Hand Applique: 318 Patchwork Patterns
Feb. 6, 2017: The blog has been very quiet because I took on an enormous responsibility at work starting May 2016 and continuing to the end of April 2017. Instead of my usual fare, I am crafting exams, study guides, homework assignments, etc. I did manage a bit of fun crafting in the summer but that time is sadly reduced during the school year. You can imagine how excited I am for the end of April and some down time.
For some reason, this never posted way back in the summer. So here is something I was up to this summer and that I look forward to resuming soon!
I have been in the mood for an applique project for some time now. I was especially motivated after reading some excellent tutorials on Teresa Rawson's blog, Fabric Therapy. I have tried needle turn applique and the starch + freezer paper method and I did not like either that much. Teresa's technique is fast and actually enjoyable! I think I like preparing the pieces and basting them to the block more than the stitching now. Teresa is a genius!
I was on the hunt for the applique perfect project. I wanted something sort of fun and small and a little bit Japanese. I settled eventually on the book 318 Patchwork Patterns by Kumiko Fujita. The blocks are so charming! Be warned, if you have never done applique, this is not a technique book. It is a book of reduced sized patterns which you will need to enlarge. And thanks to the brilliant VeryKerryBerry, I learned how to resize the images and print them from my computer. She is demonstrating the pieced blocks from the book but the technique is the same. I made my blocks larger than what the book recommends--just over 8 inches, which is what an 8.5 x 11 sheet would allow.
Then I went stash diving and found some fabrics in the palette I wanted with the style I was looking for: cute and sweet. I thought I could get away with using most of my stash for the background fabrics but most of my fabrics had a yellow tint to them which did not work with my palette. I filled in with some fabrics from my LQS.
Here are the first four blocks:
I am enjoying this so much that I may end up making SEVERAL more blocks. I have no idea how I will set them but I am not really concerned about that right now.
For some reason, this never posted way back in the summer. So here is something I was up to this summer and that I look forward to resuming soon!
I have been in the mood for an applique project for some time now. I was especially motivated after reading some excellent tutorials on Teresa Rawson's blog, Fabric Therapy. I have tried needle turn applique and the starch + freezer paper method and I did not like either that much. Teresa's technique is fast and actually enjoyable! I think I like preparing the pieces and basting them to the block more than the stitching now. Teresa is a genius!
I was on the hunt for the applique perfect project. I wanted something sort of fun and small and a little bit Japanese. I settled eventually on the book 318 Patchwork Patterns by Kumiko Fujita. The blocks are so charming! Be warned, if you have never done applique, this is not a technique book. It is a book of reduced sized patterns which you will need to enlarge. And thanks to the brilliant VeryKerryBerry, I learned how to resize the images and print them from my computer. She is demonstrating the pieced blocks from the book but the technique is the same. I made my blocks larger than what the book recommends--just over 8 inches, which is what an 8.5 x 11 sheet would allow.
Then I went stash diving and found some fabrics in the palette I wanted with the style I was looking for: cute and sweet. I thought I could get away with using most of my stash for the background fabrics but most of my fabrics had a yellow tint to them which did not work with my palette. I filled in with some fabrics from my LQS.
Here are the first four blocks:
I am enjoying this so much that I may end up making SEVERAL more blocks. I have no idea how I will set them but I am not really concerned about that right now.
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