Applique Question

Some suggestions from someone who still is not very good at it - start small, perhaps a pillow about 12" square? Use a very fine grade fabric. Something loosely woven and coarse is going to fight you every step of the way. Use silk thread if you can. Silk very sweetly disappears as you stitch, I don't know how, it just does. And yes, you'll want to try several methods. I do a little better using no starch. Some say starching is good but it doesn't work well for me. Wishing you great success, Polly

Another answer from someone who is not great at applique. Do learn a few different methods including:

freezer paper on bottom, freezer paper on top, needle turn- no freezer paper, reverse applique,

but don't kill yourself trying to learn each of them perfectly. Practice making a small heart or other shape with each. That will be enough for you to determine which one you like best. They're really quite similar, but somehow they feel different. Then turn your attention to getting really good at that one technique.

--Lia

I'm relatively new at applique but like it alot. I learned needleturn.

1. Have the base fabric be of a manageable size when you start. i still can't imagine using a huge piece of fabric.
2. The best piece of advice my teacher gave with needleturn is that you only have to consider 1/2" at a time (the half inch in front of you!) It made it so much easier and so much less daunting! Have fun. Helen in MN

Thanks for the tips! I will go back up to my room and try them out. i am sewing on a leaf with very pointy ends.

Laurie G.

georg wrote:

One tip my appliqué teacher showed us when we got to a tight inside curve, was to lay the needle on top of a gluestick, and just drag it off. That put just a little bit of glue on the needle itself, so that when we used it to sweep the seam allowance under, it would stick long enough to sew it. The glue comes off the needle really well because you pinch the fabric down so the glue holds, and that cleans it off the needle as you draw it out. Pictures might help here, but if you could see it being done, you'd know what I mean. Hope that made sense.

Elena in Tx

Hullo Elena I really like that tip, and am grateful. I am beginning to like appliqué more and more, but inside points (of mine!) never look as good as the rest. I bought a dozen glue sticks last month (to us in a workshop I was giving!) so now I might be able to use some up!!! I have a couple of flying eagle's wings to appliqué very soon. I was wondering how I was going to manage those flight feathers at the ends of the wings? Now I feel a bit more confident. Thank you very much. . In article , Elena writes

A damp wooden toothpick is great for moving fabric!

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This was a great discussion. Thanks to all, I enjoyed and appreciated your input. Polly

Is this a regular glue stick or one made for fabric? Does it matter, since it is just a bit of glue anyway? I like the idea of it.

Laurie G.

Elena wrote: