Hand Applique

How to Hand applique. Discover how easy it is to hand appliqué with these easy to follow instructions. Create you own one of a kind quilt that you will cherish for years.

Quilt blocks are traditionally made from hand appliqué. A fabric shape is hand sewn on top of the block being created. Applique can range from the simple one shaper per block to more complex blocks with several shapes appliquéd on each block. Although you can make your own, many choose to purchase ready-made iron-on and sew-on applique.

 

Making A Template 

 

Place transparent plastic over the printed template pattern and trace with a fine-point permanent marker. Trace and cut out on the stitching line (broken line) for hand-piecing templates; cut on the outer solid line for machine-piecing templates. 

 

Label each template with the name of the quilt, template letter, grain line, and match points (dots) where sewing lines intersect. Pierce a small hole at each match point for marking match points on fabric.

Applique:

Place the template on the fabric. Draw lightly around the template with a non-permanent marker and cut out the shape.  Cut your shape about 1/4" heavy on all sides. This excess material will be needed later.

Position the appliqué shapes on the background fabric and secure with pins and begin to blind stitch. Use cotton thread that matches your color schemes, it is the least visible.

Avoid stitching at a sharp point or corner, rather a straight or curved edge. Turn under the 1/4" excess material. Insert the needle from the wrong side of the appliqué piece and catching one or two threads on the edge. Push the needle through the background fabric opposite the point where the thread was stitched onto the appliqué piece. From the wrong side, stitch through the background fabric and appliqué piece. Make sure to catch a couple threads again. Space the stitches about 1/8” apart. 

While stitching around the edge of the appliqué, turn under the seam (excess material) as you work following the drawn line.

When you are hand stitching a seam (not quilting), you can increase your speed by holding the needle in one hand and moving the fabric up and down (or back and forth), feeding it onto the needle.

It's easy to feed up to 1 inch of fabric onto a needle before you need to pull the thread through

 

 
When you are hand stitching a seam, let the thread ontrol the fabric so it lies flat without any puckers or pleats. Be sure you don't pull the thread too tight or leave it too loose.

To get smooth seams, make sure you are sewing on the exact line you have drawn for the seam allowance.

Keep from tugging onepiece of fabric to fit another piece. If you have cut the pieces correctly and are sewing them straight, they should fit.

 

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Freezer Paper Method I:

Trace the shape onto the dull side of the freezer paper. Using a dry iron, press the shape, shiny side down, onto the appliqué.  Cut the shapes allowing  1/4” material again for seam. Use the same stitching method described above.

 

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Freezer Paper Method II:

This method is similar to the one above with a few subtle differences.
 

 

Trace the shape onto the dull side of the freezer paper. Using a dry iron, press the shape, shiny side down, onto the appliqué.  Cut the shapes allowing  1/4” material again for seam. Finger-press the seam allowance to the back of the paper template and baste in place. Use the same stitching method described above. Remove the freezer paper before closing the appliqué. To remove the freezer paper, shortly before closing the appliqué, remove the basting and pluck out the freezer paper with a tweezers; or after the appliqué is sewn, cut the background fabric away behind the appliqué and remove the paper.

 

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Reverse Applique:

 

This is one of the more interesting techniques and produces a beautiful design for your quilt. Two pieces of fabric are layered on the background piece, with the edges cut into a particular design and turned back to reveal the underlying fabric.

Pin the bottom design onto the background material. After cutting the top fabric along the lines position it over the bottom fabric. Use the same stitching techniques described above.

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    Tools Needed   

• Rotary cutter and mat (at least 18" x 24")
• Rulers: 2" x 18" ; clear acrylic 12" square; clear acrylic 6" x 24" (for use with a rotary cutter)
• Sewing machine (for machine piecing)
• Shears, 8" (for fabric)
• Template plastic
• Thimble to fit the middle finger of your sewing hand
• Thread: nylon monofilament thread, size .004 (for machine quilting); quilting thread (for hand quilting); sewing thread in colors to match your fabric.

   

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