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 Quilt Types : What is Appliqué?

Appliqué means "to place upon," which is what you do to a fabric background. You piece small amounts of fabric in designs that are typically intricate and curved, using floral or animal motifs. The sewing can be done by hand or by machine. An increase in the tools available for appliqué, from ironing sheets and fusibles to unusual fabrics, give you many more possibilities for design.

Basic supplies include freezer paper and an iron, not necessarily one with steam. Pressing involves not stretching fabric, and when you work with circles and curves, this is critical. You need some type of marker; make sure it will wash away and not bleed through to fabric. A glue stick is an option in place of freezer paper, depending on the type of appliqué. You need several scissors: for cutting freezer paper, cutting fabric, and small, sharp pointed scissors for trimming and getting close to stitching lines. Choices for thread hinge on what effect you want; you may use invisible, matching, or decorative threads, depending on what stitches will show. Check the availability of needles; you want one that is comfortable to use. The needle needs to accommodate your thread and not make holes in your background fabric.

Cutting pattern pieces can be done two ways. If you use freezer paper, then trace your pattern pieces on to the dull side of the freezer paper. Do not add a seam allowance. Cut out each piece of paper. Place the shiny side of the freezer paper on the WRONG side of the fabric. Iron in place. The freezer paper will pull off easily, so you don't have to worry about permanence. Cut out your fabric with a seam allowance of one-eighth to one-fourth an inch around each piece. WARNING: if you have directional pieces, then you need to be sure your pattern piece is reversed before tracing. Finger press the seam allowance of each piece to the back, around the freezer paper. This gives you crisp edges for your pieces.

You can also trace pattern pieces on to cardboard or other commercial template fabric. If you decide to include the seam allowance on the template, MARK IT! You don't want to forget the seam allowance is there. If you choose not to mark the seam allowance, when you trace the template on the WRONG SIDE of the fabric, that line becomes your stitching line. When working with curves, you may need to clip to the seam allowance line to provide the "give" needed to smooth a curve.

Sewing the appliqué happens in a certain order. If you are doing flowers with small pieces of fabric appliquéd on to others (like centers of flowers), those need to be completed first. Always work from small single pieces that fit on top of larger pieces to complete your design. You can pin appliqué pieces in place or use your glue stick. If you hand-sew, you may decide to use a simple running stitch with thread that matches the appliqué piece. Take small stitches to be sure the piece is anchored in place. If you machine sew, you need to practice with a small zigzag stitch. The smaller the stitch in both length and width, the stronger your stitches, and the less visible they will be so your pattern blends with the background fabric.

If you use freezer paper, once you finish a section, you can make a small slit in the back of the background fabric and remove the freezer paper with gentle tugs. You do not want to leave the paper in, as this will add bulk and cause problems with washing.

Needle-turn appliqué works with the fabric pinned in place on the background. You turn under about an inch at a time and sew with small stitches. Using a sharp tool can help tuck thread ahead of your sewing line. It is important here to clip the fabric to the seam allowance so you don't end up with bulk when working around curves.

One of the tricks is getting sharp points. There are various methods for doing this; experiment and decide which is better for you. You may have excess fabric when you get to a particular point, and you need to trim the excess to get a sharp point.

Experiment till you find what works best for you. There are so many different ways to approach appliqué, so don't give up with your first project. Try a different method!

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