Preparing to Applique: the Basics

A combination block: applique and piecing
from the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along

                                            

There are MANY ways to applique. If someone tells you there is only one that should be a HUGE red flag that they don't know what they're talking about, don't want to share what they do know, and/or they're purists---which can be just an excuse to be judgemental, negative and sometimes cruel party poopers in my book. There's room for everyone here and we'll lift one another up in this project.

So you are aware, I could ask 50 different people who hand applique alone and get 50 different versions of just a couple techniques. I think knowing this will help you embrace what works best for YOU.

The beautiful French word applique simply means that a fabric is applied to another. How that is done is your call. Depending on the design, there may be several fabrics applied to one piece. Hand applique is generally considered "needle turn", which literally means you'll use your needle to turn under the fabric seam allowance. That's not always necessary, depending on the shapes and techniques used. For those of you with garment sewing experience (not you? That's OK, me neither!), we'll be working with considerably smaller seams than you are accustomed to. Quilters among us, if you've never used a scant quarter inch, you will in this process and it will be alright, I promise. If all of this is new to you, welcome and please don't worry. There's something new for everyone.

We're starting with melons. They're common, manageable, and require several key elements that will make other shapes easier to learn when the time comes. Those of you planning to sew along using the template called small orange peel will want to order now if you haven't yet. Of course, you could always learn at your own pace or draft a template to work with. If you are creating your own template, I suggest doing an image search to find one close to the 5" x 5" (12.7 cm) unless you're interested in considerably smaller/larger sizes.

To begin, please find some fabrics that are not of great importance to you. The earliest attempts will seem less appealing moving forward. I'll be working with some thin white cotton background fabric and some bright prints and/or solid Kona cotton for early demonstrations. I have a stack precuts from an I Spy swap a long time ago but eventually, I'll switch to a beige/gray solid background with different prints for the melons to save for a project. Those backgrounds will be Kona cotton most likely because that fabric is a little thicker than I like to use for appliqueing the shapes but it holds up nicely as a background, is inexpensive, and can be ordered at different times but still match for the most part. I also ♡ the newer Essex Linens but they are popular and may be more difficult to reorder when the time comes. The easiest way to get around that issue is to buy plenty up front. :)

If you'd also like to make something with your orange peels at some point, please wait until you are satisfied with your level of work before breaking out your adorable fabrics.

Some terminology that you'll want to look up if you're unfamiliar or it's been a while:

bias (linked in previous post) video here that includes selvage, straight of grain & cross grain
precuts: charm packs*, jelly roll, layer cake, fat eighth, fat quarter
quarter inch and scant seam allowances
quilter's cotton
selvage: do not use the selvage for needle turn applique since there is no give whatsoever in this strip of printed company information label or the plain opposite side selvage. There are people who collect the label sides, though so please don't throw it out. There's a selvage squares tutorial on one one of the blog tabs if you'd like to see how they can be used.

*Charms come in several sizes when swapping or purchasing from other quilters. Companies tend to use the standard 5" size. Be sure to carefully read the product descriptions. There's a new "mini" version of several common precuts including 2.5" charms, half jelly rolls, and half width jelly rolls. 

NEXT APPLIQUE POST: Making your templates actual size and tracing your freezer paper.