BLOG: Quilting + Appliqué

Video – How to Chain Piece Quilt Blocks

June 3, 2014

In this video I show you how to chain piece quilt blocks for speedy piecing.

This is a really common technique in the quilt world, so I know a lot of you will be familiar with it already.

If it’s new to you – prepare for your world to be rocked.

Seriously.

It’s just amazing how much time you save by not snipping threads on each set of blocks as you go.

I don’t just use this technique for quilting. I use it any time I’m sewing more than one set of things together.

If I’m working on a puppy softie and I have four sets of paws, a tail and two sets of ears to sew up, I chain them all together. I do backstitch at the beginning and end of each of those sets – but I don’t cut the threads until I’m done with the whole chain.

Here’s the video. . .

See how easy?

This is the technique I’m using to sew up all those itty bitty blocks in the Controlled Chaos Scrappy Quilt-Along. I’ll be sharing the next block in that quilt tomorrow!

Happy quilting!

Best,
Wendi

Video – How to Cut Small Squares from Scraps

May 28, 2014

I think everyone has a favorite method for cutting small squares from scraps.

In this video I share the two methods (and tools) that I use – depending on the size and shape of the scraps I’m cutting.

Of course, you can use these methods for any size squares. Right now I’m working on the Controlled Chaos quilt and that uses 2 inch squares, so that’s what I showed. 🙂

Here’s the video.

Coming next week. . . a video showing how I chain piece these squares together. It’s fast!

You can see all the Controlled Chaos posts here.

Happy quilting!

Best,
Wendi

Controlled Chaos Block #3 – a scrappy quilt-along

May 27, 2014

Here’s block #3 in the scrappy quilt-along.

I love it!

This time I went for a classic checkerboard in pretty blues and greens.

My inspiration?

A block sent in by a reader!

Ann shared her first block and wrote. . .

Blue and green stripes – not as noticeably ‘stripy’ as I had hoped for – will try for greater contrast in next block.

Here’s Ann’s block.

I have to say right here that I love this block! So much that it inspired the color combo in my own block #3.

But I see what’s Ann’s talking about so I’m going to share a little color lesson here.

The Official Quilters Rule (which you may choose to ignore at any time) is to choose your lights and darks carefully.

Ann has her rows divided by color, but within each stripe there’s a full range from very light to medium dark.

Sometimes your eye wants to see contrast because of color, and sometimes it wants to see contrast because of shade.

The best example in this block is that stack of three very light colored blocks right in the middle of the bottom three rows. See how your eye wants to group them together as one tall rectangle? That’s because they’re very similar in shade, even if some are blue and one is green. And they’re surrounded by noticeably darker blocks of both colors. That breaks up the desired stripey effect by creating a competing shape that the eye likes more.

I happen to LOVE this dapply effect and I reproduced it in my own block. But if it’s not your cup of tea, here are a couple of things you can do to help bring up the contrast.

1. Be more mindful of your darks and lights. If it’s hard for you to “see” the effect you’re getting, try using your camera to help. Lay out the blocks you think you want to use, snap a photo, then convert the image to black and white.

Here’s Ann’s block converted.

Without the distraction of color you can more easily see that it’s a random assortment of light and dark.

Use this tool to help you really see which blocks are lightest and which are darkest. If Ann had used only her darkest blues and only her lightest greens, she would have gotten the more stripey effect she wanted.

You can get the same help by looking through a red lens – faster than taking photos and fiddling with filters. Quilt shops used to carry them, but I haven’t seen them in a long time. Get some red acetate from a florist and look through it to make a cheap and easy red lens for yourself.

2. Use the distraction of color to your advantage. If I’m pairing two colors in a block I almost always go for a warm color and a cool color. That helps your eye see contrast between the colors where there’s very little (or no) contrast in the shade. Take a look at my first block.

If you look at the grayscale version it’s very clear that this is a big wash of medium tones with almost no contrast except a handful of randomly-placed very dark squares. (A total failure according to Official Quilter Rules.)

But in color you can clearly see the stripes! Thank you warm and cool contrast! 🙂

The reason Ann’s block didn’t feel stripey enough to her was because it had a range of shades in both color stripes and blue and green are right next to each other on the color wheel.

Again – I love it! But now you have some tools to help you out if you feel like you’re not getting the contrast you want. Thanks, Ann, for letting me use your block as an example! And for inspiring my third block. 🙂

Ready to make your own Block #3?

What You’ll Need

52 two-inch squares in color A (shown in green)
48 two-inch squares in color B (shown in blue)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Arrange your squares according to the exploded view.

Sew sets of four blocks into squares. Then arrange those squares in rows.

Doing it this way will keep the edges of the color blocks perfectly straight, even if your seams and intersections aren’t perfect.

Sew the larger blocks together into rows.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the rows together to make the finished block.

Here’s what my quilt is looking like so far.

I love it! But I have to NOT use blue in the next block. 🙂 I didn’t realize until I had put them all together that every block has blue so far!

Block #4 coming next week! And take a look at this video showing how I cut my squares from scraps.

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

If you’re stitching along – please share photos of any finished blocks in the Shiny Happy People group! We’d all love to see what you’re making!

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Controlled Chaos: Scrappy Quilt-Along #2

May 21, 2014

I’m so glad that some of you will be joining me in this scrappy quilt-along!

Here’s block #2. This time I used orange and mostly turquoise-ish blues.

I really like how it turned out!

And here’s a quick mock-up of what it will look like if it ends up next to block #1 in the final quilt.

I like the way the horizontal blue stripes of the first block kind of feed into the blue border of the new block.

What You’ll Need

40 two-inch squares in color A (shown in blue)
60 two-inch squares in color B (shown in orange)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below and sew them together into rows.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the rows together to make the finished block.

Here’s the exploded view. . .

I’m really happy with the contrast in this one. 🙂

I’ve had a couple of questions about my process on this. . .

What’s the best way to cut squares from scraps?
Is there a tricky way to sew all the blocks together?
Is there a special way to make the seams line up just right?

I’m working on a short series of videos to answer these questions and hope to have the first one ready to post next week. Keep any questions coming and I’ll do my best to answer them as we go. 🙂

Block #3 coming next week! Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

If you’re stitching along – please post photos of any finished blocks. We love to see!

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Controlled Chaos Scrap Quilt Along #1

May 14, 2014

Raise your hand if you’d like to empty your scrap bins and make a pretty spectacular quilt along the way!

*hand raised and waving around madly*

I’m making a scrap quilt and I’d love for you to join me!

I had originally thought about just cutting all my tiniest scraps into two inch blocks and then sewing them together completely at random. That would be fun – in a way – but the call of pattern is too hard for me to resist.

Plus I know that that is one HUGE project and it will feel like a smaller project if I can have lots of “finished” bits along the way.

So then I decided to do a bunch of 10 x 10 square blocks, each one using only two colors.

I’m calling it Controlled Chaos. 🙂

This is going to be a regular series (that will help me actually finish it) with a goal of one block a week. We can make one block a week, right?

I’d love for any of you with overflowing scrap bins to join in!

Here’s Block #1. Simple. Classic. Stripes made out of itty bitty scrappy squares.

What you’ll need

50 two-inch squares of color A
50 two-inch squares of color B

Instructions

Use 1/4 inch seam allowance for all sewing.

Choose one color and sew 10 blocks together into a strip. Repeat until you have 5 strips of each color.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Sew the strips together, alternating colors.

Here’s the exploded view.

I think this block would have been more successful if I had tightened up the colors a bit more. I think the reds are good – they’re all red or very dark pink. But there’s a bit too much variety in the blues. I wish I had made them all dark blue or all light blue. It’s ok here because there is so much contrast between the red and the blue that it still clearly reads as stripes (and no way am I taking them apart) but it’s something I’ll keep in mind going forward.

Block #2 coming next week! Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Tips and Tricks for Working with Cuddle Fleece

April 21, 2014

I loooove using Cuddle Fleece for making softies!

I discovered it at Quilt Market last year and fell in love – and then couldn’t find it in any shops. It was even hard to find online! So I ordered a few bolts to carry in my shop and I’ve been using it for softies and quilt backs ever since.

Update – I’m not able to carry Cuddle Fleece in the shop anymore, but I found a good substitute! More details here.

It’s mostly very easy to work with – similar to polar fleece – but I do get some questions about it. Here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions. . .

It’s so shifty! How do you keep the layers from moving around?

The layers come in two times in the process – when you’re cutting and when you’re sewing. I prefer to cut mine one layer at a time instead of folding and cutting through two layers. That way I get the most accurate cut possible. Do be sure to flip the pattern pieces for the second cuts so you’re still getting one reversed!

When you’re sewing two layers together you have to deal with layers. There’s no way around it. That’s when I use Wonder Clips. You can use pins instead, but Wonder Clips handle the fat fabric really well and without distorting the layers at all. You can clip them really close together (every inch or so) and just sew slowly, unclipping each one as you get to it.

It’s so fat! Do I have to do anything special to sew through it?

Cuddle Fleece shares one of the same challenges as polar fleece.

It’s fat.

The thickness of the fabric can make the layers shift while you’re sewing – especially when you’re sewing through two layers plus the additional layers of an arm or leg in there. There’s a video showing how I deal with the fatness here. It’s specifically about polar fleece, but all those tips also apply to Cuddle Fleece.

Do I need a special needle?

I sew mine with a basic universal needle and have no problems. If you find your machine is skipping stitches I recommend switching to a stretch needle.

If you have a walking foot – use it!

If you don’t have a walking foot – pin like crazy.

Which is the right side of the fabric?

Cuddly Bailey Bear - fabric and pattern from Shiny Happy World

They’re both good – but they are different. You just have to choose what works best for you for a particular project. One side has a shorter, smoother pile. That’s the one I often choose as the “right” side. It’s what you see on the bunny up there.

The other side is a little shaggier looking. The pile is a bit longer, and a teeny bit more irregular. Use this as the right side when you want a rougher look.

You can also combine the two textures in one softie like I did with that green Bailey Bear. I used the shaggier side on his belly patch.

How do you mark on it?

Cuddle Fleece, like polar fleece, can also be difficult to mark on. With polar fleece the problem is that it’s basically made out of plastic, so markers tend to bead up on it, take a long time to dry, and smear easily when wet.

The problem with marking on Cuddle Fleece is that it has a bit of a nap to it.

Marking eyes is easy – I just punch holes in my pattern piece and then mark through the holes with a fabric marker.

Marking lines is a bit trickier. For them I turn to The Magical Embroidery Stuff (aka Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy).

Seriously – is there anything this stuff isn’t good for?

For the bunny you see at the top of the post I marked the eyes as mentioned above. I could have eyeballed the nose and mouth, but I wanted to make sure I got those whiskers balanced. That meant sticking to my pattern piece exactly as drawn. 🙂

I traced the entire face on a scrap of Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy and then stuck it down to the fabric, using those eye markings to guide my placement.

Yes – it sticks just fine to the Cuddle Fleece. It’s amazing stuff!

Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy is great for transferring a face to cuddle fleece.

I embroidered right through the stabilizer, then soaked it away in cold water and tossed it in the dryer for a quick dry and fluff.

Perfect! And since I used a fabric marker to mark those eyes, the dots are still there after rinsing The Magical Embroidery Stuff away.

The fluff! Is there any way to keep the fluff under control?

That’s the most common question people have. Cuddle Fleece is fluffy and soft – and when you cut it that fluffiness can go everywhere!

When I cut pieces to make a softie, I walk them straight to the dryer and toss them inside. I tumble it all with no heat for about 10 minutes. When I pull them out – all the fluff is gone. The edges won’t fray after cutting, so once you get that initial cutting fluff off, you can continue work on the rest of the project with no more shedding.

Awesome!

If you have any other questions about this lovely fabric, just let me know in the comments. I’ll either update this post or (if there are enough additional questions) I’ll do a follow-up post.

Here’s one of those follow-up posts. 🙂 A video answering lots of reader questions about using cuddle fleece for quilt backs. Watch it here.

Happy sewing!

Buzz – a Free Bird Applique Pattern

April 17, 2014

Here’s a free bird applique pattern for you to play with!

The Chirp Quilt pattern has thirteen different applique birds in it.

I usually do twelve, but this time I added one more because I wanted to balance out right, left and forward facing birds.

So I decided to make one of the blocks available as a free bird applique pattern – and I let you all choose which one would be free!

Thanks so much to everyone who voted!

The winner was Buzz, this cardinal-ish, blue jay-ish bird. 🙂

Here’s how to make him. (This video shows all the steps for working with fusible adhesive – if you’ve never done it before you’ll find it helpful.)

Step 1

Download the template pieces here.

Step 2

Trace or print the pattern onto the paper side of the fusible adhesive.

Free Buzz the Bird applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

I use this printable fusible adhesive so I just printed out the page. No tracing!

The image has already been reversed, so just trace or print. If you’re tracing, be sure to trace the eye too. You’ll need that there for Step 6.

Step 3

Rough cut around each shape.

Leave a little bit extra all the way around - a little extra extra (at least 1/4 inch) where there’s a dotted line - the base of the tail and the edge of the beak.

Step 4

Fuse each pattern piece to the wrong side of the fabric.

Step 5

Cut around each piece. Cut directly on the solid lines.

Leave a little seam allowance on the dotted lines - the base of the tail and the beak will tuck under the main body piece.

Step 6

Remember when I told you to make sure you traced the eye in Step 2? Now you’re going to use that. Hold the face up to a window so the light shines through it. You’ll be able to see the eye, and the adhesive will stabilize the fabric so you can trace on it without it crinkling up.

I traced just inside the eye.

This eye is pretty small. You can absolutely do it with applique, but if you prefer, you can use fabric paint or markers. This post has more info.

Step 7

If you’re doing Quilt As You Go (I did) then you can quilt your block before adding the applique. So easy!

Cut your background fabric and a piece of 100% cotton batting 11 inches square.

Layer the block with a piece of 100% cotton batting. Quilt any pattern you like!

Find all the Quilt As You Go tutorials here.

If you’ll do the quilting later, simply skip this step.

Step 8

Peel off the paper backing and arrange the pieces on a background block. Tuck the tail and beak behind the body.

Remember - all the dotted lines indicate where pieces tuck behind other pieces.

Fuse the pieces in place.

Step 9

Stitch around all the pieces.

I just did simple straight line stitching in black thread. I love the cartoony effect. This video has some tips for outlining those tight curves.

Done!

One bird applique pattern – complete!

If you’re making a one-block project, go ahead and finish it up.

If you’re making a bunch of Buzz blocks to join into a quilt - have fun!

What can you do with just one block pattern? Tons of things! Check out this page I’ve been slowly building – 100 Things to Do with an Applique Pattern. 🙂

Have fun! And share a photo of what you make! You can share it in the Shiny Happy People group or tag it with #shinyhappyworld on Instagram.

If you like this free pattern, sign up for the Shiny Happy News! Subscribers get a weekly newsletter full of sewing tips and tricks, free patterns, special discounts, and other things to make you smile. 🙂

Happy sewing!

Choosing Fabrics for the Bird Quilt

April 10, 2014

Choosing fabric for a quilt is one of my very favorite parts. It’s so much fun to play with the colors – trying this and that until you get a combination that really sings.

But sometimes choosing colors can be hard – and a lot of people feel unsure about whether they’re doing it “right.” Every time I release a new quilt pattern I get a ton of emails asking me about the fabrics. . .

What did I use?
Is it still available?
Is it hard to find?
Can I send a list?

I’ve started including links to all the fabrics I used in each pattern, but I think it’s also useful for share why I chose the fabrics I did. So that’s what I’m doing here. 🙂

Background Fabrics

First – let’s talk about the background fabrics.

The illustration style of my quilts is all very similar. I like big cartoony shapes with smooth curves that are easy to applique and don’t have too many tiny bits.

But I don’t want all my quilts to look exactly the same – so I like to mix things up with the fabrics I choose. For the Safari Quilt and the Peekaboo Bear Quilt I used a mix of prints for the background, with solids for all the faces. For the dog quilt and the cat quilt I did just the opposite – solid backgrounds with prints for the faces.

For the bird quilt I decided to use prints everywhere – but I still wanted a clear distinction between the background and the birds. I wanted all these wild and crazy colored birds to look like they were sitting in an almost-real tree or hedge – just a smear of varied greens in the background.

When I’m going for a dappled smear of color I always choose batiks. Timeless Treasures has a great line of batiks with all kinds of beautiful patterns – but I stuck to the Tonga Java Blenders – those delicious smears of color without any clearly defined pattern.

I looked at all the greens. (They have a lot – did you know that the human eye can distinguish more shades of green than any other color? That’s part of the reason why green is such a hard color to match.) I decided to stick with earthy, natural greens – nothing too bright or with too much yellow. I ended up choosing six colors – mostly medium shades – but with a couple of darker and one lighter one thrown in. I wanted most of the blocks to kind of blur together, with sharper lines between some of them.

Update – I now sell a bundle of green batiks perfect for backgrounds. I keep it updated with a nice mix and specific colors come and go. You can get it here.

The Bird Fabrics

Here’s where you can really play around! Birds in nature come in so many different colors – it’s hard to do anything that looks really wrong. To keep things from getting too crazy, for most of the birds I chose various shades of just one or two colors. They’re mostly brights – but I threw in a few neutrals too, just to give your eyes a rest every once in a while. 🙂

I wanted the texture of the birds to really contrast with the background so I didn’t choose anything dapply or irregular. I went with tone-on-tone prints from a few different collections. . .

Sketch is a great collection of crosshatching. I think this is my favorite basics collection of them all – it has such a nice hand-drawn quality to it. Buzz here uses Sketch in purple for the body and tail.

Ziggy is the texture of Sketch – but with zigzags. Love! Floozy here uses Ziggy in aqua for her body.

Dream is a new collection with small-scale polkadots arrayed in gentle curves. I love that it has a little bit of direction to it, rather than a totally random polkadot. It’s subtle and terrific. Arizona here uses Dream in taupe for the body.

Rain is a really dense tiny raindrop print. It gives a slightly different effect depending on which way you turn the fabric and I like that a lot.

Dixie here uses Rain in yellow for the body, Sketch in daffodil for the tail, and Dream in lemon for the belly.

Most of these collections are out of print now, but I keep fat quarter bundles up to date as collections come and go. The Rainbow Brights collection is all brights, and the Warm Neutrals collection is all browns, creams, greys, rusts, and golds.

That mixing and matching between collections is one of the things I really enjoy about working with fabrics from one company. I live in a remote rural area, which means I choose a lot of my fabric online. It’s almost impossible to get an accurate color on a computer screen. You can easily get an idea – but an accurate enough picture to match colors is hard. That’s why I sell fabrics in bundles – so you know everything in the bundle will work together.

But What About the Back?

For the back I went in a whole different direction.

My daughter Jo is crazy about this Cuddle Fleece. At her request I used it for the back of the Cat Quilt.

She loved it – and asked for it again for the back of these birds. I think this is going to live on our couch where I’ll wrap up in it more than she will – but I love the Cuddle Fleece too – so I said yes. The olive green was a perfect match for all of those batiks on the front.

I didn’t want any kind of border or frame effect, so I bound the quilt in leftover strips of all the green batiks.

So that’s it! How I chose all the fabrics for my newest quilt. 🙂 You can get the Bird Quilt pattern here. You can get one of the bird applique patterns for free here.

You can read about how I chose the fabric for the Cat Quilt here.

Happy quilting!

Best,
Wendi

How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive – video

April 8, 2014

How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive - all the steps - video tutorial

I’ve been doing a lot more applique with fusible adhesive lately (now that I’ve discovered some products I really like) and I’ve been getting requests for some more tutorials for it.

Ask and you shall receive.

I’ve already got a basic applique with fusible adhesive video here, but it only shows fusing down one piece – not the multiple pieces and layers you often use for cute quilt blocks. Do watch it, though, if you want tips on outlining your applique pieces with zigzag or satin stitch.

I’ve got a non-video step-by-step tutorial here. That has all the steps I’m going to demo in this video – just not in video format. I’ve had some requests for a video, so here it is. . .

See how easy it is and why I’ve grown to love it so much?

In the video I said I’d share a photo of the finished block – nice and big so you can zoom in close. Here it is – just click on it if you want to see it even bigger.

Hazel - a block from the Chirp quilt pattern from Shiny Happy World

Find the Chirp bird quilt pattern here.

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.

How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive – a very basic intro
How Durable is Applique with Fusible Adhesive?
Fusible Applique the Easy Way – the way I currently work – use with any of my patterns that include SVG files
How to Use a Light Box to Layer Your Applique – perfect placement every time
How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive – photo tutorial – use with any of my patterns that do not include SVG files
How to Applique with Fusible Adhesive – video tutorial – use with any of my patterns that do not include SVG files

Here are links to special posts about eyes.

Here are links to some extra fun things you can do with your applique.

Other Applique Methods

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about outline stitching.

Happy quilting!

How to Turn Any Embroidery Pattern into an Applique Pattern

March 27, 2014

Want to learn the basics of hand embroidery with an easy online workshop – totally free?

Sign up for Embroidery 101 here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, the four most basic stitches, how to transfer your pattern and how to display your work.

If you already know the basics – sign up for Embroidery 201. It’s also free! You’ll learn how to stitch on specialty fabrics like felt and stretchy T-shirts. Plus you’ll learn lots and lots and LOTS more stitches – all my favorites!

I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately for specific applique patterns – owls, robots, horses, peace signs and more.

I add a lot of these ideas to The List – but for someone who’s looking to make an owl crib quilt for a baby due next month, The List isn’t going to cut it.

So today I’m going to show you how you can turn any embroidery pattern into an applique pattern.

I have TONS of embroidery patterns – and a lot of those have multiple images that you could use as quilt blocks to make a full quilt.

So let’s jump in!

The specific instructions here are all for applique with fusible adhesive – my new favorite method now that I’ve discovered this stuff. You could easily adapt the idea to work with needle-turn applique or freezer paper applique or whatever your favorite method is.

Step 1: Size and Print Your Image

I chose to applique one of the Rainbow Girls. The embroidery patterns are about three inches tall – so my first step was to make that a LOT bigger.

I’ve got a tutorial here showing how to resize any embroidery pattern.

Print your image out at exactly the size you want it to be. I enlarged my girl to be about ten inches tall.

I’m not going to use the big flowers – I’m just going to choose a pretty fabric that needs no fancification – but I’m not going to bother to erase them. I’ll just ignore them.

I did add a little line separating the legs from the feet. I want my applique girl to have striped tights and solid shoes, so those will be two separate pieces.

Step 2: Reverse, Explode and Trace

Next you need to get your image onto some fusible adhesive.

You’re going to trace the reverse of your image onto the paper side of your fusible adhesive, and you’re going to explode the pieces as you do it.

This is the part of the instructions most likely to make your head hurt – but it’s really not that hard. Just don’t think about it too much. 🙂

Tape your image face down in a window. The light will shine through so you’ll still be able to see the image clearly through the back of the paper – but now you’ll be tracing a mirror image. Easy!

Put your fusible adhesive up there so you’re tracing on the paper side. The adhesive side is usually kind of bumpy – it won’t be hard to tell the difference.

Now you’re going to trace an exploded view of your image. That sounds violent, but all it really means is that you’re going to trace each shape separately and leave a little space between them.

Click on the Step 2 image up there and you can see what I did. The dress is one shape. The face is one shape. The hair is one shape. Each pigtail is a separate shape.

This is also the stage where I start thinking about how I’m going to put it all together – what pieces will be tucked behind other pieces. I trace those tucked-behind edges with a dotted line: the top of the dress, the top of the head, and the tops and bottoms of the legs.

Step 3: Rough Cut the Adhesive

Now cut all those pieces out – but not right on your tracing lines!

This is a rough cut.

Cut a little bit outside all your lines.

You don’t have to be too fussy about it and it doesn’t have to be super even – just leave a little extra all the way around the edge.

Step 4: Fuse to the Fabric

Now comes the fun part.

Fuse all your pieces to your fabric.

Lay them paper side up (adhesive side down) on the back side of your fabric.

If your fabric has a print, make sure it’s running the way you want.

I made sure the stripes were running across the tights, and that I liked the way the birds were arranged on the dress.

Iron in place following the instructions on your fusible adhesive – every brand is different so you need to read the instructions.

Step 5: Cut Out the Pieces

Now is when you’re going to do your careful cutting.

Remember how you traced some edges of your pieces with a dotted line back in Step 2? That’s going to be useful now.

Cut each piece out right on your solid lines.

Leave a little extra overhang where you have dotted lines – that will give you a bit of fabric to tuck under the adjoining piece.

If you click on the Step 5 image you can see what I’m talking about. I left the dress piece flipped over so you can see the dotted line at the top. That bit of extra fabric extending past the dotted line will tuck behind the head.

One more thing to do on this step – trace any features that need embroidering. In this case that’s the eyes and mouth. I included them when I traced the head back in Step 2, so now all I need to do is put the face piece fabric side up in a window. With the light behind them, the eyes and mouth will show right through the fabric. Just trace them on the fabric with a fine marker. Make sure you do this before you peel off the paper backing in the next step!

Step 6: Arrange and Fuse

This is my favorite part – putting it all together!

Peel off the paper backs and arrange all the pieces on your background fabric.

(I went ahead and quilted my pink background block to some batting first – this might end up being a quilt block.)

Take the opportunity now – before it’s all stuck down – to play around with the arrangement of the pieces. Adjust the tilt of her head, the angles of her pigtails, etc. I decided to make one leg stick out a bit like she’s getting ready to dance. Have fun!

When you’re happy with how everything looks, carefully fuse it all into place with your iron. Again – read the instructions on your brand of fusible adhesive. And remember that the temperature and steam setting for the final fabric-to-fabric fuse are often different than for the initial paper-to-fabric fuse.

If you want to see all these steps in video form – watch this video showing how I use fusible adhesive for all my quilt blocks.

Step 7: Stitch the Edges

And now for the final step – stitch down all the edges. Some people like to use a heavy satin stitch. Some use a zigzag stitch. I like to use a simple straight stitch in black thread. It’s a cartoony outline effect that really suits the loose style of my designs.

I stitched over her eyes and mouth twice with the machine. I could have chosen a heavier thread instead – or done bit of hand embroidery – but I was already at the machine so I just did it there.

That’s it! Now go look at all your embroidery patterns with fresh eyes. 🙂

Happy sewing!

Best,
Wendi

It’s so shifty! How do you keep the layers from moving around?

It’s so fat! Do I have to do anything special to sew through it?

Do I need a special needle?

Which is the right side of the fabric?

How do you mark on it?

The fluff! Is there any way to keep the fluff under control?

Background Fabrics

The Bird Fabrics

But What About the Back?

Step 1: Size and Print Your Image

Step 2: Reverse, Explode and Trace

Step 3: Rough Cut the Adhesive

Step 4: Fuse to the Fabric

Step 5: Cut Out the Pieces

Step 6: Arrange and Fuse

Step 7: Stitch the Edges

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