help!!!! Applique is doing me in!

Hello everyone

I know there is help out there so I'm asking!!

My best friend is expecting her first baby; a girl!!. She's due in August. I found the absolute perfect pattern for a baby quilt for her.

formatting link
This link shows the pattern.

Now, let me start by saying that applique is ot my strongest point, nor is it something I particularly enjoy doing. But this pattern is just about to kill me!

Some of the pieces on this pattern are so small that I can't get my fingers around them! Much less manipulate it so that I can get the edges ticked under! Cuffs and collars for example; some of the cuffs measure less than 1/4 inch by less than 1/2". How am I supposed to work with that????

I know it can be done, but I'm not sure how I can do it! I've tried freezer paper: I iron it onto the right side, mark all around the piece, then remove the freezer paper and put it on the wrong side of the fabric with the freezer paper "sticky" side up. Then using the Clover mini iron, I try to press the seam allowance inwards and "stick" it to the freezer paper. Then I remove the frezer paper and theoreticaaly this leaves me with a perfect piece; press it and sew it/ applique it onto the background.

Thory is very nice, only problem is that in practice it does not work for me. I end up with a warped piece of limp fabric.

HELP!!

So, I figure that I am not doing it right.

I came to the conclusion that I might have to desist. Or maybe I can use a different technique on these super tiny pieces: I could apply heat and bond to the wrond side and just stick these tiny pieces in place once the larges pieces are done, and then use invisible thread to stitch them in place....

What can you tell me?? How can I do this without losing what little is left of my cold, stuffed and runny head in the process??

If I get any more frustrated, I will end up making her a rag quilt and forget about this!!! But I SO love this pattern....

Thanks!!

Claudia

Reply to
claudia
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Let's try a different approach, Claudia. Cheat. Improvise. Attack from a different direction. You are making a baby quilt for your best friend. You are Not doing a Baltimore Album extravaganza for the DAR museum. Pick the tiny challenges one by one and find another way to do it. For example - the little collar on the white blouse could certainly be done with a SM wide satin stitch or hand embroidery. Appliqué the little garments as simple as you need to and embellish like crazy. You can use tiny ribbon, lace and rick-rack; fancy sm stitches or beginner-level daisy stitch hand embroidery with pretty thread. But first - make some chicken soup. The vapors from the soup will comfort your stuffy head and make you all better. Wish I could come do that for you. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Goodness! With that method I can see why you don't like applique!

There are so many ways to get nice applique. The one I use the most is cut the freezer paper to the exact shape of the applique shape- no seam allowances. Iron the freezer paper shape with the shiny side to the wrong side of the fabric. Cut out with a scant 1/4 in. seam allowance. Then turn the s.a. under using large basting stitches and a single thread. Or use a washable glue stick to turn under the s.a., but that method is awfully messy for me.

Another method is to use a piece of lightweight fusible interfacing. Mark the shape without s.a. on the wrong side of the fabric. Place the fabric's right side to the fusible (bumpy) side of the interfacing. Stitch around the shape on the marked line. Cut the shape with a scant 1/4 in. s.a. Carefully make a slit in the interfacing and turn right side out- if you have curves clip them before turning and trim any corners. You will have to 'work' the edges a bit to get sharp points and nice, smooth curves. You will be able to fuse the applique to the background fabric in it's proper position. Then stitch around the shape by hand or machine. You can also trim the fusible to approx. 1/4 in. from the stitching to reduce the bulk- trim after you make the slit and before turning. If you don't have any fusible interfacing use a thin fabric and treat it the same except you won?t be able to fuse it in place on the background, of course. Some quilters do this method and use a used dryer fabric softener sheet instead of interfacing or fabric. It all works.

There are many more methods for applique, but those two should cover just about anything. Both are easy and accurate and don't require advanced skills. When you stitch the applique in place you have many options. You can use black or matching or invisible thread and use a buttonhole or blanket stitch- by machine or hand. You can use a narrow long-ish zig-zag stitch with matching or invisible thread- zig onto the edge of the applique and zag off onto the background fabric. You can use a washable glue stick to hold the applique pieces to the background to avoid using pins while you stitch the appliques in place.

Or use a satin stitch and don't turn the edges of the applique at all. And, as Polly said, you can use different methods for different appliques on the same quilt. Some methods work better for different size or shape appliques.

I hope this will help you. The pattern is absolutely adorable!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Hello everyone

I know there is help out there so I'm asking!!

My best friend is expecting her first baby; a girl!!. She's due in August. I found the absolute perfect pattern for a baby quilt for her.

formatting link
This link shows the pattern.

Now, let me start by saying that applique is ot my strongest point, nor is it something I particularly enjoy doing. But this pattern is just about to kill me!

Some of the pieces on this pattern are so small that I can't get my fingers around them! Much less manipulate it so that I can get the edges ticked under! Cuffs and collars for example; some of the cuffs measure less than 1/4 inch by less than 1/2". How am I supposed to work with that????

I know it can be done, but I'm not sure how I can do it! I've tried freezer paper: I iron it onto the right side, mark all around the piece, then remove the freezer paper and put it on the wrong side of the fabric with the freezer paper "sticky" side up. Then using the Clover mini iron, I try to press the seam allowance inwards and "stick" it to the freezer paper. Then I remove the frezer paper and theoreticaaly this leaves me with a perfect piece; press it and sew it/ applique it onto the background.

Thory is very nice, only problem is that in practice it does not work for me. I end up with a warped piece of limp fabric.

HELP!!

So, I figure that I am not doing it right.

I came to the conclusion that I might have to desist. Or maybe I can use a different technique on these super tiny pieces: I could apply heat and bond to the wrond side and just stick these tiny pieces in place once the larges pieces are done, and then use invisible thread to stitch them in place....

What can you tell me?? How can I do this without losing what little is left of my cold, stuffed and runny head in the process??

If I get any more frustrated, I will end up making her a rag quilt and forget about this!!! But I SO love this pattern....

Thanks!!

Claudia

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

OK. This is what I would do.

First forget the minutiae of the pattern. This is supposed to be a washing line of clothes.

I would think Baby= Textures. Then I would 'make' or even collect dolly clothes and sew them onto the washing line so they can be felt and rubbed and even sucked (eewH!)

Cut out the pieces much bigger than they are needed to be, sew them and trim them down. Use a serger to finish the edges, a rolled hem done finely or a two-needle overlock will do. Attach the pieces with vilene as a backing rather than two layers of cotton.

Use spray starch with a toothpick to turn the edges befroe you press them.

But as Polly said, this is supposed to be a joy, not a chore. Start from there, and you won't go far wrong.

Happy times! Nel (Gadget Queen)

Reply to
Sartorresartus

Way to go, Nel. Did you see how she just whipped out the word ' minutiae '? I think I need to get out more; Yogi only has a vocabulary of about 300 words and mostly they have to do with go or eat. Polly

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." <

Reply to
Polly Esther

Yeah...what Nel said...and Leslie. and Polly...LOL

I love the idea of using actual baby clothes. \ and I think I'd have a glass of Sherry with that soup...

Reply to
amy in SoCal

Thanks Polly!

I will do that and wing it into something. I know my friend will love it no matter what I do!

As for the chicken soup, girl that sounds WONDERFUL!!! Unfortunately, the Spanish public health care system does not provide such homey goodness to its physicians on call!

SIGH!

Claudia

Reply to
claudia

Hi Leslie

I tried the fusible interfacing method, but some of the pieces are so small that I simply could not turn them without the interfacing breaking and tearing up.

I also tried the freezer paper cut to the exact size and stuck to the worng side of thefabric. But then when I tried to turn the s.a under using a runing stitch, I ran into practically the same problem; the pieces are simply too small for me to get a good grip on them and do it properly: maybe all i really need is a little more practice and patience; maybe I need to give this another try when I am less fluish!

Claudia

Reply to
claudia

Hi Nel

I do like your idea! I had thought of doing something like that with the baby's first clothes, once she outgrew them. I just really like this pattern...

Claudia

Reply to
claudia

Glass of sherry with the soup sounds too good! unfortunately, drinking on the job here is a definite no no!! I'll have to give that a wait until I get home tomorrow!

Claudia

Reply to
claudia

Reply to
Roberta

Okay. Sorry those suggestions won't work for you. Another thought on those tiny bits- make the freezer paper pattern, iron to the wrong side of the fabric, cut it out with a tiny 1/8 in. seam allowance. Then glue the freezer paper area to the background fabric to hold it in place and needle turn the seam allowances by tucking under just a bit- like 1/2 in. or less- as you go by 'sweeping' the s.a. under with the tip of the needle and stitch just that bit then sweep under the next tiny bit, etc. Be sure your applique stitches are close together and back stitch often since the s.a. is so skimpy. I don't care for needle turn applique for my own use since it's not accurate for me (some quilters love it and use it exclusively!), but with the freezer paper to keep the shape it's not too bad. You can do this on your sewing machine, too, but it's challenging sweeping under with the hand needle and then stitching with the sm. The space is so limited under the sm foot, but it can be done with patience by lifting the presser foot with the needle down and then sweep under the s.a. Put the foot back down and sew a few stitches then needle down, raise the foot and sweep again.

One final suggestion- for the really tiny bits do as much applique as you can with another method and then for tiny bits use Heat & Bond Ultra. It's permanent, you don't have to sew the edges to prevent raveling nor turn them under. The drawback to the Ultra is that it gets quite stiff, so you can't use it for all the applique but for the tiny parts it would be fine. One warning here- Heat & Bond is VERY fussy about the temperature of the iron when you fuse it. Read the directions carefully and do some testing to be sure your iron's heat settings work with the H&B to get a good permanent fuse.

Good luck!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Hi Leslie

I tried the fusible interfacing method, but some of the pieces are so small that I simply could not turn them without the interfacing breaking and tearing up.

I also tried the freezer paper cut to the exact size and stuck to the worng side of thefabric. But then when I tried to turn the s.a under using a runing stitch, I ran into practically the same problem; the pieces are simply too small for me to get a good grip on them and do it properly: maybe all i really need is a little more practice and patience; maybe I need to give this another try when I am less fluish!

Claudia

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Hi Roberta

No, the mother is not likely to tuck it away in a closet somewhere! I have a feeling this quilt will grace the baby's cot for some time to come!

Claudia

Reply to
claudia

Hi Leslie

Glad that my thoughts aren't all out of whack! I had thought about doing as much "regular" applique as I could and then just use heat n bond to fuse the tiny pieces to the appliqueed whole. I was just worried about these coming undone if I didn't sew them down soemhow. The hea n bond ultra that you suggested should take care of that problem for me. I went right over to ebay and purchased some of this magic H&B!!!

Nothing like online shopping while on call: that is where I found this pattern in the first place; surfing the web while on call, trying to explain to my nurse what patchwork is all about!!

I promise to post a picture of this accomplishment!!!!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. You guys are the greatest!

Claudia

Reply to
claudia

Leslie, Have you ever tried sweeping under the sa with a toothpick? Works well and even better if you keep it in your mouth and it is damp. Fabric sort of sticks to it. Anna Belle

Reply to
Anna Belle

I think all the other people who responded to this thread have much better advice than I could give you about applique.... I will just say I hated applique and avoided it at all costs, until I joined a swap where each person did one block for a letter of the alphabet. Well, 26 "H is for House" blocks later, I had 1) learned a lot more about applique, 2) wasn't that bad at it so didn't hate it anymore and 3) started to enjoy it because I wasn't that bad at it anymore and thus didn't hate it.

It may be that this project, which you are so motivated to do for your friend, really helps you master the skill of applique and learn several new techniques!

-- Jo in Scotland

Reply to
Jo Gibson

Hi Jo

I hope you're right. I don't much like applique either and have tried to avoid it like the plague, but I really want to do this project. Who knows, I might end up discovering a whole new world of fabric magic to enjoy!

Claudia

Reply to
claudia

I have never been a huge applique fan. I tend to use ribbons and the like a fair bit when I do it. Where such things simply will not work, and especially on oddly shaped weeny bits, I usually will make two, sew them together, turn, press, and then sew them down. If you were clever in placing your open side you could just sew a bit of narrow lace or edging over it.

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

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