Satin Stitch — A Finish for Fusible Web Applique

I think I’m pretty much finished with my PowerPoint presentation for Thursday night.  I didn’t have any good visuals for doing a satin stitch finish on fusible web applique.  I really don’t use it much anymore except for when I’m machine embroidering applique.  However, I wanted to be able to explain it. 

So here is what I came up with:

For a satin stitch I prefer the stitch that looks like a lightening bolt rather than the standard zig zag.  Using test pieces deterine what length and width you prefer.  I always stitch cover stitches with the needle down function engaged.

The majority of the satin stitch should be on the applique fabric.  The outside swing of the needle should fall just off the applique fabric on the background.  The idea is to keep the stitches perpendicular to the edge of the applique.  Pivoting is a little different from the blanket stitch cover stitch.  These are the basics

For concave curves pivot while the needle is on the inside swing (on the applique fabric).  The tighter the curve the more frequently the piece will need to be pivoted.

For convex curves the pivot point will be on the outside swing (when the needle is on the background fabric).  Again the tighter the curve the more frequently the piece will need to be pivoted.

On inside corners the stitch until the satin stitch is the width of the stitch beyond the corner.  With the needle down on the inside swing, pivot the piece.

For outside corners stitch all the way to the corner and with the needle down on the outside swing at the corner pivot the piece.

As one approaches a sharp point or corner it may be helpful to narrow the stitch.  These are just the basics, but it is a start.

There She Was Just a Walkin’ Down the Street

singing

Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
Snappin’ her fingers and a shufflin her feet singin’
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

She looked good, She looked fine 

Oh, sorry — now will you have that song stuck in your head?  Quilt Diva is finished and she looks good, she looks fine — I quilted one of these for a customer and Guy told me I needed one.  I was collecting fabric for it in 2005, the first time I went on the Western Washington Shop Hop.  So 4 years later she seems to have aged appropriately and I can mark her off my UFO list.

Heart of Colorado Shop Hop

The most impressive shop hop I’ve ever participated in was the Western Washington Shop Hop.  My sister and Londa were doing that one again, but since I didn’t head for the west coast I did the Heart of Colorado Shop Hop this week-end during the same time frame.  It was much quicker and there was way less damage to my finances.

I started in Colorado Springs and my first stop on Friday was Ladybug Hill Quilts.  They moved to their current location in 2007.  This was the first time I made it into the “new” store.  It is a cute shop, but typically is more expensive than where I usually shop.

Next stop Ruth’s Stitchery.  If you have been reading my blog long, you probably have a fair idea this is my all time favorite shop.  It is a very large store, the prices are reasonable, and I know most of the staff (also several quilts I’ve quilted are on display there.)  This store was featured in the top ten quilt shop magazine a couple years ago.  Since summer vacation arrived I’ve  been in here at least twice each week, so didn’t need to spend a lot of time browsing.  Ruth’s has a large hand stitchery section, sewing machines, machine embroidery supplies plus loads of quilt fabric.

The last stop in Colorado Springs was High Country Quilts.  They are now the local Bernina dealer and this is where I taught for about a year after the dealership was sold to them.  They have expanded since I quit working there and the shop is really adorable!

I took a break after those three and came back home to work on more cleaning.  I’ve been on a cleaning binge since school got out.  Things just got minimal attention during the school year. 

Guy took off work a little early and the whole family went to the next shop.  Admittedly, the men waited in the car.  Stitcher’s Garden  is in Pueblo, and they get points for the neatest building.  They are in the historic section of down town.  It is a nice shop on the inside as well.  The men came along because we wanted to try a Mexican restraunt in Pueblo.

There was only one more shop to do and it was in the opposite direction.  I didn’t go on Saturday, because that was Sabbath.  This morning I took  Nolan and Jesse with me (Guy was out on patrol).  Since we were headed that far north we went on to the Lone Tree (just south of Denver) and went to Sweet Tomatoes, which is the boys’ favorite restaurant.  I was going to go to Great American Quilt Factory while I was in the Denver area, but I tried coming up with my own directions.  Jesse just wanted to go home (he is my home body) so after “touring” a little of the area south of Denver we headed for Castle Rock and the final quilt shop in the hop.  I had never been to Sew-Ciety and it was a nice little shop — a little cramped with hoppers there.  For the size of shop they have a fair amount of machine embroidery supplies.  Here I got to turn in  my completed passport ( now I can cross my fingers and wait for the prize drawing  — actually I’m not holding my breath).

After all that driving around this is all I ended up buying.

The yellow batik is for flowers on the border of my Prairie Flowers quilt.  I’d run out of what I had.   The blue and white fabric will be the backing on a project I recently came up with.  The rest was impulse buying.

So Sheila and Londa, how did you do?  I think they only ended up visiting 17 shops this year in 2-1/2 days.  I know they spent more money than I did.

Where There’s a Will…

This was today’s project.  The shelves need to be accessorized, but I broke a weld trying to level the bottom shelf.  So next week I’ll take it to a friend to get it spot welded.

I picked up the shelf from Hobby Lobby on Tuesday.  It was from the garden section and was marked down 66%.  The pictures are from last year’s calendar. 

I had been saving the calendar, because I just loved the pictures.  The problem — they were really too big for framing and hanging where I wanted them.  My solution scan the pictures and print them in a smaller size.  However, the calendar was even too big for my scan bed.  So I scanned each picture at 300 dpi in two parts.(Now I can get rid of the calendar)  There is a little program that came with one of my Canon cameras called PhotoStitch.  I found that it can be downloaded from here .  This program will merge pictures together.  It works beautifully for panorama landscape pictures or anything you can’t get in one shot or one scan.  Anyway, I merged the two parts together.  Then I opened the picture in Photoshop and cropped it to 5×7.  The original pictures weren’t the same ratio so I did loose part of the picture.  I put two pictures on a 8-1/2 x11 page and then printed at the best print quality on photo paper.   It worked perfectly.

 Frames were 50% off at Hobby Lobby this week so I went to get four frames.  Of course there were only three of the ones I liked.  I bought them anyway and since we have three Hobby Lobbys in town found the last frame at another location.

A Betty Boop salt and pepper shaker has made it on the shelf.  After I get it fixed, I’m going to have some fun putting other small items up there.

Enough Already

The boys have been out of school for five weeks, but I wouldn’t even know they were home most of the time.  They have been glued to the computer.  I’ve been talking to them about self regulating, but it didn’t seem to sink in.  Finally enough was enough.  Guy booted them off the computers this evening and they now have certain hours they cannot use any screens — computers, TV, ipod, DS etc. 

Jesse pulled out the dominos and I thought he was pretty creative when I saw this sitting on the table.

I guessed a piano, but was immediately corrected.  It is a keyboard.  The amount of his creativity came into serious question when he said he needed a blue shirt for the cat.  The question then was where had he seen this.  His response, “If I could use a computer, I could show you.”  Nice try kid.

It turns out there is a YouTube video that has been used frequently at the end of “fail” videos.  He modeled his little scene after that.  It is a real cat and keyboard in the video, so I still give him points for creativity.  Here’s the video.  I am amazed by what they find hilarious, but they are boys.

Half Way

I’ve finished the 6th A Tisket A Tasket block, which marks the half way point.

Mock Hand Applique

I wanted to do a tutorial on mock hand applique for my presentation next week. I woke up this morning with an idea.  So I ran with it, and created the following tutorial.  I’m going to insert a disclaimer here.  This would never be one of my top choices as a method for applique.  I know some people love it, but there are at least three reasons I’m not wild about it.  First, if I’m going to put this much prep work into something I’d rather do the stitching by hand.  Second, I’m just not that accurate with the stitching on this method — it could be my eyes.  Finally the backing has to be slit or cut away to remove the paper.  I typically avoid doing that so that my finished quilt top is more stable.  Having said all that, this is another method for applique so let’s take a look at the process.

1.  I created my own pattern in Photoshop.  There are  many fun ways to use the computer for applique.  It is so easy to do lettering.  I’m fairly certain I left this jpg at full size so you could click on the picture and then print it for a pattern if you want.  You certainly wouldn’t have to use this applique method!

2.  I was very lazy today and instead of tracing the pattern onto freezer paper, I cut the freezer paper to 8-1/2 x 11 and put it through my printer.  I did mirror image the design before printing it on the freezer paper.

3.  I cut out the patterns with a craft knife (aka Exacto knife).  Scissors would work, but for this project I ended up using both the pattern pieces and the cut away background.

4.  Next a pressed the freezer paper shapes to the wrong side of the applique fabric.

5.  I then cut out each applique piece leaving a scant 1/4″ seam allowance.  I did clip curves and inside corners as close as possible to the freezer paper.

6. I covered my work surface with scrap paper and used a washable glue stick and a skewer (or tooth pick) to glue the seam allowance to the freezer paper.

A short video might show it better.

7.  After all my applique pieces were prepared, I used the background from my pattern as a placement guide.  I used dots of washable school glue on the back of the pieces to glue baste.  I pressed with a hot iron to dry the glue quickly.

8.  The next step is to stitch the pieces down.  I used a blind hem stitch which I narrowed to about .7mm.   The narrower you can get it and catch the applique fabric the better.  I also shortened the stitch.  The straight stitches should be on the background fabric right next to the applique and the bite of the stitch that swings in should just catch a couple of threads and then swing back to the outside edge.  I think I may need the magnifier attachment for my machine, because this was not a fun process today.

9.  After all the pieces are stitched down, the freezer paper needs to be removed from the applique pieces.  Carefully make slits in the background fabric behind the applique.  The glue needs to be gotten wet to be able to remove the paper.  I just soaked the whole piece with water for a little bit and then removed the paper.  You could also try laying a damp towel on the piece for a bit to loosen the glue.

10.  Finally press the whole piece dry.  I did it from the back.  You will want to be careful  using a hot iron on the monofiliment thread, because it can melt.  Here is my final piece.  I’m not overjoyed with the quality, but at least it showed the process.

May Basket

I’m continuing work on the A Tisket A Tasket mystery block of the month. Once again I am slightly behind.  I just finished the May basket today.  I did modify it slightly.  The pattern only had two pieces for each flower — the flower and the center.  I made five complete petals on each flower.  I’m happier with the flower, not so sure about the butterfly.  He is growing on me, which is good since I’m not going to redo it!

May Basket

I took pictures of how to prepare nearly perfect circles for applique.  The first time I used this method was over 13 years ago.  I know that because I was piecing two of these Cars Cars Cars quilts from the book T.L.C Tender Loving Covers (bottom 5 rows are from the book, the cement truck and race car at the top were my own design to make the quilt longer..  I was pregnant with Jesse and Nolan was sitting on my lap while I was working on the quilt.  At that time I was cutting up cereal boxes to make my circle templates.

These quilts are wearing out which is to be expected after over nine years of continuous use.

Later I discovered Mylar — a heat resistant template material — and cut circles from that.  However, it can be difficult to cut a perfect circle.   These days I use pre-made mylar templates.

Precut Mylar circles

The first step is to cut a circle from the fabric roughly a scant half inch larger in diameter than the template.  It doesn’t need to be perfect.

Cut circles from fabric

Next baste around the outside edge of the circle.  Any old thread will work.  Then place the template in the center of the wrong side of the fabric and pull up the basting thread and knot it off. 

Basted circles

3 more things are needed to press the circles — a hot iron, a small paint brush and either Sizing or Starch.  I prefer Sizing because I don’t rush through my quilts or necessarily wash them when I am finished.  Starch can attract insects, Silverfish in particular.  They like to eat starch and will eat the fibers in the fabric at the same time.

Tools for pressing the circles

Spray some of the Sizing or Starch into the lid of the can.  You could use a different container, but why when the lid is so handy?

Sizing sprayed into the lid

Now use the paint brush to saturate the seam allowance of the circle piece.

Saturate Seam Allowance with Sizing

Press the circle with a hot iron until it is dry.  My iron was  on the cotton setting

Press

Carefully snip a stitch in the basting thread.

Snip

 Gently pull back the seam allowance enough to remove the circle template.  The seam allowance will go right back into place.

Circles after template is removed

The circles are now ready to be stitched onto the design.

Machine Blanket Stitch

We gave Nolan a Kodak Zi6 for graduation.  It is a very compact video camera.  I’ve been eying it and finally snagged it today to try to do a video showing how to machine blanket stitch raw edge applique.  It is a really cool little camera, but I’m struggling with getting the focus exactly right looking at the presser foot of a sewing machine.  I can zoom in regular mode and it isn’t perfectly focused and the micro focus wants to be closer than I can set the camera and still sew.  I need to play more, but for now here is a 5 minute video on stitching machine blanket stitch around applique pieces.

Northern Lights Table Runner (+tutorial)

This is the latest UFO to be completely finished!  I saw the pattern and a sample for this table runner in 2003 on my one and only (so far) trip to the Houston Quilt Festival.  The pattern was designed by Prairie’s Edge Patchworks.  I made the top early in 2004.  I know, because I managed to get the same fabric for the background as shown in the pattern.  It is perfect for the Northern Lights and I don’t think it can be found at this time.    The top went together in short order, but then it languished because I just didn’t get around to stitching around that raw edge applique.  It finally came to the top of the list because I wanted a finished sample of this type of applique for the presentation I’m doing at the beginning of next month.  With that in mind a short tutorial follows.  Please note the applique pieces are not the same as the ones in this table runner.  I started another project that had been waiting for years to show the process.  There will be some things that were not covered in my previous tutorial, but I also won’t go into some of the details I did in that post.

1.  Trace the applique pieces on to the paper side of your preferred fusible web.  (Be sure they are reversed from the end product.)  You might notice I’ve traced trees into the center of other applique pieces.  When a piece is large, I like to cut away the center of the fusible web  to reduce stiffness.  I’m cheap so I trace smaller pieces into the places I plan to cut away.

 

2.  Rough cut the pieces from the fusible web.  Notice the holes in the centers of the large pieces.

 

 

 

 

3.  Following the manufacturer’s directions on the fusible web, fuse the pieces to the back side of  the applique fabric.

 

 

 

4.  Cut out the applique pieces on the drawn line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  An applique Pressing Sheet can be one of your best friends for fusible applique.  I’ve had this sheet for around 14 years and am still using it.  If you don’t have one and work with fusible web, you NEED one!  It is placed over the pattern.

 

 

 

6.  The applique pieces are then fused to the sheet.  (This is for pieces that overlap.)  After fusing to the sheet, allow to cool.  Then peel the pieces off the sheet.

 

 

 

 

7.  Now all these little pieces are one big unit when they are placed on the background fabric.   Lay out your final placement and fuse in place to the background.

 

 

Unfortunately, at this point many of the people for whom I quilt quit.  However, the pieces should be stitched down — usually with monofilament thread.  I can almost guarantee when I get a McKenna Ryan quilt where the applique hasn’t been stitched down, the pieces are already starting to come off the background.  Which means I end up quilting them down.  I charge more than double my going rate when I have to do this.  It really isn’t that difficult to stitch the pieces down and with the help of my 13 year old camera man, I made a short video showing the process.