Focus on Applique: Simple or Complex

I have only ever done VERY simple appliqué - simple shapes like a leaf or a heart on a block in 6" or 4" charm size... This can be very effective. I've done it with all sorts of fabrics on all sorts of backgrounds!

The biggest and most complex thing was the school banner, with the school name and the animals motifs for the classes in red satin on a poly-cotton drill background! I suppose that would count as complex for some, with the letter shapes, and all the animals, and the awkward fabrics, but I didn't feel like it at the time, and the kids helped with a lot of it. :)

I have begun making my own applique designs. I tend to be overly optimistic about how difficult the design will be -- before I start trying to attach it. I do like to use fusing as a method of attaching applique, although I do hand applique as well. If the corners are tight and the curlicues are really curly then I will cut and fuse rather than try to attach by hand. And yes, I have altered a design that turned out to be too difficult.

Sunny

Debra wrote:

Interesting topic - but I would also like to hear where people get their design ideas from. Do you buy patterns, design your own or look at certain things for a motif to use as a basis?

Cheryl & the Cats o o o o o o ( > Y < ) ( > Y < ) ( > Y < ) Enness Boofhead Donut

"Debra" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com... : I'm borrowing Pat's Focus on Design idea for a series of applique : oriented discussions. I don't know how many I might come up with but : here is the second one. : (snip). : : My big discussion questions are: : How complex do you like to get with your applique and why? : I will tackle almost anything but I feel free to change everything lol Long thin points do not thrill me, nor do tight inwards curves. It's not that I can't do them, they are just too much hard work. I am basically lazy I think. So I usually try to alter the design/pattern to minimise them. I am not a big fan of iron-on so that is usually not an option.

I have read up on Sharon Schamber's Piecelique technique for curves and long thin points (pieced, not appliqued) but I haven't tried it yet I am not sure I can be brave enough to glue anything!

My favourite source for designs is fabric prints. I like to hunt for an appealing motif or graphic in a fabric (some only a few cms in size) and blow them up to HUGE and see what happens. My Kokopelli/lizard quilt has figures on it that are about 2' high but the fabric print was only about 1 to 1.5".

When you enlarge on that scale there are always areas you have to modify to fit the applique method, but it can be fun. The Mardi Gras masks were even smaller. Sometimes I set the applique panel into a surrounding setting made of the fabric. That worked for the masks and source fabric, but not for the Kokopelli quilt. It just didn't look right. I think the change from a light background to a dark one, and the simplification of the designe made them incompatible. The source fabric was an American Indian "design", but everyone who sees it thinks the quilt is of Australian Aboriginal figures, probably because I chose warmer red and brown colours in place of the greyer tones in the original fabric design. It started out as an experiment so Istitched it on a piece of homespun I had laying around in colours I don't usually like. Then I got nagged into making the experiment into a quilt. Well, the top is done now but I don't think the quilting will ever get done - at least not by me. The experiment taught me a lot, but the project lost my attention after that.

I have a box full of fabric pieces that have motifs that I would like to "re-engineer" one day. Border prints are especially good for this. The last one I did I loved, but once I had finished the applique I found I was not interested in finishing the quilt so I gave it away. The recipient was not a quilter, and she put the panel into a very simple setting. It would not have been my choice, but she was thrilled with the result so we were both happy.

Here's the border -

's the medallion that "grew" from it - I also enjoy reworking embroidery designs into applique designs. Crewel embroidery can become the most wonderful Jacobean applique, and I tend towards Pat Campbells use of bright colours for those. My current project is a Jacobean Tree of Life over 6' high, but this time I have gone almost monochromatic - golds, browns and mossy greens.

I am thinking of repeating the Rose Sampler Supreme blocks by Rosemary Makhan (sp?) in a monochromatic latte colour scheme one day. I have some designs in EQ that are in the Webshots album.

: Did you ever start a design that looked simple but turned out to be : hard to do? : Oh heck, yes! All the time! lol And even if it is simple, I usually manage to alter it to make it complicated.

: Have you found a pattern you loved but the pieces were too hard to : make so you changed the existing pattern to make it easier to : accomplish?

All the time! roflmao Why not?!

I often enjoy the design and initial sewing stage (proving to myself that it can be done the way I have imagined it) more than finishing the piece. That probably explains the large number of UFOs floating around this place.

I rationalise that they make good teaching samples (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

: Debra in VA : See my quilts at :

I've only done a few applique projects, and for the most part they have been published patterns. The one exception is a wall hanging I made from a set of basket blocks that I won at a guild meeting. There were 7, a difficult number to work with, so they stayed in a drawer for a couple years while I tried to figure out what to do with them. Then one day, at a convenience store, I saw a greeting card that showed a quilt that had pieced baskets with appliqued flowers. This is the result: . Closeups of the baskets are about halfway down at

Julia > Interesting topic - but I would also like to hear where

Oh they are just lovely. Such a clever use of an odd number too!

I have the pattern of one of Pat Campbell's Jacobean masterpieces in a drawer, but so far I'm afraid to attempt it.

I have made my own designs, but more often I alter existing designs to suit my whims.

I've done some fusing, but didn't like the stiffness of the results. I've used the slit and turn method of preparing pieces, and hand hemming them. Both of those work out all right although you can't get really pointy points with the slit and turn method because the seam is inside the backed and turned piece.

I've been experimenting with water soluble fabric glue sticks. I can use it to hem pieces by just putting it along the edges and folding the raw edge of the fabric to the back, but it is a sticky process. The glue sticks work far better than pins for placing the pieces onto the background before sewing. I can get everything laid out perfectly, with no puckers due to pins, and absolutely nothing shifts when I'm sewing. Debra in VA See my quilts at

If you like to fuse, Debra, but don't want stiffness, perhaps you could try the sort of half-way method (Leslie told me about it, but I think someone else once spoke about it): draw the design and cut it out on the fusible's paper part, then cut away all but about half an inch round the edge. Stick the 'edge' part to the fabric and cut out. It does waste all the middles, if they are very small; but, if they are large enough, you can use them for something else. . In message , Debra writes

Well, so far I haven't bought any patterns. I've used online free patterns, drawn simple shapes myself, used simple clip art pictures as patterns, and once got my artistic brother the draw something for me. I don't draw very well but I've been known to slightly alter patterns to fit my needs. I've also used various parts from Baltimore album blocks, but never actually done a whole Baltimore block.

I've never thought about using fabric prints as applique motifs. I see the print and try to decide what it could be part of. I'm going to have to try it your way one day. I've got a couple of prints that just won't work for general applique, but may work well as design ideas.

If I liked piecing more than applique I would use cross stitch patterns as piecing diagrams for quilt tops. It would be a simple conversion--one X on the pattern = one fabric square of the quilt top. There are quite a few sweet possibilities for quilts made of all squares and triangles from small cross stitch motifs. I might use some of the more complex ones for applique patterns in the future. I may have to round out some of the corners, but many of them could be used for simple applique.

Debra in VA See my quilts at

I remember reading about that method here some time ago. I thought about it and decided it was too fiddly for me. I didn't like how the fusible would always end up on my iron either. The glue sticks work really well, and they wash out later so no worries about what it might do to the finished quilt years later. And the best part is that I don't need to get out the iron to use it. Debra in VA See my quilts at