Attacking applique, part II

Today, I will be discussing a super cool way to do applique without having raw edges.  This method involves using fusible web; I used one from Pellon, and it's available at quilt shops, maybe craft stores, and sometimes Wal-Mart.  It's a very thin sheet, and it fuses on both sides, just like the fusible used in the raw edge applique, but it's not as stiff.

I used this method for a snowman wallhanging that I didn't want to blanket stitch all the way around by hand, because it's pretty large.  Plus, the pieces are all relatively good-sized, making it a bit easier to use this method.  I've heard this called the "straw method," and Eleanor Burns uses it for some of her applique projects.

First, you need to take your fusible web and trace the applique pieces onto it.  Lay the fusible right side down on the outline, and trace onto the wrong side.  I used a pen that is almost like a fine tip permanent marker, as you don't want to have to bear down while you're tracing the design.  Leave some room in between the tracings.

 

After all of your pieces are traced, you should cut out the pieces individually, leaving some room around the lines.  You will then pin the fusible to your fabric.  Put the right side of the fusible against the ride side of your fabric.  Remember, you traced the lines onto the wrong side, so you'll want the side with your marker lines facing away from the fabric.  This confused me while I was doing it, mostly because I was doing other projects with more pressing deadlines at the same time, and pushed this off to the side for awhile.

 When pinning your fusible to the fabric, put the pins outside the lines.  You will be sewing on the lines you made, so place pins strategically enough to keep the fabric in place, but not hinder your sewing.  Once your pieces are pinned, you are ready to start sewing! Take your first piece, and sew around the lines you made.

 

After you've sewn the pieces, cut a scant seam allowance around the outside.  I think mine ended up being about 1/8 in, but I didn't measure.  I also, apparently, did not take any pictures of this step, sorry about that.  If anyone finds that they would like some pictorial references, let us know.

When you have cut the seam allowance for each piece, you will take each piece and make a slit large enough to turn the entire piece right side out through the fusible.

 

There is my open slit.  Then, reach in through the slit, and pull your fabric through.  You will then have the right sides of the fabric and fusible out.  This is where the "straw" of "straw method" comes in, but as I normally do, I fuddled through it the way I thought was best, and didn't use any tools to make it easier.  For the first star, I ended up trying to pull the points out with a seam ripper.  Why I thought this was a good idea, I'm not sure.  But, it wasn't.  My mom then introduced me to the "Purple Thang," which made my life a whole lot easier.  It has a blunt end, which was better for trying to push my star points out.  My stars still all ended up looking rather like starfish than actual stars, but I think they're cute anyway.

So, I've finished sewing and turning all of my pieces, and I laid out the snowman to see how nice it looks.

 

I have the background all ready to go too, so whenever I have nothing else to work on, I can go crazy ironing this all together, in the same way I did the raw edge applique.  There is a difference with this form of applique, however; you don't have the raw edges, but the fusible isn't permanent, so you have to do some type of stitching on each piece to actually keep them together.  I think I'm just going to go around just inside the outline of each piece, which will serve to quilt the wallhanging as well as permanently adhere the pieces together.  There is also a little orange nose somewhere, but I'm pretty sure my devil kitten carried it off somewhere.  Luckily, it's a very small piece, and will take no time to make again.  And, if you look closely, REALLY closely, you might be able to see that I used a white fabric with snowflakes on it for the snowman.  I tea stained it, since there is a primitive look to this whole wallhanging, but you can't really tell.  Anyway, the snowflake fabric is my favorite part of this project.

This method was pretty quick, and since I am not a huge fan of raw edges, is my favorite so far.  Next time, I'll talk about that half method I mentioned in the last post.  Try some applique and let us know how it goes!