Want to add visual interest to your quilt, but keep the grid layout as simple as possible?
Try spinning some of the blocks to create a topsy turvy layout!
That example above uses just one block – the silly Skyler Sloth – but you could use any single or multi-block pattern. I think Brette Bunny would be especially cute, but you could also make a swarm of mosquitos or bees, tumbling jellyfish, somersaulting bears – anything you can imagine!
None of my single-block patterns include specific instructions for full quilts.
That’s where my handy-dandy layout guides come in.
Each guide contains a materials list and cutting instructions for six different quilt sizes – from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size.
I’m working on similar guides for other layouts too! That way no matter what layout your pattern shows, you can easily use the blocks in a different design. Here’s what I have so far and what’s coming. . .
I use fusible adhesive to applique almost all of my quilt blocks, and I get a lot of questions about the stiffness.
I use Heat & Bond Lite. Yes – it is somewhat stiff when you’re making the block. I find that stiffness VERY helpful when I’m doing all my outline stitching. Basically, it acts as a wonderful stabilizer.
The first time you wash the quilt, it softens up a LOT. After a second wash I find it doesn’t feel stiff at all.
But maybe you like using a different brand that doesn’t soften as much in the wash. Or maybe you’re making a wall-hanging that you never plan to wash. Or maybe you like to layer on lots and lots of pieces and don’t want the added thickness of lots of layers of adhesive. Or maybe you’re in the middle of a project and you’re almost out of fusible and it’s raining and you don’t want to leave the house to get more so you’re trying to conserve every last bit.
It doesn’t matter why. 🙂 I’ve had several people ask if I can show how to do window cutting with fusible adhesive, so here it is!
Step 1
Print or trace your pattern just like normal. If you want, you can trace smaller pieces inside larger ones – just leave at least 1/2 inch between any lines.
Step 2
Rough cut around each piece just like normal. Leave a little extra all the way around the outside of each piece.
Step 3
Cut away the inside of each piece, leaving at least 1/4 inch of fusible. You can use scissors, but I think it’s much easier to use an X-Acto knife.
Step 4
Fuse the pieces to the wrong side of your fabric.
On the left side of the photo you can see the window-cut pieces fused to the back of the fabric. On the right you can see the bits that I cut out of the inside. You can use those cut-out bits for smaller applique pieces.
Step 5
Clean cut around the pieces on the solid lines, just like normal.
Step 6
Trace any placement or stitching lines.
Normally any placement and stitching lines (here the wing and eye placement and the eyelashes) are on the paper side of the fusible adhesive, but you cut that away. You’ll need to lay the pieces over the placement guide of your pattern and trace those lines.
Step 7
Layer the pieces together, fuse them in place, and do all the outline stitching, just like normal.
Finished!
So there you go – the ease of applique with fusible adhesive with the softness of needle-turn applique.
Happy stitching!
Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.
These little mushrooms used to be available only as part of the Woodland Critters pattern, but now they’re a free pattern that you can combine with any of your animal patterns.
Or just use them on their own! I’ve always thought they’d make fun placemats. (There’s a free pattern here.)
You could add more than one mushroom to a single square or to a double-size block. The samples you see above are made on blocks that finish at 5 x 10 inches – perfect for adding half-blocks to any of my patterns.
There’s a PDF here for Added Half-Block Layouts. I’ve done all the math for you – calculating yardage, providing cutting instructions and layout guides for six different quilt sizes, from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size. Here’s what that layout looks like.
And, of course, you could make an entire quilt full of nothing but mushrooms!
For this pattern I don’t provide as detailed instructions as usual. It’s just too simple a pattern!
If this is your first time doing applique with fusible adhesive, you’ll find detailed instructions here.
Here’s the nutshell version.
Print or trace the templates onto the paper side of paper-backed fusible adhesive. (I use Heat & Bond Lite for all my quilts.)
Roughly cut around each piece.
Fuse to the back of your fabric.
Cut the piece out neatly on the solid lines.
Peel off the paper backing.
Position a stem onto your block.
Position a mushroom cap on your stem.
Fuse in place.
Outline stitch around each piece.
Done!
Here’s a video showing me assembling both of my sample blocks.
You can use any stem with any cap. And feel free to get playful with your colors. Mushrooms come in every color of the rainbow! I saw a shiny purple mushroom once that looked like it was made of glass!
These simple trees used to be available only as part of the Woodland Critters pattern, but now they’re a free pattern that you can combine with any of your animal patterns.
Or just use them on their own! I’ve always thought they’d make pretty placemats. (There’s a free pattern here.) And I’d love to see a four seasons set! Just change out the fabrics!
You could add more than one tree to a single square or to a double-size block. The samples you see above are made on blocks that finish at 5 x 10 inches – perfect for adding half-blocks to any of my patterns.
There’s a PDF here for Added Half-Block Layouts. I’ve done all the math for you – calculating yardage, providing cutting instructions and layout guides for six different quilt sizes, from Itty Bitty Baby to King Size. Here’s what that layout looks like.
And, of course, you could make an entire forest quilt full of trees and nothing but trees!
For this pattern I don’t provide as detailed instructions as usual. It’s just too simple a pattern!
If this is your first time doing applique with fusible adhesive, you’ll find detailed instructions here.
Here’s the nutshell version.
Print or trace the templates onto the paper side of paper-backed fusible adhesive. (I use Heat & Bond Lite for all my quilts.)
Roughly cut around each piece.
Fuse to the back of your fabric.
Cut the piece out neatly on the solid lines.
Peel off the paper backing.
Position a tree top onto your block.
Position a set of branches on your tree top.
Fuse in place.
Outline stitch around each piece.
Done!
Here’s a video showing me assembling all four of my sample blocks.
You can use any tree top with any set of branches. You can even cut most of the branches off and just use the trunk. (If you do this, position the trunk piece behind the tree top piece.)
On most of my applique patterns, the little stitched details – things like eyelashes and eyebrows and smiles – fall inside the applique pieces.
That makes it really easy to transfer those detail lines to fabric. They’re right on the pattern pieces!
Sometimes I have detail lines that fall outside of the applique pieces, but until now those have just been whiskers, and they’re a continuation of lines that start inside the pieces, so they’ve been easy to transfer too.
But what about something like these creepy, dangly mosquito legs?
How the heck do you transfer those lines to the background block? Especially since the way I work means the background block is already quilted to a layer of batting, making it impossible to see through?
Well – I came up with an answer!
All you need is a sharp pokey thing and a black pen. 🙂
Here’s what those lines look like after you mark them with the marker
And if you scroll back up, you can see them stitched.
Socks are one of my very favorite things to knit. They’re almost instant gratification. I can make a pair of socks in a weekend if I have enough Star Trek, X-Files, or Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to watch.
(One of those things is not like the other.)
When one of my knitting friends showed me the Colorwork Cuff Club pattern by Summer Lee, I knew what my next project was going to be.
Like the title suggests, this is a sock club. You buy the base pattern once, and you get a new colorwork cuff every month. (You also get all the previous month’s patterns when you buy the base pattern.) The cuff changes, but the foot pattern is the same every time, which makes these socks knit up super quick.
I’m not planning to knit the cuffs in order, but I did happen to start that way. The first cuff pattern released was also the first one I knit—August.
This pattern was so nice, I made it twice. One set, the blue, is for my mother. The other set is for me.
For the blue socks, I used Fiona Kay’s Stampede Sock in the color Nevermore as the main color. She doesn’t seem to be running her Poe collection anymore, but she always has new stuff on her website and her Instagram. I was also able to find her yarns at Northwest Wools.
For the accent color I used a mini skein from Lamb Good Fibers. It was part of a whole set of minis, so I have no idea what the color name was.
For the purple socks, I used Knitted Wit Sock in the color Galaxy Flower. This was part of Knitted Wit’s Herstory collection, which are monthly colors each representing and highlighting a famous woman. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good, so you may have a hard time finding this exact color.
I really like Knitted Wit’s yarn for socks. They’re durable, soft, and are perfect for colorwork.
For the accent color I used a Teal Torch Knits mini in the color Neon Melon. I love neons, and I think this was the perfect accent color to go with the dark purple.
I had a blast making these socks, and I’m already working on my next pair from the Colorwork Cuff Club—this time September.
“Wouldst thou like the taste of butter? Wouldst thou like to live…deliciously?”
For those who don’t know, those are lines from Black Phillip, the demonic goat from the movie The VVitch. My friend and I both like that movie, and love to quote Black Phillip to each other. When my friend’s birthday came around this year, I knew what I had to make.
There weren’t any patterns that I could find that were specifically Black Phillip, so I had to improvise a bit. I used the Felt Billy Goat Stuffie pattern by Lia Griffith as my base. The felt I used was from Benzie Design. I used black for the body, and graphite for the horns.
The pattern didn’t call for it, but I added pipe-cleaner armature in the legs and in the horns. I don’t think they were necessary for him to stand, but they did help me keep his legs from splaying, which I know can happen with this shape. The only adjustment I made to the pattern pieces themselves was lengthening the horns so they would be more like the goat in the movie.
The other big change that I made was the eyes. The pattern calls for itty-bitty 5mm safety eyes. I had those, but only in black. In the movie, Black Phillip has yellow eyes.
(Don’t believe all the fanart with red eyes. They are wrong.)
Normally I wouldn’t mind just subbing in black safety eyes instead of a color, but the black eyes just weren’t showing up on the black felt. I went through a couple different options. I thought about doing sequins, but then I didn’t have any in yellow or gold. My next thought was small buttons, and those ended up being a strong contender.
In the end, I went with gold rhinestones. I’m so glad I did, because I think they look awesome. They catch the light beautifully, and they give him a supernatural look. I added eyelids because the rhinestones were twice the size of the eyes the pattern called for—without the eyelids they looked a bit ridiculous.
I’m not one to believe in this sort of thing, but I think my Black Phillip was cursed.
I’ve never stabbed myself so many times, and I’ve never had so many seams bust open. To be fair, this pattern has some pretty thin gussets on the legs. They give the goat some sharp-looking shaping, but they’re also liable to tear–especially since you want to stuff the legs firmly so he’ll stand well.
The stabbing thing is a whole different story though. It only started after I put his eyes on him. I think the eyes gave him sentience and he went after me.
The goat pattern said it would take an hour or more to make this pattern. For me it was definitely more.
The first big seam where you sew one side of the body to the legs and belly piece was especially time consuming. It took me a whole episode of M*A*S*H just to clip the pieces into place.
Even though it took me a lot longer than the pattern said it would (I think it took me two episodes of X-Files just to stuff the body) he turned out beautifully.
I was sad to see him go when I shipped him off. I might have to make myself a Black Phillip soon. Hopefully he won’t be out for blood this time.
While I was at it, I also added sleepy, peaceful, closed eyes, and happy, scrunched up, smiling eyes. Just put them where the oval eyes are on any of my patterns.
The medium size will work for almost all patterns, but I also included small and large versions of all the options. You can, of course, resize as needed to fit any eyes.
Have fun with these!
Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.
For the most part, giant applique is the same as regular applique – trace, rough cut, fuse, clean cut, fuse again.
If you’re new to applique with fusible adhesive, do NOT start with a giant block. There’s a post here with very detailed instructions, and you can follow along with one of my free patterns. Make at least one “normal-sized” block, and then come back and tackle giant blocks. 😁
In this lesson I’m going to show you how to handle the quirks of giant applique.
Tracing Your Enlarged Pattern
There are two things different with this step.
One – you’ll need to “explode” the pattern yourself. That is – separate the pieces and mark where any extra seam allowance for underlap is.
Two – when you enlarge the pattern, you also enlarge the lines of the pattern. Depending on how thick the lines were to start with and how much you enlarged it – the lines can get to be 1/4 inch thick – or even more! Where do you trace and cut?
This video shows you how to tackle both of those issues.
Not hard – just a couple of things you need to think about. 🙂
What If the Pattern Piece Is Bigger than the Biggest Fusible Adhesive You Can Buy?
Post it notes are my secret weapon. 🙂
The Heat & Bond Lite that I prefer is available by the bolt – so the length is unlimited, but the width is just 17 inches. That will work for a lot of patterns – but not all of them. And who knows how big you’ll make future projects? Maybe you’ll make a king-size quilt with one enormous applique in the middle. It’s possible! 🙂
How to Position and Fuse Your Applique When It’s Bigger than Your Ironing Board
There are two possibilities here.
If your image is symmetrical, it’s possible to build it from the neck up – bit by bit. That’s how I did this giant fox block.
If your image isn’t symmetrical, you’ll need to position everything on a flat surface, pin it, move it to your ironing board, and then fuse it section by section. That’s what I do with this bunny block.
So that’s the applique itself. What about the next step?
Using Thicker Thread
In addition to scaling up the applique pieces, I also like to scale up the stitching that outlines them. I do that by using thicker thread.
12 weight is the thickest thread you can use in a standard sewing machine, so that’s what I use. I almost always use Sulky 12 wt. thread in black. On the rare occasion when I outline in a color, I use smaller Sulky Petites spools.
Outlining with thick thread is pretty much the same as outlining with regular thread, with just a couple of exceptions.
One – you need to use a needle with a larger eye. I use 90/14 topstitching needles and they work great.
Two – do NOT use the thicker thread in your bobbin. Use a regular weight thread for the bobbin.
Since your thread weight doesn’t match your bobbin weight, you may need to adjust your tension a bit. Stitch up a quick row of stitching using the same weight batting you’ll be using and different color threads in the top and the bobbin. Adjust the tension as needed until the bobbin thread doesn’t show on the top and the top thread doesn’t show on the bottom. Make a note of the new tension and use that every time you’re topstitching with your heavy threads and you won’t need to test it again. (I recommend writing it right on the spool.)
If you don’t want to mess with using thicker thread, you can always go around all the shapes more than once for a thicker line. I find that three passes with regular thread gives about the same definition as one pass with the thicker thread. I actually like the sketchy look of multiple lines, but I don’t always want to go around all the pieces three times. It really just depends on my mood. 🙂
Intro and Tools and Supplies – a look some samples of projects made with giant applique, plus an overview of any special tools and supplies you’ll need
Enlarging Your Pattern – how to figure out how big you’ll need it to be, and how to print giant template pieces
Tips and Tricks for Giant Applique – what do you do if the pattern piece is bigger than your fusible adhesive, if it won’t fit on your ironing board, and how to scale up your outline stitching
