Traditional appliqué is done by hand. Examples of traditional patterns are found in Baltimore Album, SunBonnet Sue and Hawaiian quilts. There are also early Folk Art quilts that work with simple shapes and give a very "rough" appearance and texture to the design.

Over 150 years ago, women in Baltimore were making wonderful appliquéd quilts. Baltimore was the third largest city in the United States and as a port city had access to many of the newest fabrics. This was a different type of piecing, using even smaller bits of designer fabrics to create flowers, leaves, fruits, intricate baskets and cornucopia and other symbols of fertility and good will. Background fabric was almost always white to allow for a more dramatic presentation of color and design. Baltimore quilts were not the utilitarian quilts of basic piecing. These were made as showcase quilts and as gifts.

The typical album quilt was a series of appliquéd squares. Once the squares were completed, they would then be sashed, with borders separating the squares and uniting the whole top. Additional quilting would be added after the top was sandwiched, usually to outline the existing appliqué.

This type of quilt is a perfect carry-along project. You can be cutting individual pieces, appliquéing smaller sections on to larger pieces, and completing a small block. The lap-quilting method allows you to actually quilt a small block and then add it to larger sections. You have "to-go" projects and a nearly completed quilt.

Hawaiian quilting involves patterns based on everyday objects of nature and living. Thought to have been brought to Hawaii by missionaries, quilting patterns reflect Hawaiian life in their names: plumeria, ginger, kukui, pineapple. You won't see humans or animals in traditional quilting. You will see representations of colonial rule in the colors and designs of some of the quilts. Hawaiians made their cloth, called kapa, from the bark of the mulberry tree, and they used plant dyes to decorate it. The elaborate quilting designs evolved, with a design cut from a whole cloth, pinned into place, and then appliquéd, with most traditional quilts done in two colors.

The key to Hawaiian quilting is one stitch at a time. Because the whole quilt is one design, it can seem overwhelming. Decide on a pattern, which will then be cut from one piece of fabric and basted carefully (don't try to shortcut this step) on to the background fabric. Using needle-turn, you start stitch by stitch, from the center and work outward. Start with a traditional Hawaiian flower design on a pillow if a large quilt makes you nervous. Practice your stitches so you are turning the fabric under consistently. Consider keeping a small piece of sandwiched fabric near you to practice stitching after you have taken a long break. Once your top is completed, then you create your quilt sandwich and begin the overall quilting. Most quilting is shadow, following the lines of the appliqué out to the edges of the top.

Folk art quilts tend to look "primitive," with a basic eye that looks at simple outlines and creates them with little embellishment beyond the stitching used to anchor in place. Folk quilts represent rural life, with farm animals, handprints of children, hats, and letters. Plaids, calicoes, and sometimes felt were used to create a variety of shapes, then appliquéd into place using a variety of stitches. The blanket stitch would showcase a quilter's skills while adding an additional bit of texture to the design. Many folk art quilts will have this detail on them. A popular type of folk art quilt is Sunbonnet Sue, a rough outline of a young girl doing some type of daily activity.

Traditional appliqué allows you to enjoy the pleasures of hand piecing while creating heirloom keepsakes. Whether it be the color and tiny stitches of a Hawaiian pattern, the raw edge of folk art animals, or the colorful beauty of a baltimore album, you follow years of tradition.

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