by Sandra | November 23rd, 2009
When you are applique-ing onto a large background surface, tiny applique becomes exponentially more difficult than usual. Having to adjust all of that fabric and get a good grip on the background fabric while making sure that teeny piece doesn’t move, will drive even the calmest person to insanity.
What is the answer? Well one way to do it is to break down the pieces into units and work the smaller details “off the block”. This example below is a simplistic unit in terms of numbers of pieces, but it should help to get your little grey cells working to think of ways to apply it to your own projects. I do have several ways of doing this, but I will start you off with the most basic.
Basic Unit Applique
The main part of the leaf becomes the “background”.
>Iron the leaf template onto your chosen fabric, make sure if you are using a scrap to include excess area around the marked edges so you have something to hang onto when appliqueing the other pieces to it.
>Mark around the outside
>gently lift that “lip” section off the fabric and then cut away.
>With the remaining leaf template still attached to the fabric, mark the inside line from the cut away lip. Then remove the main leaf template and it will look like this:
>Take the lip piece you cut away and iron onto the chosen lip fabric, trace around template and remove template.
>cut out lip piece, including seam allowance, and place in position onto the traced main leaf and pin or baste in place.
>stitch along the inside upper line. The bottom will be loose.
The back will look like this:
> Cut around the entire leaf including seam allowance and the lip area. Turn your work over and trim a scant seam allowance along the applique seam. The back will then look like this:
>finished unit ready to place onto background.
The downside to unit applique is it creates more seam bulk to turn under where appliques are “seamed”. Instead of turning under one layer, you are turning under two layers where the pieces are sewn together and also changing fabric color, which can mean thread changes. I do stop and change thread where a color change happens. If you don’t want to do that, you could use an invisible ladder stitch (for small areas) behind the color changes.
The Unit applique Technique Pros:
- makes it easy to work with and create units of tiny pieces off the main block/background.
- Easier to line up a larger piece under the overlay than the small pieces that easily shift out of position.
The Unit applique Technique Cons:
- Creates more bulk with the additional layer of seam allowance joins.
- Larger than normal visual and tactile ”bumps” on the finished edge where the multiple layers of the seam allowances are turned under.
These are just some of the things to take into consideration when using this technique to create intricate applique. As always, this is just another “tool” and by no means a RULE. Have fun and experiment.
all contents ©2009 Sandra Leichner all rights reserved
Excellent !! That makes it a lot easier and neater .
Thanks for that info it makes me think a little outside of the box while working. Very informative and much appreciated!
Eva,
I think part of the fun for me is figuring things out and finding they work. You CAN work outside the box when it comes to traditional techniques and keep the integrity in your applique work.
Hey Boop,
It also makes exact matches effortless with small applique. Who wouldn’t love that eh?
Very cool! I get it! BTW, do you ever use the Roxanne’s baste-it glue at all to hold the small pieces?
(I also saw last week that there is another one-L Michele, so I think I need to be Michele in AL!)
Dearest Michele,
Nope, I NEVER use glue.
Sandra
Do you allow us to print up the blog entries for our own personal reference ( as we were allowed the pdf on the “Eastre egg”) ? You give out so much valuable information with step by step explanations that I do not want to forget.
I feel like you are giving us a personal lesson. Makes up for not being able to take a real class with you.
And yes, I promise to purchase all your boks and DVD’s.
Sara,
You may print off whatever you like for personal use. Although I would love for you to buy my book etc., this is never a requirement
As I have said before, I have never had issues with hobby quilters, only professional ones “adapting, calling info their own, etc.,”. So if you see in print or elsewhere my blog info being used professionally or in print, I would appreciate a heads up.
The whole reason I started this blog was to share what I have learned and to show, that with the right information and techniques, hand applique is do-able. I want to spread the love before hand applique dies out.
Print whatever you like and I am glad you find it useful!
Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving, thank you Sandra for sharing your techniques, information and love of hand applique with us. Your book is a must have for me, I cannot wait to hear when it will be available.
Boop and Denise, Thank you and I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one! As for me? I ate good— yum.