Thursday 23 July 2009

Applique coming along nicely

I was asked a couple of things the other day about how I was going to appliqué these down.
So first I cut out the design in freezer paper, then ironed each shape shiny side down onto the wrong side of the fabric.
I then cut out the fabric leaving a very mean ¼" around the edges which will be on show and leave quite a bit more on the edges which will end up under other appliqué shapes.

I then fold over the edges which show and stick them down with a glue stick. (I don't buy special fabric ones, they get washed out and I've never had any problems with any brand so I buy whichever is the cheapest.)

I use a glue stick to position them (this makes the piece easier to manoeuvre and holds everything firmly in place, though it does mean an extra rinse is required when removing the freezer paper).
I've stitched these down with invisible thread on top and in the bobbin. I used stitch number 45 on my Aurora, it's the blanket stitch. One forward and one sideways, so much nicer than using the hemming stitch. If you don't have this stitch on your machine, a zigzag set to the length of your normal straight stitches and a very narrow width gives a very acceptable result. The trick with both is to stitch slowly and lift your foot every few stitches when the curves are tight.

1 comment: