Glue stick applique, the tutorial: PART ONE...

FINALLY...the promised tutorial about how I do my applique projects.  My quilting friend MaryLiz (no blog) turned me onto Elmer's glue sticks for applique and now I am quite addicted!  I take it a little further by using a glue baste to secure things as I stitch (instead of pins), but I will talk about that in my next post.  This one is long enough already.

I am no expert at this, and I feel like I am still learning every time I do any quilty technique.  I have had much joy and success with this method and I hope you find it helpful.

I chose a block from one of Lori Smith's wonderful patterns, "Anna's Garden."  This block will 7 inches square when finished.  I chose a small, but rather simple block pattern to show how well this method works with little pieces.

Here are some of my favorite tools.  Freezer paper, pencil and paper scissors are used to trace and cut out the pattern.  Elmer's 'disappearing purple' school glue sticks, a stiletto, fabric scissors, re-purposed acrylic rulers, and tweezers are used to prep pieces. 

Freezer paper, for those not familiar with it's non-butcher purpose, is great for patterns.  You can write on the dull side and the shiny side will stick to fabric when applied with a hot iron.

I use the acrylic rulers and odd acrylic pieces to work on because they are washable. (And now some of those obscure rulers that seemed like a good idea at the time are finally being useful!)  It doesn't hurt the rulers and they wash up very easily in warm water.

I like to use tweezers to pick little things up...my fingernails are short (for piano) and I have difficulty picking up tiny little pieces of paper or fabric. The tweezers are a God send!

Some people like to use toothpicks or bamboo skewers instead of a stiletto.  I like the weight of the stiletto and it washes easily to remove glue build-up at the tip.

First, using a pencil, I number every piece of the pattern I am tracing FROM.  I pay close attention to which pieces are layered so I can label the portions of the patterns that will go under something else.  This is very important.  I put little cross-hatch marks on the edges that will tuck under something else.  If I don't label my pattern to remind me, when cutting out pieces I'll cut the allowance too narrow.  (I think if you click on the picture below you can see some of these marks.  They will certainly be pictured more prominently in later pictures.)

Next, I carefully cut out my traced and numbered pattern pieces right on the traced line, not adding any turn under allowance to the paper pattern.

Next, I iron my pattern pieces to the RIGHT SIDE of the fabric, leaving at least a quarter inch space between pieces or at edge.  I press well because I want the paper to stay on until I am through with it!  (It can be re-ironed on, but that is a pain!) 

I am using some small repro scraps for this project...I don't throw much away!

Next, I cut out my pieces, allowing a "generous 1/8 inch" on regular edges and a "scant 1/4 inch" on the cross-hatched edges that are tucked under something else.  When in doubt, it is better to be generous on these turn under allowances...you can always trim them smaller when you start gluing, if you need to.

I'm using a plain piece of acrylic for these pictures because I thought the writing on my old rulers might be distracting to the tutorial...excuse the glare when it creeps into a picture!  It is helpful to have the clear plastic surface on a dark color so you can see the white paper pattern later.

The dark fabric I used for this vase makes my next step hard to see in a picture, so I am showing you the back of the fabric.  On inside curves, I clip ALMOST to the paper pattern...stopping a couple of threads shy of the pattern (if this was a true corner, like the cleft in the top of a heart shape, I would clip right to the paper pattern).  For gradual curves, I don't make many clips, for "curvier" curves, I have to clip more.

I don't clip right to the paper pattern, because doing that makes it harder to get a smooth, unbroken curvy edge on the finished piece.

Now we are ready for glue!  I work right on the edge of the glue stick.

Glue LIGHTLY, right on the very edge of the WRONG side of the fabric.  The disappearing purple will show you where you have glued, but the tell tale purple doesn't hang out for long...it will fade.  At first, just glue an inch or so at a time.  As you build up speed, you can practically glue the whole piece, then work your magic!

I'm right handed, so I use the stiletto in my right hand, folding over the glued edge on itself, using the pattern edge FROM THE OTHER SIDE as my guide.  I fold that edge over until I...just...see...the white edge. 

I don't completely stick down the place I started folding over because I have to blend where I end WHEN I GET BACK AROUND to where I started.  The glue is fairly forgiving...it doesn't dry super quick, but sort of quick.  You can sort of pull up the glued edge where you started, once getting back around to it, but it is so much easier if you leave yourself a little wiggle room.

The inside curves are fairly easy, rounded corners are a little harder...you just have to make little tucks, little pleats.  I never clip outside corners.  I poke things with my stiletto in my right hand, then push down and guide with my index finger/fingernail on my left hand.  Here I'm trying to do it with one hand and hold the camera with the other...

Now my husband has the camera...now you will truly see what a horrible photographer I really am by comparison...

Here I am (above) making clips in my curves.  Here you can see the inside edge of this flower, with the little cross-hatch marks that told me to trim a wider turn under allowance where the flower center will overlap. SPOILER ALERT:  That wider bit won't be turned under at all, but will support the piece that overlaps.

Now I apply the glue...since I am not gluing under the area where the next piece will overlap, that is an EXCELLENT place to start with the glue!

Then, I poke with the stiletto in one hand and mash to reinforce as I go with the index finger of the other hand.

As I go around the outside curve, I make little pleats to ease the fullness...big pleats would make the curve jerky and not completely rounded.  This is where the 1/8 inch turn under allowance is your friend!  Sometimes I trim even closer to keep things from getting too bulky on the back for the tighter curves.

Here I am demonstrating using the tweezers to pick things up and move them around.

Here I am clipping with my little scissors.

Applying glue...

This is a little more glue than I normally use...I wanted to make sure we got the picture before it disappeared!  The less glue you use, the easier the needle will stitch later.

Poke, press, poke, press...

Try a few pieces before tackling tiny circles.  They aren't hard, but shouldn't be your first choice with which to experiment.

You really can make a nice, flat circle this way.

Ta da!!!  Now all the pieces are glue stick prepped!  Tune in next time and we'll get everything glue basted and ready for hand stitching.

Now you can really see the "tuck under" allowances on the pattern edges that were cross-hatched.

Just a note about glue...Elmer's doesn't pay me to say that their glue is excellent...it just is.  I've tried other glue sticks - even ones made for quilters.  Some are more sticky, the skinny ones aren't sturdy, the "quilter's" glue sticks are expensive, and I love the fact that this disappearing purple thing allows me to be a little forgetful.  I can see it!

This is part one...part two will follow tomorrow. 

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

UFO Chocolate Bunnies...

Even though I still need to do the binding on "All Around the Town," I put the town in my rear view mirror for a while and looked ahead to the next UFO on my design wall.  These chocolate bunnies from Anne Sutton's pattern "Bunnies Prefer Chocolate" have been calling to me for a while. 

I started this project a few years ago, before I adopted my current favorite method of prepping hand applique.  I'm a little embarrassed to show you the close ups, but in full disclosure I'm going to show you why I put this project on the back burner.

No matter what kind of quilting we do, our skills and methods evolve over time.  There are no instant experts...in fact, I'm suspicious of anyone calling themselves an expert at any time.  There is always something else to learn, even if the lesson is just that we don't know it all.

I used to prep all my applique pieces by hand basting under the edges.  I started that so long ago that I don't know if I read it somewhere or if I just started doing it.  I know it sounds time consuming, but I got really fast at doing it.  I had all my little pieces in a baggie and took them out anywhere I had to sit and wait to prep with odd colored thread.  This made me fast and efficient.

It would yield a fairly satisfying result with gentle curves, but tight little curvy pieces always presented a challenge.

Since fabric frays (and some worse than others!), I would always cut a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Anything smaller was hard to baste and have it stay turned under.  This meant I had to baste all these tiny little pleats.  So if you look at little curved pieces like these rabbit ears, you see a slightly herky-jerky edge, not a smooth curve.

I look at these pointy little chick feet now and marvel that I got such points doing my old method!  I think by this time I had adopted a few needle turn tricks to do points...when I would baste, I would leave stuff that I would later cram under with my needle as I was stitching pieces down.

I never favored or tried to master the needle turn applique method because I like the idea of making applique in units that I could move around during the design process.  I didn't want to trace an applique shape on a background and have to strictly follow that pattern.  I like to change things and add or take away elements, as my mood and design changes.

I used to make all my vines by cutting 3/4 inch bias strips.  Then I would fold and press one third of the strip, then press the other 1/3 of the strip over that and baste.  It worked very well for me and gave me a lot of design freedom.  

But it also gave me a lot of bulky turn under allowances to deal with under my pieces and limited how small a piece I could applique.  Just look at the points on these bunny ears and eggs!  When those Perfect Circle templates came out, that helped considerably to make my round shapes actually round.

I used to not mind that herky-jerky imperfection and I just chalked it up to "folk art."  I just labeled myself a "folk art" hand applique person and let 'er rip!

Sometimes, I would try to round out the herky-jerkiness with my needle (a la needle turn) as I hand stitched my pieces to the backgrounds.

But then I saw my quilting friend MaryLiz (no blog) playing around with Elmer's glue sticks, and my basting days were over!!

Look at the curves with my new method of applique prep on these letters.  I never could have done this with basting, even though I did try.  I tried this method on my Civil War Bride and was very pleased with the results.

I just finished hand stitching all these words to make an outer border for this quilt.  This idea for a lettered phrase border breathed new life into this UFO and made me want to finish it, even though I wasn't happy with my pointy-eared little bunnies and eggs.  I had been playing around with Tonya's free-pieced letters and loved her idea of adding words, humor and personality to quilts (Lazy Gal Quilting).

I know I keep saying I will do a tutorial on this method, and I've started working on one (so you should see it soon!).  Until then, I'll show you how I wash out the glue after doing the hand applique, since that is where I am in this project.

I use two kinds of glue, Elmer's glue sticks to turn under the edges of my pieces and Roxanne's glue baste to hold my pieces in place while I stitch (instead of using pins).  Both of these glues are acid free, and there are those that choose not to wash them out.  I like to wash the glue out, still convincing myself that maybe some of my applique quilts will still be around in a 100 years and I am ultra paranoid about putting stuff on my cotton.

Here I have plunged my appliqued backgrounds in a tub of water to soak.  (I'm a fabric pre-washer due to sensitive skin, so I don't worry too much about colors running...you can snip a piece of a color catcher and throw it in the mix if you are worried...)  The glue stick comes out pretty quick.  Depending how long the Roxanne's has been there, it needs to soak a little to loosen.  It is also important to note here that a little Roxanne's goes a long way.  I try to do Ola's (no blog) "dot-dot-not-a-lot" method.

Even though I thought I used tiny drops of Roxanne's, here I see I could still be using LESS.  My tiny dots look a lot bigger now that they are revealed in their "smashed together" form.  Now you see them...

 ...now you, almost, don't (I see I need a little more soaking and gentle squeezing time...).

After I soaked and did a little gentle squeezing (and changed and re-filled the water a couple of times), I stretched out the pieces on a clean, old towel, rolled them up and did a little more gentle squeezing (not wringing!).  Now my pieces are laid out and ready to be pressed (not ironed!) with a hot, dry iron.

I put a dry towel on my pressing surface, put the right side of the applique down into the nap of the towel, gently stretch out the wrinkles, then press until "dry."

When I turn over my piece, it is mostly dry (it will air dry the rest of the way), and the applique is slightly raised because it was away from the iron's cruel pressing weight.  This also helps to avoid that "shiny, ironed" look raised work can sometimes get.

Here you can almost see how the letters look a little 3-D...I LOVE that look (Weasley is bored with the whole ridiculous process...). 

Now the pieces are ready to be trimmed and made into my border.  See ya later!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)