While at Road to CA I saw a quilt in the booth of Cotton & Chocolate of under water scene. I love this quilt! However it is applique and embellished. I also realized that of three of my UFOs have some applique aspect and that is the point I have stopped working on them (Jenny Bryer - BOM; Cabin in the Woods; Day at the Lake). Also two project I want to start are also applique. I need to find an applique process I enjoy.
I have done and like the fusible applique process. But I really like the look of turned under applique. But I am not very good at it. I'm going to try several approaches to applique this year and hopefully like paper piecing I will find an enjoyable process in the end. My reward may be the pattern for the under water scene which is called "Octopus's Dream" ($80-90).
I bought this pattern while at Road to CA as a possibility to practice applique. As well as the technique/tools we purchased for Quilt as You Go Handbook by Pauline Rogers.
Feb, 2017
Audrey G from the guild agreed who does fabulous applique agree to show me her technique and give me tips during the March Walker Creek Retreat. Rob Appell was our guest speaker and he does a lot of fusible applique and machine stitch over the edges. He suggests using Featherweight Heat & Bond. I'm just not a big fan of raw edge look.
March, 2017
Sat next to Audrey and on Saturday she showed me her method of turn applique with freezer paper, starch and an iron. What I liked ... the multiple layers of freezer paper makes a very nice and stiff pattern piece. I tired both a machine and hand baste stitch around the small bones, the machine stitch did not work well and I actually enjoyed the hand baste stitch process. I really did not like the starching and iron process. I can see this being a means to burn fingers. The time it takes for the starch to dry but yet not burn/discolor the fabric is tricky. I was using the little iron which was much better then a full size iron. Tip from Donna H was to keep the iron in a coffee mug when not in use was a great suggestion! I got several pieces of the shark done but was not feeling the enjoyment that many people claim when doing applique. I'm still stressed.
Kathi Carter-Sweet was the guest speaker and I decided to take her class "Pepper Dish which is a Judy Niemeyer patter because Kathi does turned edge but machine stitched applique and I want to learn that process. However during the class she didn't spend much time on that as the pattern (paper pieced) took most of the time to decipher. I really think people have to be "certified" just to read a Judy pattern. The class was great and now I can understand the pattern better. Back to the applique portion. Kathi uses Stitch-N-Peel for the pattern pieces which sticks to the fabric and remains in. Kathi applies a lot of glue from a glue stick around the edges and then with a stileto she does the turn edge. She glue the pieces down (Elmer's glue with fine point application). Then machine stitches with Superior Threads invisible thread (polyester) with a .8 zigzag.
I completed the pieces for the shark using Kathi's glue technique. I like it a lot better then the starch and iron approach. Also this would be more portable. I like how the Stitch-N-Peel stays in compared to the freezer paper that has to come out and that distorts the piece again. However I like how the freezer paper is more rigid and more layer can be used to get the desired rigidness. One other good point about Stitch-N-Peel is that it help in preventing bleed through of the back ground fabric as it stays in.
I used Kathi's technique to machine quilt the pieces. For my Brother sewing machine the setting is a 1.0 zigzag and 1.8mm stitch length. Here the fin and backbones are sewn down and the head and ribs are not. I do like the look.
I tried another technique, fusible with 2 layers of fusible interfacing (attempting to get some rigidness and prevent fraying) then did a machine applique around each piece. However, it did not provide the results I wanted. Still a lot of frying.
Went back to the Stitch-N-Peel preparation of the applique pieces for the hedgehog and frog. Practice, practice, practice...
I am beginning to enjoy the process. I completed in April. Not sure what I'm going to do with these now that they are done. I don't want to make them into the wall hanging per the pattern as the other blocks (spider web, skeleton keys, Happy Halloween) do not interest me. There was a lot of interest at the guild so I may attempt to sell them or put them into the Medallion series over the next couple of year. Sold each separately in the boutique of the Wine Country quilt show (June 2017).
The small pieces are annoying so I selected "Buster Cat Does Halloween" by Judi Maxwell from one of the many projects, as it has larger pieces to get more practice in. I completed all of block in March and April using the Stitch-N-Peel method and invisible thread zigzag. I'm starting to like applique.
