the strip, right side of fabric down, into the larger end of the tool until it comes out the smaller end. When it comes out of the end, the sides of the strip will be folded over as shown. Use the iron press this fold all the way down the strip to make the stem.

When you are done making stems and are ready to put them onto your quilt background, you will affix the stems with the raw edges down. Here’s a project I have in progress to show you how I am shaping the stems:

Stems are usually stitched onto the project first because they are usually covered with flowers and leaves or other parts of the appliqué motif.

Here are a few of my favorite appliqué patterns:

So, that’s making stems! Not very hard to do and they add so much to an appliqué design.

Leave a comment below in this blog post on your favorite type of  appliqué project and win a free pattern for my newest design Summer Serendipity.

 

I will draw for the winner in 2 weeks! **Winner has been chosen** Congrats Sharon Aurora!**

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Do You Like to Travel Stitch?

I don’t know about you, but I like to stitch on projects outside or on the road. I usually have more than one project going on at a time for that very reason. Obviously, I can not have my sewing machine outside on the porch or in my car (…. at least not yet! LOL!), so I have a project in the works that requires the sewing machine and then I have one or more hand projects, either wool or needle-turn applique. Then I have my bases covered and my hands are not idle on a road trip. I just can not sit in a car and not be reading or stitching!

To take a project with me on the road, first I have to have a way to store all the pieces so I do not lose anything. I use small zip lock baggies, either snack, sandwich or quart size (depending upon the size of my project) to store my appliqué pieces. This also works for wool appliqué, hexies or other hand projects!

 

Then I use a larger “project bag”. You know those plastic bags with zippers that small sheet sets come in? They are perfect to pack a project into. enough room to fit your project and sewing supplies you will need such as rulers, thread and needle storage, etc.

These bags work great for plane trips too. Since it is not hard sided, the bag of supplies is easy to squeeze into a suitcase.

I store my threads, needles and scissors is small tins or plastic containers. Here is the tin for my needle-turn applique:

Here’s the inside:

Notice the magnet in the corner. I found this magnet “block” at my local hardware store. It fits right inside my tin and holds needles, a small scissors and some pins. A lot better than having them rolling around inside the tin! 

Next is the plastic container that holds my wool applique threads. I use this for travel sewing and for my summer days “porch stitching”! This is a Snapware container that has a few levels that all snap together and have a cover. I love this for travel!

Next, I needed a place to put sewing supplies within reach when I am sewing in the car. I got this idea from a student in one of my classes. Go to the bathroom section of a Target, Wal-Mart or similar store and look for these small suction cup storage items.  If you can not find one there, find it here. I think they are used in a shower to hold soap. I stick it on the car window and store my thread and scissors so they are easy to reach!

Isn’t it amazing what you can do with everyday items?

So, I’m packed and ready for my next car trip at any time. I better get going on some ideas so I have something to work on for my next car ride. Summer is coming and the kids are miles away, so I’m sure there will be road trips in my near future!

Happy Quilting & Stitching!
Deanne

Now it’s Time to Stitch! Applique is Fun, Part 3

Welcome back to my appliqué class here on the blog! When we last left off, the templates were prepared and shapes traced from fabric. The seam allowances have been clipped. So now what do you do?

This is when we use the fabric glue! We need to position the appliqué where we want to stitch it …. but we don’t want it to move while we are stitching. Instead of using pins, I like to use the fabric glue we talked about when we began this series.

See how I only use small dots of glue? You do not want to use too much glue because it will bleed through your fabric and create a mess. Also, it’s less glue to worry about when we get to a later step. You can re-position the appliqué, but it’s a good idea to get it placed where you want it the first time. It takes about 30 seconds for drying time. If you lift up the piece before the glue has dried, your appliqué may shift during stitching.

So here is the appliqué applied to the background:

Next, we move onto the appliqué stitch. The best way to describe your goal here is hiding the stitch. To start out, choose thread that matches the appliqué shape as closely as possible.

As you can see, the color I picked matches the pretty well.

Now, 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.

Above is the first step, coming up from underneath and catching the edge of the appliqués seam allowance.

Next push your needle back down, in the background only, but right next to the place where your first stitch came up from the back in the first step. In the second photo above, 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.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed this brief appliqué series. If you want an in depth class, I have one online with The Quilting Company!  The name of the class is Sew-on-the-Go with Needle-Turn Hand Appliqué. It’s a 6 session course using my pattern, Bloomin’ Days. The pattern is free with the course!

It’s fun! Give it a try! If you are just finding this blog, here are the links to the first two entries in this series: Applique is Fun! I’ll Help You Get Started and Applique is Fun! Part 2.

Happy Quilting!
Deanne

Applique is Fun! Part 2

On December 20th, I posted the first post in this appliqué series. Here is the link to that entry if you missed it: Appliqué is Fun! I’ll Help You Get Started.

So now let’s move to the next step in the appliqué process. Once you have gathered all your supplies, picked you pattern and fabric, it’s time to piece any background that is required and then prepare the appliqué templates.

Some appliqué projects will have you stitching to a plain background to make a block and then piece those into a quilt. On my quilt, High Prairie Blooms, you see that there are appliquéd blocks alternating with pieced blocks.

Then there are projects like my pattern, Fan Dance, where the quilt top is completely pieced and then appliqué is added in the border areas.

No matter which type of project you are doing, these basic appliqué instructions will get you started.

The Templates

I like to copy my templates from the actual pattern either by tracing them (if they are in a book) or making a copy of the pattern page (if it’s an individual pattern). If you have access to a copier, make a copy of the templates directly on to card stock. This will make the templates sturdier for tracing around. You will also be able to use them many times.

If you are not able to copy right on to card stock, you can glue the paper copy to a piece of card stock (like the photo above) and then cut out the templates on the lines. Always write on the template how many of the shape are needed and what color fabric is to be used, if it’s not already printed on the paper.

Tracing and Preparing for Stitching

Now it’s time to trace the shape onto the fabric. This is where I use the chalk mechanical pencils you can find in the quilt store. Some quilters like to use just the regular chalk pencils that you sharpen with a pencil sharpener. I say, use whatever you are comfortable with. Just make sure you can see the lines to follow for stitching.

Once the shapes have been traced, you need to cut them out. Cut them out using a scant 1/4″ seam allowance for turn under  – the more experienced you are, the closer you can get to a 1/8″ seam allowance. However, you do not want your seam allowance too narrow or your fabric can fray when you are stitching.

Now, to prepare the shape for stitching, clip in the seam allowance a couple of threads short of the drawn line. You do not want to go over the drawn line since that will distort the shape of your appliqué piece.

So, now you are ready to stitch! The next blog entry that I will post next week will be all about the appliqué stitch. Join me to learn the stitch and then get ready to make your own appliqué projects!

Happy Stitching!
Deanne

Applique is Fun! I’ll Help You Get Started…..

Applique really is fun. I know people are afraid of that “A” word, but if you have the necessary supplies and a well lit work space, my tutorial should go a long way in relieving that anxiety. This first post will talk about tools needed to do needle-turn hand appliqué.

  • Lighting:

The first tool is good lighting. I like a table lamp with a built in magnifier.

Task lighting directed right on the project helps you see your stitching and will aid in making small, almost invisible stitches.

  • Needles and Thread

Next, the right needle and thread. I like to use size 9 appliqué needles. These types of needles are also called “sharps”.  The size of the needle you use is a preference though. The larger the number the shorter the needle. If a size 9 is too long for you, try another size.

The thread I use is Mettler 100% silk-finished cotton.

This thread comes in a large variety of colors so you can match your thread to the appliqué piece you are stitching. Thread should match as close as possible to help hide the stitches. There are other brands of threads that you can use for appliqué. I like these because they are thin and silky and glide through the fabric easily.

  • Appliqué Glue

When appliqué glue was invented, it was a great day! No longer did I have to pin appliqué pieces to the project and prick my fingers as I stitched. The glue, used in small amounts, affixes the piece to your project with no pins. Now nothing gets in the way of my stitching.

  • Chalk Pencil or Mechanical Chalk Pencil

I use a mechanical chalk pencil from Sewline. Fons and Porter also makes one. There are also regular chalk pencils, like ones made by General, that are good for marking. These pencils are used to trace around your templates onto the fabric you have chosen for your appliqué piece.

  • Scissors

You will need a pair of scissors to cut fabric and also have a pair of scissors to cut out the templates that are traced from your pattern.

Of course now you need to get your pattern and fabric and get started! My next blog post will cover preparing the appliqué templates, applique pieces and stitching. See you next week!

Happy Stitching
Deanne