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April 26, 2013 By Mandy 2 Comments

Technique of the week 4/26/13–fast-piece applique

I have a commission for a queen-size raw-edge applique quilt featuring a tree of life.  It’s to be organic-feeling (you know, since it’s a tree), and I want it to have some texture to it as well.  I also have a big quilt planned with some very large gradual curves, and am looking at different ways to piece them, either as applique or inset.  I’m sure I will post on trial and error, later…

For this project, you will need: freezer paper, a pen, fabric.  My fabric is "high contrast" so you can see what's going on.

For this project, you will need: freezer paper, a pen, fabric. My fabric is “high contrast” so you can see what’s going on.  Ahem.

For the tree of life quilt, I am planning on applying most of the applique while it’s actually on my longarm, but there are some details I want to work in (shading on the tree trunk and whatnot) that would be easier if they were pre-pieced.  I posted video last week to Rose Hughes‘ fast-piece applique video and ordered her book to read it through.  I also contacted her and asked her if it would be OK if I talked about the process here, and that was fine by her (hi Rose!).  Without further ado, here is my quick attempt, using my hideous estate sale testing fabrics:

I drew a curve I would *not* want to piece.  I then drew a few registration lines so I would be able to line it up again accurately after I cut it apart one the curved line.

Simple, yet profound.  Right?

Simple, yet profound. Right?

After I cut the curve apart, I ironed it to my fabric pieces on the right side, and trimmed them to 1/2″.

rhcutcurveI peeled back one of the freezer paper edges about half-way, and then laid the other across the top.

You have to peel back enough so that the 1/2" of the fabric can be adequately sandwiched; the blue bamboo print will be held in place by the freezer paper that used to be fused to the orange.

You have to peel back enough so that the 1/2″ of the fabric can be adequately sandwiched; the blue bamboo print will be held in place by the freezer paper that used to be fused to the orange.

I lowered the freezer paper I had pulled back, and lined up the registration marks.  When I had them perfectly aligned, I carefully pulled them apart so I could sew a seam between them.

Exactly abutted.

Exactly abutted.

Then I ironed the freezer paper back down to firmly anchor the two pieces together.

Not so exactly abutted.  I now have a path for my needle to follow as I sew.

Not so exactly abutted. I now have a path for my needle to follow as I sew.

When you get to the end, you have a nice smooth seam and no waviness in your applique pieces.  It will look like this when you peel the freezer paper off:

With a nice seam allowance to make sure you catch everything together, too!

With a nice seam allowance to make sure you catch everything together, too!

Trim with your duckbilled scissors (or the blunt nose scissors you borrowed from your kid’s pencil box, in a pinch.  *cough*) along the seam, and finish off the edges how you wish to cover up the seam itself.

Completely trimmed.  Not the best job, but I had a limited nap window that day!

Completely trimmed but with enough to allow for some fraying after washing. Not the best job, but I had a limited nap window that day!

Since I am doing a raw-edge quilt, I don’t think this last step will be necessary for me because I plan to quilt over the top of my applique and outline it anyway.  You could always do a satin stitch or, as Rose does, couch some really interesting stuff over the top, like yarns and other fibers.  I am just getting into using Rose’s book Dream Landscapes: Artful Quilts with Fast-piece Applique and can tell there are going to be some really useful things as I work on my tree of life quilt.

I know I didn’t cover whole applique pieces of multiple parts, but that’s what Rose does on her video and in her book.   As I work on my Tree of Life quilt, I will show how I use this technique in my applique process.  Hope this inspires you to do some applique of your own!

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Applique, Construction, Technique of the Week, Tree of Life Quilt

Trackbacks

  1. Tree of Life–Work in Progress | mandalei says:
    August 27, 2013 at 12:51 pm

    […] while back, I had written about the quilt commission I had for a tree of life, where I planned to use Rose Hughes’s Fast Piece Applique technique.  In that time, though, […]

    Reply
  2. A collaboration with Rose Hughes - mandalei quilts & longarm services says:
    December 17, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    […] Technique of the week 4/26/13–fast-piece applique […]

    Reply

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