Do what you feel in your heart to be right for you'll be criticized anyway.
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Quilting
Whenever I appliqué it seems to need different methods. There are two older but excellent machine appliqué books in my personal library: Mastering Machine Appliqué by Harriet Hargrave and Traditional Quilts Today's Techniques by Debra Wagner.
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| Machine appliqué instruction books |
I drafted my patterns on graph paper then looked for something to reinforce it. The plastic on hand is either too thin or too small. But... there's a whole bunch of file folders from my shredding summer. Woo hoo. Doubled up with some glue, these are quite strong and the supply is almost limitless. So I can trace lots of leaves without compromising the edges of the design.
Next issue is appliqué. What to do?
- I actually have {needle turn} appliquéd an entire bed-size quilt {top} but that was years ago.
- When appliqué was required for some early t-shirt quilts, the backs are stabilized with fusible interfacing and then they are stitched with a narrow zigzag. Quick and easy. The knit fabrics limit fraying unlike wovens.
- Quilty365 circles started as needle turn but quickly changed to the "gathering around a template method."
- I used Lara Buccella's crafted applique method to stabilize the raw edges on the Spiderweb, on the Phillies quilt, and on a couple of medallion Chinese Coins quilts. Perhaps I should have used it here, too.
I chose needle turn but quickly realized that wasn't great for machine work. And there's no way I'd get this finished if handwork is involved.
I tried gathering around the template which doesn't work well unless it's a circle.
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| Gathering the seam around a template |
Next I glued the turned edges to the template which worked okay until trying to remove them. Result: A quick way to ruin paper or cardboard templates.
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| Glue basted applique |
Now I'm simply turning the seams under and basting in contrasting thread to help me identify the correct one when it's time for removal.
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| Thread basted applique |
Three down; 197 more leaves to go.
Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate)
No quilts completed in November. Not that I'm sad since I'm working on this massive project again.
YTD = 159.5 yards.
Reading
Happy Thanksgiving! Wherever you are, I hope you and your family are well and staying safe. We're all looking forward to better holidays in future when we've gotten ahead of this terrible disease.