Appliqué for beginners

What appliqué is

In piecing, shapes are sewn edge to edge. In appliqué, a shape is sewn on top of a background: a heart, a leaf, a flower, a vine. Any curve, however tight, is possible, because nothing has to fit a neighbor. There are two main ways to do it, and they need different templates.

Fusible or turned edge

• Fusible (raw edge). The shape is ironed on with a fusible web and stitched around its raw edge. Quick, flat and good for small or fiddly shapes. The edge can fray a little with washing, which some quilters like.
• Turned edge. The shape’s edge is turned under, 3⁄16″ or ¼″, and sewn down invisibly, by hand (needle-turn) or by machine. Slower, softer, and the edge never frays.

The template is the shape’s finished line. A turned-edge piece is cut with its turn-under outside that line; a fusible piece is cut on it.

Fusible appliqué, step by step

1. Trace the shapes reversed onto the paper side of the fusible web. The web goes on the back of the fabric, so the shape has to be back to front: a bird that faces right is traced facing left.

2. Rough cut each traced shape about ⅛″ outside the line, and fuse it to the wrong side of its fabric, following the web’s heat and time.

3. Cut out on the line, peel off the paper, and lay the shapes on the background, the ones underneath first.

4. Fuse them down, then stitch around each edge: a small zigzag, a blanket stitch or a straight stitch just inside the edge.

Needle-turn appliqué, step by step

1. Trace the shape right way around on the front of the fabric with a fine marker that washes out. That line is the fold.

2. Cut 3⁄16″ outside the line. On an inward curve or a V, clip the allowance almost to the line so it can turn.

3. Pin or glue-baste the shape on the background, the pieces underneath first. An edge that tucks under another piece isn’t turned.

4. Turn and stitch. With the needle’s tip, sweep a little of the allowance under, to the line, and hold it with your thumb. Sew it down with small appliqué (blind) stitches: up through the fold, straight down into the background, a scant ⅛″ along.

5. At a point, sew right up to it, fold the tip under, then the next side, and take a stitch exactly at the point.

Stems and vines

Stems and vines curve, so cut them on the bias: strips at 45° to the selvage stretch around a curve and lie flat. For a turned edge, cut the strip twice as wide as the finished stem and fold it with a bias-tape maker of that width. For fusible, cut it the stem’s width. Cut each strip 1″ longer than the stem, to tuck under the flowers and leaves at its ends.

Placing the shapes

• Crease the background in half both ways and on the diagonals, and line the design up with the creases.
• Use a placement guide: the whole design drawn at full size. Lay a clear sheet traced from it over the background, and slide each shape under it into place.
• Work from the back to the front: stems first, then leaves, then the flowers that cover their ends.
• Cut the background a little bigger than it needs to be. Appliqué can draw it in; trim it to size when you’re done.

Common mistakes

• Fusible shapes back to front. Trace them reversed. A symmetrical heart doesn’t show it; a bird or a letter does.
• Points that won’t turn. Trim the allowance at the tip to a scant ⅛″ before you turn it.
• A puckered background. Stitches pulled too tight, or a background too thin. Ease off the thread, or back it with a light stabilizer.
• Dark showing through light. Line a light shape with a second layer of itself or with fusible interfacing.