Friday Finishes - Satin Stitched Edge Applique. . .

The satin stitching on my Winged Whimsies samples is complete.  The fabrics and colors came together well and the result is colorful and bright.

I'm not sure which panel is my favorite.  The butterfly,

or the ladybug,

or maybe the dragonfly.  I like how they each stand well on their own.  Each bug was stitched with a zigzag stitch set between 3.5 or 4.0 for width and 0.75 for length.  There are a few places where I used a 2.5 for smaller areas where the larger width would overtake the applique fabric.

I wanted to discuss a bit about my technique for making a satin stitched applique.  Each applique piece is backed with fusible interfacing.  Fusible interfacing is generally used in garment making.  The fusible interfacing is a stabilizer for the tight zigzag stitching to keep the pieces lying flat.  I also put a tear-away stabilizer on the backside of the applique panel to stabilize it as seen here.

I DO NOT use fusible web for this technique.  Notice when looking at the completed dragonfly how the lower stitched layers DO NOT show to the top.  Looking on the backside above, you can see the various stitching layers.  If I had used fusible web, each layer of stitching would, in fact, show through.

One additional note about the tear-away stabilizer.  I used Swedish tracing paper for this project.  When done, notice that I made sure to tear most of the paper away (I didn't worry about the tiny pieces).  If you block your projects as I do, either with steam or fully wetting, this tear-away can shrink and wrinkle your project.

Happy Friday,

Satin-Stitching Applique Edges Begins. . .

I began appliqueing the Winged Whimsies panels today.  For this technique of satin-stitching the edges, the stitching begins on the pieces that sit behind/under other pieces.  In this case, the leaves are stitched first.

Due to using a 28 wt. thread for stitching and various layers of fabric, I am using a 80/12 Microtex Sharp needle.  The majority of the stitching is done with a zigzag stitch set at a width of 4.5 and a length of 0.75.  

As the stitching gets closer to the leaf point, I reduce the width in increments from 4.5 to 3.0.  I have mentioned previously that I use the free-motion zigzag often as it's my favorite stitch to do.  I decided to use the traditional zigzag stitch with my feed dogs up for this project to maintain a consistent stitch.  The stitch is as I had expected although stitching is much slower than with a free-motion stitch.  I'll have to practice my free-motion zigzag a bit more to gain the stitch consistency I like for a project like this and yet be able to keep the speed. :)

Until next time,

Winged Whimsies - Another Applique Project Begun. . .

As long as I was in the mood to do an applique project, I decided to do another shop sample at the same time, Winged Whimsies, another of my patterns.  This also will be a kit.

Here is the dragonfly panel,

and here is the ladybug panel.  There is also a butterfly panel but I seem to have missed taking a photo of it.  I'm stitching tonight so will show some of the results tomorrow.

Until next time,

Water Whimsies Follow Along Continues. . .

I'm finally getting back to working on my Water Whimsies shop sample.  It feels good to work on an applique project.  I haven't taken the time to do one for some time.

Here is the frog panel,

and the fish panel,

and finally, the water bird panel.  I like where it's going.  It certainly is bright, and pink.  I've liked the border fabric for some time and am happy for the chance to use it here.

All of the panels are put together and ready to be appliqued.  Each of the applique pieces have fusible interfacing on the backside to stabilize them as I satin stitch the pieces in place.

On the backside of each panel, I have placed a tear-away stabilizer.  This will stabilize the background as well.  I like my work to stay flat, no matter how much I stitch.  Stitching will now add the detail and create texture.

Until next time,

Friday Finishes - Relaxed Finished Edges. . .

I have covered a few applique finished edges that I like to use here in the past.  All finished edge techniques have a very controlled way about them.  This quilt that I am going to teach caused me to look a little differently at these controlled finishes and try something new.

It all began with this Toni Whitney pattern "Backdoor Bear."  Toni developed this pattern for beginners to introduce them to fusible applique and machine quilting.  

Once appliqued, I selected the threads to use for stitching the raw edges which also quilts the piece at the same time.

Unlike my usual raw edge quilting of following the fabric shapes, Toni choose to stitch a more meandering style to cover the edges.  So I decided to do the same.  As I am going to teach this technique, I also tried free-motion quilting a little differently.  I put on my free-motion presser foot as usual, but didn't drop my feed dogs.  Instead, as I read in an article by Leah Day, I kept my feed dogs up and changed the straight stitch length to 0.  I wanted to see if this may be easier for new machine quilters to have control while stitching.

Here I have quilted all of the greenery in the meandering style.  It's easy and there are no such things as "mistakes."  It's all good :)

Although difficult so see, the bear and tree trunk are straight stitched.  I didn't, however, worry about following the line exactly.  In fact, I attempted to keep my lines from being too straight to keep with the relaxed look.  I did enjoy this enough to do it again and am sure it will be simple for a beginner to grasp.  The feed dogs up did allow for more control while stitching.  Definitely worth a try.

Happy Friday,

Friday Finishes - Rooster Abstract Background Finished. . .

Well, I finally got back to my Rooster.  Here is the fabric palette for my abstract background, which is basically a slash and sew style.

I began by cutting two strips from my accent strip fabric.

With the center background fabric, I cut an asymmetrical six-sided shape.  Because there aren't exact measurements, I used my Rooster to determine the dimensions that were pleasing to me.

An accent strip was cut to fit one edge and sewn on.  Then repeated for the opposite edge.

 I cut an oversized triangle to sew to the accent strip on one side.

The triangle is trimmed to be squared with the center background edge.  The edge squared with is the right side of the quilt.

The other side is trimmed up to be even.

An accent strip is now sewn across both background segments.

Rather than cut a chunk of fabric, I simply matched the whole fabric piece to the accent strip and sewed it.

Once sewn, the new segment is squared.  Now I move to the other end to add segments from another fabric.

The accent strip is added and then the first segment.  Trimming occurs, another accent strip is added and then the final background segment. 

And here it is complete with the Rooster placed but not yet sewn.

This is the original traditional background I did with the Rooster also placed on it for review.  I'm happy with both backgrounds and now ready to sew them down.

Happy Friday,

Water Whimsies Pattern Follow Along. . .

Water Whimsies is a pattern that I had published in 2007 under a previous name of Karri K Designs.  I have developed a kit for it to be sold through my shop, Bigfork Quilts, Etc.  I thought I would go through the steps of making it as this is my favorite way of applique:  satin stitched finished edges.

Here is the water bird ready to be stitched.  Cute, isn't it?  I have a bit of work to do before I get to the point of stitching it to the background.  I will go through the supplies I prefer and the construction. 

Until next time,

Friday Finishes - Finishing the Edges on "Ladybug" Tablerunner. . .

"Ladybug" tablerunner is put together and ready to stitch the raw edges.  The pattern calls for buttonhole stitching the edges, but because I like the graphic look of the smooth edges, I am going to free-motion straight stitch the edges and quilt at the same time.

The outside borders are going to be added after the stitching is done.  This will allow the seam to also be a quilted line, keeping the quilting evenly distributed within the tablerunner.  I am not going to do any other quilting in the outside border.  Because the borders are going to be added after the quilting, the batting and backing are cut large enough to accommodate them. 

A busy floral fabric is chosen for the backing and a blendable cream thread for the bobbin.  This blends the stitching and any tension problems that may arise because of changing the top thread colors.

My preferred method of basting the quilt is spray baste.  I LOVE spray baste.  Spray baste keeps the quilt layers smooth and together.  The layers are laid out together before sprayed.

The batting and quilt top are pulled back to the halfway point and the back sprayed.

The batting is placed over the sprayed back and smoothed out.  The quilt top is left folded over at the halfway mark.  The batting is sprayed and the top laid over the batting and smoothed out.  The quilt is ready to be quilted.

Now it's time to get the sewing machine ready.  I drop my feed dogs, put on my free-motion foot, and place my slider on the sewing machine table.  The machine is now set up and ready to go, too.

For this quilt, quilting begins by stitching the red border in the ditch.  I pull up the bobbin thread prior to stitching and then begin.

I stitch all applique pieces that use the same color thread before changing to the next thread color.  This cuts down on time lost to thread changing.  Always try to stitch pushing the fabric away from you and the stitching behind the foot.  It is easier to have good stitching control in this manner.  Although it is easiest to stitch this way, it's not always possible to keep the quilt moving in this manner, especially when stitching circles/ovals.

Controlling the weight of the quilt keeps the stitching moving the smoothest.  Here I have folded the quilt in front of me to keep the weight off my lap and on the table.

Free-motion quilting the applique as I have done allows all stitching to be done within two hours, much faster than if I buttonhole stitched or quilted with a straight stitch with my feed dogs up.  If you are interested in quilting your own work, I urge you to get past any trepidation you may have in trying free-motion quilting and practice, practice, practice.  Remember, we all have to start at the beginning.  I had to practice, practice, practice to get to where my skill is today.

This is the backside of the tablerunner with quilting complete.  See how the stitching blends in with the busy fabric design?  Consider a busy fabric print for all of your quilt backings, especially if you are just beginning free-motion quilting.  It will hide many of what you will consider your imperfections.  If you want the quilt stitching design to show then I would use a solid or tone-on-tone fabric.

The outer borders and bindings will be added next time.


Happy Friday,