machine applique

Pillow Party!

4 Comments / machine applique, pillow, pillow party / By

I have decided to enter into the Pillow Party that is going on over at Stitched In Color.  I haven’t entered anything I have made into any kind of contest since I was 15. This is a huge leap for me, but I figured…why not?!?

As you all know I made a beautiful Butterfly Quilt for Anne. It is going to be for her new room, on her big girl bed when we move at the end of next month.

I happened to have one extra square so I made her a matching pillow too!!!

The pillow was so simple to make.  I just pieced my last square together and added borders. Then I basted it together with a square of my quilt backing that I had left over, added an invisible zipper and voila!  Instant Pillow!

Here are a couple more pictures with the quilt!

Back of Quilt – Front of Pillow
Front of Quilt – Back of Pillow

My inspiration for both the quilt and the pillow was the story “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. It is a book that Anne and I love to read together and I just knew she was going to love the quilt and pillow too! The first time she saw the quilt she tried to pick up the butterflies!  It doesn’t have a home yet, but when we move into our new house and Anne gets her big girl bed they will both live on her bed, which I am really excited about…well not about having to already move her to a big girl bed, but definitely about getting to make her bedding!

The techniques I used to assemble the pillow were Fusible Web Applique, Machine Applique, and installing an Invisible Zipper for the pillow case itself.  I have to admit I went to a couple tutorials to figure out how big my squares should be and then ignored them completely and decided to just eyeball it!  I think it turned out great and Anne loves it!

Blogger's Pillow Party

So wish me luck over at the Blogger’s Pillow Party and if you have a pillow that you have made in the last three months you should consider entering it into their contest!

Work It Wednesday

2 Comments / free motion quilting, machine applique, work in progress, work it wednesday / By

Is it hump day already?!? Woohoo! That means the week is almost over and Easter is just a few days away.  Now that I have finished with all my Easter presents and mailed off the ones for my nieces and nephews, I am back to finishing up the Butterfly Quilt.

For those who are new to the blog, the Butterfly Quilt is the first quilt I have ever designed and it is for my daughter Anne.

Last night I worked on the free-motion quilting aspect of the quilt. It took me about 3 hours but I was able to get it done and it turned out GREAT!
I practiced a lot before I actually had the nerve to try on the quilt. Here are some pictures of my practice piece.

For some reason Blogger and Picasa are not playing nice and will not let me properly rotate my pictures 🙁
I practiced a lot before breaking out the quilt itself. I tried stencils and free motion and decided that as a novice at free-motion quilting, for this special quilt I would stick with free motion curly-cues.
Here are some pictures of finished butterflies:
I machine quilted only the butterfly outlines, not the squares that were machine appliqued and I really do love the overall effect.  Next step taking off the extra backing and batting, then binding and handwork.  Wish me luck!
What are you working on today?

Budget Crafter – Printer Paper as Stabilizer

5 Comments / applique, budget sewing, machine applique / By

Are you on a budget? I am.  My husband and I are building a house so we are on a tight tight tight budget.  I have been finding every possible way to save money and yet still have my creative outlets.

When I made my butterfly quilt, I had to machine applique 32 butterflies.

I don’t need to tell you that it was A LOT of butterflies and it required a lot of stabilizer and fusible web.  The fusible web I couldn’t really do much about other than purchase it in bulk when it went on sale at my local craft store.  The stabilizer…well that is where I cheated said craft store out of my dollars!
A roll of Sulky Tear Easy stabilizer, which is the brand I usually purchase, costs $12.99 at my local craft store.  I needed just one roll, but as I said we are building a house and every penny counts these days.  I decided to cheat a little. I already had printer paper in the house and I used that as my stabilizer!  After all, one ream of multipurpose printer paper at a big box office supply store is only $4.99.  I only needed 16 sheets (1/2 a sheet per butterfly)! If I had needed to purchase the paper, it would have added up to only $0.16 for ALL my butterflies! Plus I would have been able to use the leftover paper in both of my printers, so it truly would have been a multipurpose purchase.

Here is what you do:

You will need:

  • A pretty shape – my butterfly already has the fusible web on the back
  • A piece of fabric you are going to applique the shape on to – I used basic muslin
  • Some pretty thread for the stitching
  • A sheet of printer paper

Step one:  Fuse shape to background fabric

Step two: set up your machine and place your fabric on top of your printer paper.
My machine is set up for a zig zag stitch, a number 2 tension, and .38 stitch length.

Ready to stitch

Step 3: Applique your piece as you normally would. For detailed instructions, see my post here.

Step 4: Remove the paper from the back. If you used a tight enough stitch length you really shouldn’t have to work too hard at all, the paper will already be perforated in your design and it should just come right off.

Step 5: Iron your piece and you have just machine appliqued on a budget!

Easy peasy.  I hope you find this little budget tip useful. It is also helpful when you simply don’t have time to run to the craft store or you are an insomniac crafter and the store isn’t open at 2 am in the morning!

Enjoy!

Tutorial Tuesday – Machine Applique

3 Comments / applique, machine applique, sewing, tutorial, tutorial tuesday, under an hour / By

My great-grandmother was an amazing sewer. Well, to be fair, sewing runs in my blood from both my dad and my mom’s families. Apparently my dad’s mom was quite the seamstress, my mom is an amazing sewer, my grandma sewed, and one of my great-grandma’s was a professional tailor and the other was a seamstress. Talk about genetics!

One of my great-grandmother’s was from Tahiti. An unfinished hand applique quilt top of hers has been handed down to me!

From 2 large pieces of fabric
Up-Close detailing

I asked my mom if I could complete the project and she said yes, I then asked her if I could do machine applique and she said no. It is a traditional Tahitian quilt top and needs to be finished by hand as is tradition.

This didn’t stop me from teaching myself machine applique.

Here is a picture of my finished project:

Supplies:
2 squares of fabric – one for the background and one for the fun shape
Pellon “Wonder Under” fusible web
Pressing Cloth
Some pretty thread – you can go matchey matchey on this or you can go for some color contrast
A stabilizer for the back (I have gone budget cheap and used regular printer paper or you could get Sulky Tear Easy)

Pencil – for drawing your design
Scissors
Iron
Sewing Machine

Step 1 – Cut out your two squares
I did two 6.5 inch squares
Background fabric
Applique fabric
Step 2: Iron the “Wonder Under” onto THE BACK of applique fabric
Follow the directions that comes with the “Wonder Under”
Step 3: Draw your design on the fusible
I only drew half a butterfly, because I folded my square in half to cut
Step 4: Cut out your design
Step 5: Peel the paper off the applique shape – being careful not to remove the fusible web from the fabric!
Step 6: Line up your shape on your background fabric

I wanted mine perfectly centered so I made myself a template 🙂
Step 7: Iron on your shape – Again follow the “Wonder Under” Instructions!
Hint – if following the Pellon instructions – this is where your pressing cloth comes into play!

Step 8: Cut your stabilizer material – printer paper or Sulky Tear Easy

It only needs to cover the applique shape!

Step 9: (skip if using printer paper) If using Sulky – Iron stabilizer on to BACK of square

During Ironing
Back view once ironing is complete
Step 10: Set your machine up for the sewing portion.
  • zigzag stitch
  • Number 2 tension
  • Needle position 4 (or whatever works with the zigzag foot that came with your machine)
  • Very short stitch length, I used a 0.5 stitch length on my Janome
  • Pretty colored thread, I would use the same for the top and the bobbin!
Step 11: Start stitching. Go slowly around the corners and don’t be afraid to readjust your square. Leave your needle down and lift your foot to turn your material. 

When you get to a corner…
Leave you needle down and lift your foot…
Turn the corner…
Put your needle back down


When you have completed your shape, pull your threads to the back of the square (DO NOT CUT) – tie in a knot on the back side!


You have just machine appliqued your first ever shape! Pat yourself on the back!!!

Do what you will with your squares. I made a quilt with mine.

Once you have learned this skill it opens so many new possibilities for embellishing your sewing projects. Play around and don’t be afraid to make mistakes, unless you show them off, who is going to know?!?

Share your applique projects on our Flickr site:

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