11.23.2009

Applique

I love applique. Okay, lets tell the truth. I've loved applique for about a year and a half now. I've always loved the way that it looks but.....lets face it. I'm a busy mom who works full time and I don't have the time to applique anything by hand these days.
A few years back maybe about 8 years ago, before children when life was a little bit slower I made this quilt. I didn't have my own machine so I pieced it on my moms' industrial machine and then did all of the applique and embroidery by hand. eeeekkkkk..... I spent about a years worth of Monday night football games working on this thing. I am happy with how it turned out but realistically, a year on a single quilt?


After that I did this quilt with quite a bit of applique.

I did as I was taught and used fusible then by hand I used embroidery floss I blanket stitched everything on. By time I got to the inner circle of the flowers I couldn't push my needle through the applique. I tried everything I could thing of and it just wasn't happening. There were just too many layers of fusible and material. So I gave in and did a small zig-zag stitch by machine, all the way around the center circles. It looks fine but I'm not totally happy with it.
At this point I decided I was never going to applique again. I hated that I couldn't get the look I wanted and it was so time consuming.
A year and a half ago I bought a new Bernina machine, which I love. One of the selling points for me on this machine was the nice blanket stitch and the fact that it can go up to 9mm wide! WAHOO. I spent a large part of the year last year taking classes and learning about applique. I love the look of turned under applique but I'm not doing that by hand! So through all of these classes I, along with my mom devised a new plan on how to applique with just starch. YES, that lovely $1.00 starch that you get at Wal-mart. I now am in LOVE with applique. I find that every quilt that I make or design I look at it and think, hmm.... what applique could I do on this quilt.
So, I'm wondering if you would be interested in me creating a tutorial on my starch applique? Are you as frustrated with applique as I was?
The applique on these quilts was done using my method of starch applique. Check them out.
Tic Tac Baby Quilt
Figgy Christmas Quilt
Gobble Chain Quilt
 Goodnight Monkey Boy
9 Birdie Baby

Tranquil Baby Quilt
Funky Wonderland
Desired Quilt
Crazy Christmas Quilt
Daisies & Lattice


Leave a comment, we'd love to hear from you.
~Natalia

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17 comments:

  1. Yes, yes, yes, I would love to learn to applique using your new method and all that you have learned. Please share with all of us beginners!!
    Thank you for asking, Happy Holidays!

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  2. I would love to learn your starch technique! I keep seeing various ways to use starch with applique but haven't found one that makes me run out to the store to buy some starch.

    Like you, I've tried the zig zag on the machine but I am not too happy with the look. I prefer the buttonhole stitch in contrast thread.

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  3. Would absolutely love to see step by step how you do this...I am soo afraid to even try it so i'm sure your instructions would inspire me to try it out!

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  4. I would LOVE to know your method! If applique would be easier, I sure would love to give it another try!

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  5. Yes Please!!! I fear applique - need help - LOL!!!

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  6. "but realistically, a year on a single quilt?"

    Uhhh, I've spent up to ten years on a single quilt. Few of mine are done in less than five. Sure, I work on more than one at a time, and they often get put away for long stretches, but I can't bear to use machine applique techniques when the hand applique looks so good.

    One of the reasons I quilt is so that I can own something that required more time and effort than anything I could buy in a department store. But admittedly, another (small) reason is the amazement on people's faces when they say, "you made this all yourself? BY HAND?"

    I once got a beautiful vintage applique quilt on eBay for a STEAL ... because the seller mistakenly thought that the hand buttonhole stitch was done by machine and advertised it as machine applique. Being intimately familiar with this stitch, I recognized the error. Again, people pay way times more for a hand-sewing quilt than a machine-sewn one, whether it's the quilting or the applique, which would indicate that they're not equally valued in general.

    I guess it's a choice we each have to make, whether we want something done quickly, or want something done in the heirloom style our great-grandmothers would have made. You and I make different choices, but I don't think that my choice is that outrageous, as the wording in your post seems to indicate.

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  7. yes i would love that

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  8. YES!!! I love applique but feel overwhelmed by it. Please do a tutorial!!

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  9. Yes, please! All my applique has been of the wonder under sort....

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  10. I would! I have a quilt that needs finishing but I have struggled with the applique & just keep putting it away again.
    Chris x

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  11. Yes, yes, yes, please!!!!

    And your quilts are beautiful!:-)

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  12. Please, please, please. That would be great. I am just like you - love the look of applique, hate the time it takes. I'm mom to two little ones and all that hand stitching just isn't happening. Would love to know how you do it.

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  13. Yes! Love your earlier quilts, I'm impressed with how much applique is on each of them!

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  14. Yes, yes, yes, please do a tutorial! I love applique, too! Thanks for offering!

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  15. Yes, please Natalia! I have done some starch method applique, but when I look at your finished product, it does not look the same. So I am very interested in your tutorial.

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  16. The quilts both look great. :D I'd love to hear about how you applique with starch.

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  17. I keep hoping that I will soon see a pattern for your Daisies and Lattice quilt! It is gorgeous!

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