Appliques
Our Appliques:We initially saw a feature on the show, "Simply Quilts" where they demonstrated doing appliques of various animals. We ordered some the patterns and made a lion and a tiger and they turned out very well. My husband who loves animals wanted some different animals and began to create some custom patterns. It wasn't long before he had quite a backlog of animals he wanted us to do. He became quite an expert at creating unique custom patterns and the eagle at the top of the page is one of his designs. In addition to the eagle, he has designed our dog "Brandy", "Macaw parrot", "Snow Leopard", "Great Panda" all of which we have done and are shown below. Our backlog for actually sewing the appliques is still quite large, but they are a joy to do. You can click on each picture to make it larger.
How to do it:The actual process is not difficult once you have a pattern and you are organized. It is actually very similar to putting together a puzzle, but knowing where the pieces go ahead of time. Initially we start with a complete pattern where every piece has been outlined. We like to use relatively the same colors in the applique as the original item, so we also have an actual photograph of the subject from which the pattern was drawn in order to compare colors. Of course if you want to make your subject wild looking or send a message like doing the eagle in red, white and blue, it is up to you. That is the great thing about sewing, as you are only limited by your imagination. The next thing you will want to do is get some freezer paper and a marking pen. You will then take the original pattern and using the paper and marking pen trace out and subsequently cut each freezer paper piece. It is very important to label the piece as it is in the pattern, as well as including the registration marks on the piece. The registration marks will aid you in knowing how the piece you are cutting relates to the pieces around it. You simply line up the registration marks when you begin to assemble the finished piece. Once you have all of the individual pieces cut, the fun begins. You get to start picking out fabrics for the various pieces, as well as the fabric you will want to use for the background material. Don't worry if you can't match the exact color or if your material as some pattern to it. If we wanted an actual picture, we would just frame the picture. The next step is cut the material using the freezer paper templates. We typically pin the freezer paper to the material so it doesn't move. It is important that the freezer paper stay with the piece throughout the remaining process, as again the identification is on the freezer paper as well as the registration marks. Once all the pieces are cut out, we like to lay them out on the background fabric to see how are color scheme actually looks and to see where on the background we should begin to sew the pieces. You will notice on most of the appliques we have done the entire animal is not present, and we use a fabric border to cleanly terminate the animal at that point. Therefore, it is import to determine your placement based on the size of the border that you are thinking of using to accomplish a good looking cut-off. You can now begin to sew the various pieces on the background maintaining the positions you had on your layout. Make sure that has you add additional pieces that you align the registration marks properly. What may appear initially as not being correct, in the final assembly will look as it should. One thing that it is important to remember is that you can utilize your sewing machine to create additional small details in the project by using various stitches. An example might be to use a satin stitch to create a detailed eye or small spots as would be found on a leopard. Experimenting is fun and many times the results are worth the effort. Once the final pieces have been sewn, you only need to attach any trim pieces that you have selected to finish off the animal and the design. The last step is to fit some batting and sew on a backing. We embroider our names and the date on the backing before sewing it all together. You now have a beautiful animal applique. If you are interested in obtaining one of the designs my husband has previously made or would like a custom pattern of your pet, child, or virtually anything let him know. The pricing is
reasonable and you will enjoy the finished product. Just
click here to go to pattern order page.
Last updated on ... December 25, 2005 |
