Applique onto already quilted background?

FWIW - here's what I do.

If the overall piece is small I sew all the components together before attaching it to the quilted surface (eg one single flower). If the pieces are bigger (like the tree quilt I have just started) I baste them together and then pin onto the quilt so that when I sew them together I can catch the background fabric and "anchor" it in place.

If you add a thin batt at that stage you get some very interesting trapunto-type effects too, but you need to stitch more than just the edge to be sure that the batt doesn't clump up when washed. Just a few lines through the piece should be enough. Large flowers and character figures look particularly good done this way.

This is a great way to make one block at a time, and also gives the option of putting a completely different design on the back because the quilting is not "interupted" by the applique design. It also gives the option of changing the placement of applique right up until the whole design can be laid out and checked. I can make lots of flowers and arrange them as I would a vase of real flowers.

I started experimenting with this because I could never get a perfect grid around a design ( LOL ) when I was making Rosemary Makhan's Rose Sampler Supreme.

was my first attempt and a bit experimental, and I hadmy machine stitch set far too short. I now use a longerstitch, esp for gridwork. It looks much nicer. The background fabric for the Tree of Life quilt is 110" wide and has been stipple quilted with no seams. Some of the applique stitching in the centre of such a large piece will be a bit awkward, but I find this method quite fast once you get used to it. And as I prepare all the applique separately, that part of the project will still be very portable.

OZ Cats are appliqued onto a piece of prequilted blackfabric. What looks like sashings is really just 1/2" stripsof appliqued striped fabric used as a frame for each cat.The background to the Mardi Gras quilt is a diamond gridthat was also pre-quilted. I am interested in seeing if and how others do this type of work.

Good luck Pat - I look forward to hearing what you think of this method.

I had planned to write . . . . . . but rapidly failing eyesight will catch up with me I'm afraid LOL

That looks great. Have you written the book? You know someone will now. :~}

Thanks ever so much, Cheryl. I have two which will be employing this method. I think it's going to become a favourite of mine - well, I haven't tried it yet, but it seems so sensible. I hate it when I 'bump into' bits of applique, when I start quilting the whole thing after applique >g< I'll print out your answer - I like to have these things to hand, on paper! . In message , Cats writes

Oh that's sad, Cheryl. Dictate onto tape, or employ an amanuensis. If you've got enough examples of your work, you won't need terrific eyesight. Or, write a magazine article - shorter term, and then you will have passed on your knowledge.

In message , Cats writes

Pat- I do this all the time with my 3D applique, but most of that is glued down rather than stitched since it usually has many layers, Wonder Under, etc. I tried it with regular applique and had some troubles with stitching the applique across the quilt stitching because there was the small "dent" there. Also, it doesn't always lay as flat as you might like since the stitching over the "dents" tends to misalign the other areas. Best of luck and I tuly hope YMMV! ;-)

Leslie & The Furbabies > Cheryl has often said that she does this now, as she is not able to do

Thanks for this, Leslie. I will have such a very irregular piece to sew on (well, three, really!), that hopefully most of the pieces will touch the background where the quilting isn't!! I'll watch for it now I know it can be a problem. . In message , Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. writes

Yeah, and this heat isn't helping their digestive systems either!

Cindy > I can't get my 3 to stop eating old black walnuts that litter the back yard! How can that stuff taste good???

Leslie

I used to worry about this before I tried it, but it never seemed to be a problem once I got into it. I wonder what we do that is different. Could it be the iron-on interfacing I use on the back of my applique pieces? I'm not sure what difference that would make but . . . . . . if you add a thin batt for a trapunto effect the problem cannot arise anyway. I don't do much 3D applique (or at least not more 3D than trapunto depth).

I had always worried about using this method with an iron-on applique because I thought the quilt lines would be impressed into the applique pieces. Does that happen?

I am about to try using buttonhole/blanket stitch applique on prequilted fabric using the iron-on interfacing as a fabric stabiliser and just stitching around the edges. I'm not sure how it will stand up to washing without being "glued" down to the background, but I guess I'll find out LOL. Maybe I could just spot glue the pieces in place before stitching. I am not a big fan of buttonhole/blanket stitch anyway (just personal taste, I think it looks gorgeous done well) so I am doing this test for some of my stitchers who asked about the possibility.

Cheryl-

I used freezer paper on the wrong side of the applique, with the edges basted under, then stitched down to the quilted background and removed the freezer paper just before I finished stitching the applique in place. I think, maybe, that your interfacing may make a difference in that you have enough stiffness to keep the applique from sinking down into the quilting stitches. Also, using a very thin batting would keep the quilting stitches from being very much "lower" than the unquilted areas. My 3D applique is fully formed on it's own, like a rose with all the layers and shapes of a real rose, and then glued in place, so the indentations don't affect it.

Everybody has to do their own thing and what works for you is great- keep on doing it. ;-)

Leslie & The Furbabies > Leslie

Oh I would love to see some of your roses.

Cheryl-

All my projects have been given away, so I can't take pictures of them. Sorry- I'd have to make some up special to show you. I have several methods. I can ir> Oh I would love to see some of your roses.

They sound wonderful.

I have seen a couple of these techniques but have never tried them. Next time I hope you can take pictures before you so generously give them away, so we can all see.

I'll see if I can get my DH to put a picture of one on our website. Leslie very kindly sent me one of these little masterpieces, for a present. He will be out all day, I think, but ... when he returns ... It is very, very pretty - I just hope we'll manage to catch all the 3-D work for you. . In message , Cats writes