Thursday, November 20, 2008

Really Easy Applique

About a year ago I read instructions on Melissa Haworth's Blog, Under Construction, about how to applique by sewing your applique piece onto iron on interfacing. Though I left an enthusiastic comment I still didn't get around to actually trying it out until recently while decorating some bibs. When I wrote Melissa to tell her I'd finally used the idea, she told me that her new favorite way of doing applique is to just sew the piece onto another piece of that fabric, then stick it onto whatever she's decorating with a bit of wonder under if she wants to stick it on. This has become my favorite way of making little decorative patches (though I have yet to use the wonder under tip. I think that'd be quite helpful for hand applique though.) Here are my own little instructions.

James wanted to get in on all the sewing I've been doing and dug through my scraps to find this cowboy. He told me he wanted it on his stripey shirt so I created this little tutorial in case you'd like an easy way to add a bit of decoration to...anything fabric.

  • Cut out your image- this can be much rougher than I did in the picture.
  • Choose a fabric for the backing- interfacing works, a piece of the same fabric, or for this one I just chose a scrap of black fabric.
  • Right side to right side, sew all the way around your image. All the way, closing the gap.

  • Cut out right next to your sewing line. I find using pinking shears carefully works very well.
  • Cut a slit in the back fabric that you will turn the piece through.
  • Turn your piece inside out and use a finger or bonefolder to press out the seam.

  • Iron.


  • Sew onto intended item. You can hand applique, top-stitch or use your machine's applique stitch. Some patches look really cute when sewn on with a decorative stitch.
  • My model was none too cooperative. He's trying, in this picture, to hide the cowboy and take the camera from me, but it's the best one I got.


Another blog tutorial that was helpful is on Stitch Rip Repeat.
Thank you Melissa and Beth!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome--this is EXACTLY what I do. Thanks for writing it up. I've got to remember to link to this now. Thanks for the comments over at my blog :)

 
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