Focus on Applique: Ugly fabrics = great for applique

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 first one.

Ugly fabrics are often perfect for applique. The very reason they won't look good in a pieced block, as sashing strips, or as border fabric makes them good for applique uses.

Muddy brown colored fabrics can be used as walkways, tree branches, fall leaves, acorns, animal bodies, freshly plowed fields, buildings, furniture, and insects. Ugly blue prints can be lakes, creeks, stormy skies. Ugly greens can be fields, tree covered mountains, frog ponds, leaves and stems, lizards, frogs, turtles, and bugs.

Prints that are too big for other quilting uses can be used for applique too. That print of large pumpkins can be cut to make pumpkins for applique onto a fall or Halloween wall hanging or calendar quilt block. Oversized flowers can be used the same way.

But every now and then there is a print that just stumps you. I've inherited just such an ugly print, and ugly as it is I couldn't bring myself to toss it out. I think I know how to use it now. It's from the 1970s; medium blue background with large ugly green, red, and gold flowers with navy colored stems. There are also large squares with a navy hexagonal pattern inside them. I think this fabric was supposed to look somewhat Asian, but it falls short by a long shot. I've found the flowers don't lend themselves to applique use at all. I was thinking that I could use some of the hexagonal patterned parts for a block that features a honey bee. Oddly enough when I cut off a small part of the honeycomb the thought of shoe treads and the tops of flip flops came to my mind. So now this fabric that has stumped me for years has presented me with more than one possible use.

Has anyone else had a fabric stump you, only to realize part of it is perfect for a particular applique? Debra in VA See my quilts at

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Debra
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Ah, yes. Did it this week. I was gifted with a yard of orange. Not just any orange, mind you, but one that is so loud it makes you think of the sound of fingernails screeching across a blackboard. Not just any print, either. The orange is exploding in fireworks rounds. Almost every quilt can enjoy a bit of orange but a l" square of this one would have been plenty. Finally, I needed a special orange for Bert. Please do notice that I spelled my new friend from Sesame Street's name right. The Bert appliqué now has a very fine bright orange nose. Yes. Just right. You would really have to be in an extremely foul mood not to smile at this guy. Polly

Reply to
polly esther

Polly, when you mentioned fingernails screeching across a blackboard, it reminded me of the last time my nephew visited. We were fixing breakfast, and the eggs were in one of those styrofoam-like containers. When he was putting them away, he said the sound the container made when he closed it gave him chills. I said, "I know - sort of like fingernails scraping on a blackboard, right?" He looked at me like I was crazy! Turns out they don't have blackboards - only white boards!

Reply to
Louise

I wanna see Bert!!!

Reply to
Cats

Other uses for Yucky fabrics -

a lot of the yucks will also overdye to make some interesting fabrics. I often have a pile of yuck standing by to go in the left-over dyes. The darker the fabric, the darker the overdye. Worst case scenario - you finish up with a heap of really dark fabrics that can be crazy pieced for backgrounds or backings, or appliqued over in bright colours. If they're dark enough, use them as the "black" in some of the new iron on stained glass designs.

if you mix all your left over dyes together you usually end up with a murky sort of mud colour. But this can be great for creating shades of taupe to use in one of those gorgeous monochromatic quilts. By overdyine fabrics the one lot of "murky mud leftovers" can create a lot of different shades and tones.

if the design lines on them are suitable, put them on the back and quilt from the back, using the print design to provide the quilt lines. Big bold 70s florals are great for this. You finish up with a big floral quilting pattern on the front and - NO MARKING! It's not an applique use, but it is a use.

in desperation - use as layers in chenille or as "batting" in tile blocks

I don't think I ever met a (cotton) fabric that was so yucky that it couldn't be used for something!

Reply to
Cats

Hi Debra I do almost exclusively applique, and more often than not, those "odd" bits find a home. The latest piece was a weird burgundy and green plaid, with some sort of holly on it, but it was perfect for the heel and toe of a Christmas stocking I was doing. Sometimes too, if you use the wrong side of an odd fabric, it works perfectly.

Patti in Seattle

Reply to
Patti S

This is so funny....I was going to suggest the very same thing! I've overdyed several largish floral prints that I would never have used otherwise. I'm never sure what I'm going to end up with, but generally I've been happy with the results. It's always fun to see what happens!

Reply to
Donna973

I persuaded Bert to pose on the scanner and sent it to you. It bounced back. Don't know if I had your address wrong or it the file was simply too big. Polly

Reply to
polly esther

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Polly if you don't have a place to upload it to so we can all see it, send it to me and I will put it on my website and you can post a link to it there. Cause I wanted to see him too and after she wrote it I just knew I would.

Have a great day, evening or whatever time of day it is in your land.

Jacquel>I persuaded Bert to pose on the scanner and sent it to you. It bounced

Reply to
Jacqueline

That must have been a really big print if you got a whole house front from a grape. Sometimes it pays to just look at a large print as lots of different colored fabric scraps on one piece of material. I've got a few of those sorts of prints myself but I haven't found a use for them yet. I know I will someday though.

Well, it was your series that gave me the idea. Debra in VA See my quilts at

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Reply to
Debra

Glad you found a use for that orange. Speaking of orange, I normally don't care much for the color, but I found myself drawn to a particular swirly orange print. I bought a little thinking I might need it for applique someday, maybe for tulips. However it kept calling to me every time I went into the store. Finally I stopped resisting and bought what was left of the bolt, 4 yards. I don't know what I'm going to do with such a large amount of this print, but it makes me smile every time I look at it. Maybe I'll make really big applique tulips. Debra in VA See my quilts at

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Reply to
Debra

So far I've only needed to use my fabrics right side out. It's really odd how the uglies are perfect for some applique uses though. Debra in VA See my quilts at

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Reply to
Debra

Yup - and you write on them with boardmarkers... Ikky pong and a nasty squeek, but not as bad as the nails/slate of an old fashioned board!

Reply to
Kate Dicey

Debra, if it's making you smile, it's doing enough for now! :) See if you can find a nice deep chocolate colour to go with it, or a really solid black. I have a black and orange star block sent as part of a swap, and it zings and pops and I grin every time I look at it! :) And normally I'm not a big orange fan either. But that block is warm and full of friendship.

Reply to
Kate Dicey

Reply to
Susan Laity Price

I'm rather afraid that if I combine it with a very dark color it would singe my eyeballs whenever I look at it. There is a particular shade of blue that I think would work well with it. I seem to be mid-change in my color preferences at the moment too. I've got a thing for lime green, have loved it for about a year now, so I'll probably be putting it with the orange and blue. Lately I've also been attracted to purple but it has to be a clear medium to dark purple, no pale lavender type of purple will do.

I wonder what sort of applique I could do that would use purple, blue, orange, and lime. Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but time will tell. Debra in VA See my quilts at

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Reply to
Debra

ah.. yes.. well..

you see...

it just wants to be sent to me ;-)

Reply to
Jessamy

((snip)) : : I wonder what sort of applique I could do that would use purple, blue, : orange, and lime. Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but time will : tell. : Debra in VA

Orange, purple, blue and green - hhmmmmmm?! I just knew I had seen this somewhere.

Flowers of course

A jungle of strelitzias - orange flowers with deep purple and blue "tongues" and dark green foliage with slashes of bright green through the leaves

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Or parrots, maybe birds of paradise. Picture all those colours in big colourful tails and head crests. What about some exotic Jacobean designs? Have you seen Pat Campbell's birds? Or adapt a crewell embroidery design for applique.

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Hot air balloons against a sunrise/sunset. Infact the orange/blue/purple could be any sunrise/sunset.
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Sails on yatchs Tropical fish We have a wonderful flower in Aust called Kangaroo Paw -
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would be good. Just sub deep purple/blue for the black tips Or a desert landscape

The reason the colours "rang a bell" with me was that it a colour combination sometimes used by Stewart Merrett, an Aussie applique artist. His works are usually BIG (the parrots are over 2m high screen room dividers) but take a look -

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and following shots. These are quick scans of details from some of his work and they don't do justice to the colours and textures he uses. Oh, I gotta go see how much purple and orange I have! I know I have lots of blue and green. I foresee another "wasted" day browsing through designs and foldling fabrics ((sigh))

Reply to
Cats

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

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