Preparing Appliqué

I have been having great fun creating a Mayan mask.  I really do enjoy machine appliqué and I have established my own technique by using bits and pieces from other peoples' methods.  I like my way because I can work from the right side...none of this mirror image nonsense.  I like it so well that I will share with you how I do it.

1.  Line Drawing. Find a design that you like and trace it.  Then secure it to a light table and cover it with freezer paper on which you trace a copy.  Next, create another freezer paper copy on which you will lay out the prepared fabric pieces.

TIP:  I enlarged a small picture, printed it on six pages and taped them together.  You can also take a picture to a printing company and they will enlarge and print it for you.

TIP:  Before tracing, iron your freezer paper flat.  Pull it up and iron it again.  Freezer paper shrinks!  Did you know that?  Not much, but enough.

Tracing paper in back.  Freezer paper in front.  Some pieces already cut away.
Best little clippers in the world.  Home Depot in the gardening dept.

2.  Setting up your surface.  On a light table secure one of the freezer paper patterns or the tracing paper design.  Cover it with a teflon pressing sheet.  I use office clips to fasten it all down, but painter's tape would work too.  With the light underneath you can see the pattern lines through the pressing sheet.

TIP:  I use a clear, plastic sewing machine extension table as my light box.  My Ott light flattens out and fits underneath.

3.  Cutting.  From the other freezer paper copy carefully cut out one piece along the lines without damaging any other parts of the design.

4.  Fabric.  Find a piece of fabric and iron the cut freezer paper to the fabric and cut loosely around it leaving about 1/4 inch seam allowance.

TIP:  If you have to set your piece of freezer paper down, be sure to secure it so it doesn't blow away. I end up with piles of fabric all around me so I stick a pin through the paper into my ironing surface while I fling fabric around finding just the right one.

5.  Glue.  This is a new wrinkle and I am pleased with it so far.  I hate the fraying edges that occur with machine appliqué on some fabrics.  This idea comes from Grace Errea.  She gives workshops, but doesn't share her method on the Internet.  I picked up snippets from here and there and I will share with you what I am doing.  I use Liquid Stitch (Liquid Thread probably works too, but I haven't tried it).  It is a permanent adhesive and will not wash out.  I dilute it with about 4-5 parts water to 1 part glue and put it into a little squirt bottle (not a spray bottle) and pour out small amounts at a time into a little plastic container.  I work on top of a teflon pressing sheet.  With a 1/4 inch sable brush I brush this liquid onto the seam allowance that I left around the paper pattern.  You can let it air dry or iron it dry, which is what I do.

Liquid Stitch diluted and ready to paint on fabric.

Freezer paper pattern on fabric ready to brush glue on edge.

TIP:  I keep a small container of water to set my brush in between uses.  I ruined one brush because I let the solution dry on it.  You don't need an expensive brush for this process.  I also have a small, flat, plastic container (maybe it was the end of a small mailing tube) for the glue solution so I can't knock it over.  It is really runny.  Dried glue peels off the plastic.

6.  Fusible.  I don't think Grace Errea uses fusible, but I do.  I like Soft Fuse.  It has paper on only one side and isn't heavy or stiff.  I lay the wrong side of my piece of prepared fabric down on the fusible side of the Soft Fuse. I then cut roughly around the fabric edge and press it paper side up on the pressing sheet.

Rough cutting Soft Fuse to adhere to the wrong side.

TIP:  Protect your iron with another piece of pressing sheet or an appropriate iron cover to avoid getting errant bits of fusible all over your ironing surface.  Fusible does not stick to a teflon pressing sheet, but it can make a real mess of your ironing board cover.

TIP:  You can use other fusibles.  If yours has paper on two sides, just pull the paper off of one side to expose the fusible material.  I can't use Steam-a-Seam II on my machine.  It gummed up my needles and left a crystalline residue in the bobbin case.  That meant a trip to the sewing machine hospital.

7.  Final cut.  Now that the glue is dry and fusible is fused, you carefully cut all layers around the freezer paper pattern, leaving about 1/16 inch of seam allowance.  This will lay over or under the pieces that surround it and is just enough to secure it.  You are also cutting where the glue was applied so you shouldn't have any fraying edges.

Cut seam allowance back to 1/16 inch.

8.  Placement.  Peel off the back paper of fusible and the freezer paper pattern.  Set the fully prepared piece on top of the light box pattern guide (one of the freezer paper drawings) overlapping other pieces with the tiny seam allowance and lightly touch with the tip of a hot iron to secure it slightly so it won't gallop away.  Sometimes I do a little trimming if necessary.

Partial assembly.  You can see the drawing through the pressing sheet.

TIP:  Keep an envelope or container handy to store the used freezer paper patterns.  You would be surprised at how many times I have had to retrieve one or more pieces for a do-over.

9.  Finish.  When the design is complete lift the pressing sheet with all the pieces and set it on your ironing surface.  Make sure all is in place.  Cover with another pressing sheet and press well.  Then you can lift the whole design in one piece.  The fusible is still there because it does not adhere to the teflon pressing sheet, and you can iron it onto a fabric background. Further secure with the stitching of your choice.  I will be using clear thread and a tiny zig zag for my mask.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you lots of sewing fun this week.