This past weekend, I presented two methods for preparing pieces for hand applique. First I tried a product from Alex Anderson, then I tried making the templates from layers of freezer paper.
Now let’s try template plastic.
The template plastic is heat resistant, and my first step is to trace the images onto the plastic, but turned them over and numbered them on the backside…..
That means that as long as the numbers are facing me on the backside of the fabric, they should be going in the correct direction.
Let’s get them cut out……
It is important not to have any little divots in the plastic as the fabric will conform directly to those, but you can use an emery board to clean up the edges….
There was one reason that I was hesitant to use template plastic. I don’t like that it simply “sat” on the backside of the fabric and wouldn’t stay put. I got tired of it sliding around as I tried to turn under the edges.
But, what if I placed a tiny bit of glue on the back of that template, and then stuck it to my fabric….
The next step was to carefully clip up to the edge of the template, especially around the curves….
Now I was ready to turn the edges under. I used the “Magic Sizing” technique that I talked about in Sunday’s post. Here is a video of the process. I switched to my travel iron which made it much easier…..
I have to say that this petal looks almost perfect….
I did two more petals and then made some comparisons. The top row was using the fusible paper from Alex Anderson. The middle row was using freezer paper. And, the third row is this template plastic……
The jury is definitely in… I’m going to work with template plastic!!!
So I need to get busy!
Since the stems were basically just straight lines, I decided to go ahead and use the templates that I had cut from Alex Anderson’s paper…..
I was very careful to cut these out CLOSE to the template so that the seam allowance wasn’t too big. I used the Magic Sizing technique and the stems were soon ready to go…..
…..although there were a few burned fingers along the way.
So, now I need to finish prepping the pieces and get started sewing.
I am really looking forward to having this to work on at night…..it sure beats snoozing!!
One of my favorite things about quilting is to motivate others and help them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings and I would love to speak to your group.
You can find out more at this link…..