MQGlogo

Moonlight Quilters
Tip of the Needle


Home

MQGlogo

 

Applique Your Way  

 

Every quilt show on TV and hundreds of books try to unlock the secret to easy and fun applique. Here are just a few of the methods. Choose any method that works for you, but do have fun!

Share A Tip
If you have a tip to share with the guild members, submit it to the webmaster using the email link below. 

General Tips!

  1. Cut the background square bigger than the finished size and plan to square it up after all applique pieces are applied.
  2. Before sewing, number the pieces in your design from background to foreground. Sew or fuse the pieces in this order.

Needle Turn Applique

As the name suggests, you use your needle to turn under a 3/16" seam as you stitch along by hand. This is the traditional method used by generations of quilters. Enjoy working with the fabrics you've selected and your original patterns or those from books or magazines.

  • Take a class from an expert and enjoy learning this wonderful method!
  • Try using #10 or #11 Straw needles for extra length when sweeping the seam allowance under
  • Learn to do inside, outside curves, points and valleys. These shapes make up the designs you see in patterns and nature.

Freezer Paper Applique

A good method for beginning Appliquers!

  1. Place Freezer Paper, shiny side down over your pattern and trace the pieces onto the dull side. (You may wish to use a light box, or hod the papers up to a window.)
  2. Cut out traced pattern using the drawn lines.
  3. Using a medium hot, dry iron, press the F.P. shiny side down onto the Wrong Side of your fabric. Space patterns out at least 1/2" apart when making multiple pieces from a fabric.
  4. Cut fabric a scant 1/4" outside each F.P. pattern.
  5. Remove F.P. pattern from the wrong side.
  6. Place F.P. shiny side down under the cut out fabric. (fabric=right side up; F.P.=dull side up)
  7. Fold raw edges of fabric over the edge of the F.P. and press with a dry iron. Tips:
    • At inward curves, snip through the seam allowance, almost to the edge of the paper.
    • On outward curves--Do Not Snip. If seam is too wide, bulky pleats will form, so trim seam to 3/16". Keep the folded edge smooth and let soft ripples form on the wrong side.
  8. Place the pieces onto the background fabric in the correct location beginning with the #1 piece that is closest to the background. (see Gen. Tips #2 above)
  9. Press the piece in place with a med. hot iron.
  10. Sew piece in place by hand taking a small stitch through the very edge, or machine stitch with an invisible applique stitch.
  11. Removing F.P: Cut a slit in the bacground fabric in the middle of the area behind the appliqued piece. Pull the b.g. fabric away from the applique and carefully cut out the background fabric following a line approx. 1/4" inside your stitching line. Use your fingerfail to push the fabric away from the F.P. and gently pull the F.P. away. You may need to use a tweezer in some cases.
  12. Go on to applique additional pieces. If your pattern includes pieces that overlap, you may find that as you cut out the background (step 11), parts of previously appliqued pieces may need to be trimmed away to reduce bulk.

Machine Applique

There are as many methods to try as quilt shops to visit! Here are a few you might like.

Eleanor Burns suggests using lightweight non-woven fusible interfacing! Cut the shape, i.e. leaf, from your fabric and from the interfacing, right sides together. The rough, bumpy side of the interfacing toward the right side of your fabric) Stitch around the leaf 1/4" from edge with a small stitch length (1.8). Trim seam to 1/8". Cut a small slit in the interfacing and turn the leaf out. Use a blunt pointed knitting needle or similar object to push the fabric out to the seam. Press with a wooden iron, or iron onto a non-stick applique sheet. Place onto the background fabric and press in place. Finish edge either with an invisible stitch and monofilament thread or using the blanket stitch with contrasting thread.

Glue Stick Applique

This unlikely tool is making a hit with quilters. Buy a gluestick that says "Archieval" and "Water Soluable" on the package.

***Quilt Designer Sharon Malec has created a process called Free-Standing Applique. Create your pattern using freezer paper. Cut roughly 1/4" around the sections. Decide which pieces go over others to create the finished design. Apply glue stick to the seam allowances, press with a dry iron and create the entire design before you take it to your machine. Use monofilament thread and a zig-zag stitch to join the design to your background fabric. Additional embellishment with threads can be added during the quilting stage. Read more about this method on Sharon's website or the description of her technique from a recent Simply Quilts episode on HGTV.

***Moonlighter Lisa L. developed this technique to simplify the applique process. Lisa says:

When I first began to applique, I started with 15- 4" hearts on a quilt. I read from books, but I didn't have anyone to teach me. I began with your standard needle turn, but after 8-10 hearts, I went to the quilt store to find a better way. I stumbled on the quilter's applique glue stick that washes out. This made things go much more quickly and easily.

I run the stick along the outer edge of the wrong side (about 1/8") and fold under what I would have needle turned. I either approximate a scant 1/8" fold, or draw the line I want to fold to with a disappearing or washable fine point fabric marker.  I do clip curves close to the fold line. At the point of the heart, I fold horizontally to the tip and then fold the fabric on either side of the tip at the diagonal. 

Once the outer edge is glued and folded in, then I place a little glue on the back of the applique piece and set where I want it to go on the block. The applique goes much faster!

 

 

View Previous Tips:

     
 

Contact webmaster webmaster@moonlightquilters.org