I need to know how to tackle (handle the excess background fabric) of an appliquéd ‘whole cloth’ piece — in other words, one design on a large (say 36 x 42) background. Do you start at the top, middle, random, where? How do you keep that background fabric stable? Do you appliqué the vines first?

Debbie, there’s a reason that appliqué projects are usually done in block format LOL! Working on blocks is more manageable than working on a big honking project, with all of that excess fabric to deal with.

If you do have an appliqué project that’s one design on a large background, never fear… it can be done! I’m thinking we’re talking about hand appliqué here, and your question ties in with the recent post Support for your appliqué. The information given there on support for the background fabric is totally relevant to tackling large appliqué projects.

What area to start in? It’s not like machine quilting, where the conventional wisdom is usually to start in the middle and work your way outwards. I use the back-basting method, which ensures that your motifs end up stitched exactly where you marked them, so no worries about migration of pieces. Using this method, I personally wouldn’t be worried about what section I started on, but knowing me, I would probably work all over as opposed to finishing one section and then moving on to the next.

As for what order to go in, it would be the same as any other appliqué pattern. Start with the motifs that are in the back, and work your way forward. Vines are often the first things to go down, because they are usually behind other elements. You’ll need to study your pattern to see if this is the case.

Another tip about handling appliqué projects: Hold the work from the bottom of the target area. Make sure your wrist is not twisted or bent. Fold or roll the project in your non-sewing hand until you can get a good over-and-under grip on the area that you’re working on.

If your project is large, there’s the true challenge. You might have quite a bit of fabric rolled up in your hand, and that’s why the block format is so popular! You’ll need to unroll, reposition, and reroll as you work.

Suzanne recently wrote and asked, “Please review for all of us how you mark the pattern on the back of the fabric w/o using templates. Very interesting approach that I must try.”

Suzanne, go the the back-basting link above and that’ll give you all the information .

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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I love this from Sharon Decker!

I spent years not doing the “A” word. Why, because I didn’t realize there was more than one method. Once I learned backbasting, I became a convert. I now tell people who are either afraid of applique or haven’t even tried it that they just need to find the method that works for them. “One size does not fit all.” I don’t think people really understand how many methods there are and they just need encouragement to find what works for them.

Right on sister! You’re preaching to the choir!

Most of the questions were about hand appliqué, in fact a whopping 76%!

The easiest way to start is with things I’ve already written about. (Reminder, there are a bunch of categories in the left-hand sidebar. Click on any one of them and it’ll bring up anything that’s been posted having to do with that topic.)

MaryB wrote:

“I would like to know more about back basting. Right now I use glue basting but some times it’s not always convenient to take glue with you.”

Back in August 2008 I posted a photo tutorial of back-basting. Instead of just linking to it, I thought I’d repeat it here, adding in a few new comments in blue to address some of the back-basting questions.

________________________________

Back-Basting Photo tutorial

How about a method of appliqué that gives super-accurate results, yet uses no glue, no starch, no freezer paper, no fusible web, no fusible interfacing, no vinyl or tracing paper. Just fabric, needle and thread, scissors, and a marking implement. Pretty cool, huh?

Clairellen wrote:

“I must be missing something, as I am hearing such wonderful things about back-basting applique, and how it converts you forever from previous methods, but when I tried it (twice so far), it seemed bulky and hard to handle. So a detailed photo-enhanced tutorial would be terrific.”

No glue, no starch, no freezer paper, no fusibles, no overlays, just fabric and thread… what could be less bulky? I hope the following visuals will help you refine your strategies. Give it another whirl!

I promised awhile ago that I would write more about the back-basting, aka no-template preparation for hand appliqué. It’s really quite ingenious and is now my favorite way to work by hand. As I was stitching a Heart in Hand block today I took some pictures along the way to show how it works.

Use a reversed pattern for this method. Start by marking the reversed pattern on the back of the background fabric. I use the blue water-erasable pen. You can also use a marking pencil.

Rough-cut a hunk of the appliqué fabric that’s bigger than what you’ll need. Lay it in place on the front.

Pin the fabrics together. On the back, baste the two fabrics together with a small running stitch, exactly on the drawn line. Use a thick or fuzzy thread for this and a big honking needle. I use a size 7 cotton darner.

Baste all the way around the shape. This is what it looks like on the front.

Now trim the fabric to the shape of the motif, leaving your preferred turn-under margin outside the basting.

Clip and remove a section of basting stitches. In this freed-up area, start turning and stitching. Keep clipping and removing the basting a few stitches ahead of your appliqué. The thick needle and heavy basting thread leave behind temporary perforations that help the fabric turn along the stitching line. I use a size 10 milliner needle and DMC 50-weight cotton machine embroidery thread for appliqué.

Kat wrote:

“Backbasting…I have heard such wonderful things about it but I find that when I clip the basting thread and it is suppose to turn under so beautifully, my holes just disappear and I am left trying to figure out where to turn under! It seems that I can’t get the fabric to behave…like a stubborn child. I don’t find my points nearly as neat as with other methods…. it would be easier to do back basting if I could see what I was doing!”

Kat, is it possible that you’re removing the basting too far ahead of where you’re stitching? Try taking out the least amount of basting possible each time. And, the more you practice, the more you know how much to turn under. You’ll develop an appliquér’s sense of it. Also, here’s a tip… I can’t remember where I saw this, but I did see someone suggest that you could run a chalk marker over the basting stitches before starting to sew. That way, when the basting stitches are removed, there’s a dotted line left on the turn line. Lastly, see the next point in the tutorial.

Continue all the way around. Don’t press the block yet.

Hmm, not bad. A benefit of this method is that you can flip the block over to see how you’re doing. The marking serves as a built-in stitching guide!

Repeat the same process for the heart.

Christy B. wrote:

“I would like to know more about back-basting curves. I love the method for vines and leaves, but have a lot of trouble getting smooth curves for rose petals, etc.”

Christy, back-basting is actually a preparation method. The ’smooth curves’ aspect comes along in the stitching part, which is just like traditional needle-turn. The culprit in chunky curves is the turning allowance and how it’s acting underneath the appliqué edge once it’s turned. First, make sure your turning allowance is not too wide. A quarter of an inch is actually too much. Trim to about 3/16″ of an inch, and distribute the bulk of the turning allowance smoothly underneath as you stitch. Make sure it’s not pleated up on itself under there.

Once the block is completed, remove the markings from the back. I dip a Q-tip in water and stroke it along the lines. Let the block air-dry and check to make sure none of the blue has reappeared. (If so, just wet it again.)

After all the marks are gone and the block has air-dried, give it a quick press. All done!

I have really come to love this method, since it gets me on the sofa stitching a lot quicker instead of fiddling around with freezer paper templates at the ironing board. I hope you enjoy it too. Like anything new, it takes practice, so give it a whirl and then another!

___________________________________________

FYI, back-basting is written up and illustrated in my books Teapots 2 to Appliqué, Easy Appliqué Blocks, and Inspired by Tradition, all available at Amazon and my website, By Kay Mackenzie.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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It’s been just over a year since I was given the green light from That Patchwork Place for this new book. I’ve blogged about the process a little bit from time to time. (If you look at the Categories in the left-hand sidebar you can click on ‘A story of another book’ to read those posts if you like.)

Inspired by Tradition: 50 Appliqué Blocks in 5 Sizes is presented in the same format as Easy Appliqué Blocks, my first book from TPP… 50 blocks shown in a thumbnail library so you can choose your block, and a CD that you stick into your computer, choose any one of 5 sizes, and print right at home! No figuring of percentages or folding, copying, and matching back up crooked sections! We even give reversed versions of each pattern, since you need that for some forms of appliqué.

The designs in this new book are all vintage and old-timey in look and feel, hence the name Inspired by Tradition. The publishers did an amazing job on the pages within… graceful, colorful, and pretty, and so well suited for showing off these blocks with traditional appeal. I couldn’t be happier with how it looks.

In addition to the blocks, there’s a Little Gallery of Ideas to get you thinking. We’ve included the dimensions of all the blocks, sashing, borders, etc. in case you’d like to make something similar. There are also extensive illustrated instructions for back-basting hand appliqué and raw-edge fusible machine appliqué, and a section of appliqué questions and answers compiled from what quilters talk about when they come into my booth at shows.

What I have right now is my advance copy. The book ships to quilt shops March 7. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon now, and at a great price too. And, if you go look at it on Amazon and click on ’see all product images,’ you can see all 50 of the blocks! That’s right, the publisher uploaded beautiful images of all 50 blocks, stitched by moi!

If you’d like to wait for a copy signed by me, I’ll have it on my website March 7 as well.

Thank you for taking a look at my new baby. I’m just a little bit excited.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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I always check the All About Appliqué Flickr Group to see what other appliqué fans are adding there. Last week I saw that some entries in a different language… I was intrigued! I used Google Translate and plugged in the url, guessing that it was Portuguese, and I was right! I was treated to some delightful entries from Divânia. One of them looked like back-basting.

Divânia’s Flickr entry, when translated, came out “Footsteps appliqué.” How delightful! I guess the basting stitches do look like footsteps. “Go slowly dropping the dots of the outline, while applying dots invisible to the application in its place,” the caption reads. Exactly!

Be sure to check in on the Flickr group yourself to see and translate all of Divânia’s lovely entries. While you’re there you’ll also see a couple of wonderful projects that another Brazilian appliqué enthusiast, Mariana, made using designs from my Easy Appliqué Blocks.

Três vivas para appliqué!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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Of course I wanted to do that! What a great name, and an admirable spirit! I’m not all that subversive actually, but I am totally armed with needles. I wrote a post about the three main sharp implements in my life, showing a few examples of what I’ve done with them.

Be sure to check out Subversive Stitchers, a blog about the abounding creativity of women who wield all sorts of needles.

Thank you, Dawn, one writer to another. What a treat for me.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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Wow, it must be October already. That’s when I thought the December issue was due out. My copy of the magazine hasn’t arrived yet and now I’m dying to see it!

This was the assignment that I wrote about back in May, when Gregory Case introduced me to editor Beth Hayes in the aisle during Spring Market. Beth is a wonderfully gracious and warm person and I was very lucky to meet her in this fashion.

They put a sneak peak of the project on the McCalls Quilting website. In the magazine, the project is accompanied by a photo tutorial on back-basting.

Has anybody else seen the article??

Lookin’ for the mail carrier,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

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I promised awhile ago that I would write more about the back-basting, aka no-template preparation for hand appliqué. It’s really quite ingenious and is now my favorite way to work by hand. As I was stitching a Heart in Hand block today I took some pictures along the way to show how it works.

Use a reversed pattern for this method. Start by marking the reversed pattern on the back of the background fabric. I use the blue water-erasable pen. You can also use a marking pencil.

Rough-cut a hunk of the appliqué fabric that’s bigger than what you’ll need. Lay it in place on the front.

Pin the fabrics together. On the back, baste the two fabrics together with a small running stitch, exactly on the drawn line. Use a thick or fuzzy thread for this and a big honking needle. I use a size 7 cotton darner.

Baste all the way around the shape. This is what it looks like on the front.

Now trim the fabric to the shape of the motif, leaving your preferred turn-under margin outside the basting.

Clip and remove a section of basting stitches. In this freed-up area, start turning and stitching. Keep clipping and removing the basting a few stitches ahead of your appliqué. The thick needle and heavy basting thread leave behind temporary perforations that help the fabric turn along the stitching line. I use a size 10 milliner needle and DMC 50-weight cotton machine embroidery thread for appliqué,

Continue all the way around. Don’t press the block yet.

Hmm, not bad. A benefit of this method is that you can flip the block over to see how you’re doing. The marking serves as a built-in stitching guide!

Repeat the same process for the heart.

Once the block is completed, remove the markings from the back. I dip a Q-tip in water and stroke it along the lines. Let the block air-dry and check to make sure none of the blue has reappeared. (If so, just wet it again.)

After all the marks are gone and the block has air-dried, give it a quick press. All done!

I have really come to love this method, since it gets me on the sofa stitching a lot quicker instead of fiddling around with freezer paper templates at the ironing board. I hope you enjoy it too. Like anything new, it takes practice, so give it a whirl and then another. If you’re stalling because you don’t have the right needle or the perfect thread, well then there’s a kit available over at Quilt Puppy that has pattern, instructions, fabrics, both needles, and both threads all in it, to give you a jump start on becoming introduced to the method.

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

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It’s an exciting time. After months and months of work designing the motifs, stitching them up, handing out the patterns to willing appliqué friends, waiting to see what they come up with, writing the text, creating the illustrations, laying out the pages, shepherding the projects through photography, and at last taking the finished file to the printers, then comes the nail-biting period waiting for “the call” that the books are finished and ready to be picked up. Once I finally have a book in my hands and it’s just what I wanted, that’s the happy dance time, as in now. Yay!

Teapots 2 has 16 new teapot designs for you to appliqué using your own favorite method. Since my last book came out, I learned the back-basting, aka no-template preparation method for hand appliqué and have become a big fan. This new book has step-by-step instructions for back-basting prep in case you’re a hand appliquér as well and would like to learn what that’s all about.

My first teapot book, Teapots to Appliqué, is now out of print. That’s a bittersweet thought. I sent off the very last copies the same week I got the new one. Couldn’t have timed it better if I’d planned it that way!

Teapots 2 is available on my website, Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs.

Until next time (happy dance, happy dance),
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

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Hand appliqué is not a fan of straight lines either. Gentle curves are the ticket, and nothing too perfect, like in nature. It’s when we appliqué houses, or baskets, or stems that are perfectly straight because we’ve simplified them or are interpreting them in a primitive or folk-art way, that we run into the straight line.

Straight lines are not so much an issue in machine appliqué (though you still have to mark them and cut them straight.) But in hand work, I actually find a straight line harder to get nice than a curve. Here are some strategies for dealing with stretches of the straightaway.

• The bias tape maker

Except, don’t use bias!

Cut straight strips instead of bias strips.
They wiggle less.

Below is an example from Baskets to Appliqué, where I used the tape maker and straight-cut strips with just a thin strip of fusible on the back. It looks intricate, but it was pretty easy-peasy to weave the strips, fuse them in place, then hand-stitch them down.

• Freezer paper on the back

The pot here, in this design from Growing Heart to Appliqué, is a good candidate.

Basting the margin over the template helps assure a crisp, identifiable sewing line and keeps things on the straight and narrow. For more information, see my previous photo tutorial about freezer paper on the back. Even if you’re using freezer paper on top or another method, you can mix a little of this in to deal with those pesky straight edges.

• Back-Basting

In the back-basting, aka no-template method, the pattern is drawn directly on the back of the background fabric. This means you have the sewing line marked and ever-present as a reference for your stitching. You can flip your work over to make sure you’re passing the sobriety test.

How’m I doing?

Pretty good so far.

I’ll write more about back-basting in the future.

How do you like to handle straight lines?

Until next time,
Kay

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