Sunday, 14 July 2013

How soothing hand work can be.

I an going through a particularly emotional time right now and surprisingly have found the hand applique immensely soothing and calming. Time will heal but meanwhile this is helping.
I had been hankering to make a very low contrast quilt. I love the way some quilts have faded so much, almost the only way to see the detail is in the texture of the applique and not in the colour. This range of Cabbages and Roses comes already washed and bleached out so is perfect for this project.

I have prepared the applique in exactly the same way as I do for invisible machine work. I even pieced the outer edge of the applique by hand before stitching it down.

I found the freezer paper much easier to remove from the back as the had stitches hardly catch it at all. Even the ring came out by cutting little slits every so often and pulling it through. It came out in only two pieces!


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7 comments:

  1. JoannaSunday, 14 July 2013 at 12:27:00 BST

    I think finding a hand applique method that works for you is the best thing.
    First time I tried hand applique, I hated it because it was the wrong method for me

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  2. Diane-creweSunday, 14 July 2013 at 17:32:00 BST

    hope you soon feel better and that the therapy of working with your hands continues to help x

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  3. SueMonday, 15 July 2013 at 03:47:00 BST

    Love the soft palette you have chosen Sally and hope it helps with the emotions.

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  4. Jane in CumbriaMonday, 15 July 2013 at 18:06:00 BST

    That is beautiful, Sally! I don't suppose the heat helps a lot either - I hope you have somewhere fairly cool to stitch. Your work is perfect whether you do it by hand or machine!

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  5. Plum CoxMonday, 15 July 2013 at 21:25:00 BST

    What beautiful work, Sally. Glad that you are finding it soothing.

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  6. Rebecca GraceTuesday, 16 July 2013 at 21:39:00 BST

    Hi, Sally! I just learned this method for machine applique recently, in Harriet Hargrave's machine applique class, and I had been wondering if it would work for hand applique as well. I've been working on a BOM hand applique project using the starch and press method with heat resistant templates, but some of the block designs have TINY pieces that I'm struggling with and I thought the freezer paper might make prepping those shapes easier. So, when you're finished, you just take a tiny slit in the background fabric, you don't trim it away to the edges? I haven't decided "To Trim, Or Not To Trim" yet. I think your low-contrast fabrics are lovely and very soothing. Beautiful workmanship (workwomanship?) too. :-)

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  7. Rebecca GraceTuesday, 16 July 2013 at 21:39:00 BST

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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