Appliqué Books
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Mar
3
Tile Quilt Revival
Filed Under Books, Fabrics, Fusible web, Hand appliqué, Machine appliqué, Needleturn, Prizes | 35 Comments
At the Road to California show in January, I had the excellent fortune to sit at the breakfast table with Carol Gilham Jones and Bobbi Finley. Several friends of mine were staying at the hotel, and they were also friends of Carol and Bobbi, so introductions were made–on a first-name basis–and Bobbi was flabbergasted when I asked her, “Are you Bobbi Finley??” That was a very familiar name to me after years of hanging around with active members of the American Quilt Study Group.
Carol and Bobbi had a special exhibit of their tile quilts in the show. Passing these at warp speed as I did the first time, these beautiful pieces have a stained-glass look, but lighter and airier. Bobbi says that a lot of people compare them to stained-glass quilts, but they’re not. Construction-wise, instead of “leading” applied over the raw edges of the shapes, these shapes are finished with turned edges, and the background is left exposed to create the spaces between shapes.
Tile Quilt Revival: Reinventing a Forgotten Form is Carol and Bobbi’s fascinating, educational, and inviting book that reintroduces this “unique and somewhat obscure” form of appliqué quilt.
Tile quilts are explained this way:
Traditional tile quilts… are constructed with small pieces of cotton fabric appliquéd in a random manner to a white background, leaving a narrow space between the pieces; this white space serves as the “grout” between the tiles or “mortar” between the pavers or stones.
The books starts out with a brief history of tile quilts, with great photos showing examples from the past. Then comes a section on how to make a tile quilt, reinterpreted for today. When I read the following, the heavens opened up and I heard the heavenly choir!
The tile quilt technique, with its large and simple shapes, creates an ideal showcase for bold, contemporary fabrics. Interesting, large-scale prints are will suited for the tile pieces. If you’ve ever found yourself admiring some of the daring prints now available but wondering how to use them, a tile quilt is an idea project for putting them to good use.
Hallelujah! I have a tub of fabrics in my stash labeled “Modern” that has been… well… sitting there.
Now my “daring” prints have a destiny!
The techniques used in the book are so simple they’re ingenious! No need to consider seam allowances, to reverse patterns, or to figure out where to place the pieces. Another really great thing about this book is that it has fantastic appliqué instructions… needle-turn by hand, turned-edge machine-appliqué and fusible machine appliqué too, all expertly explained and illustrated. If you’re reading this blog, you probably like appliqué already, but how about this section where the authors say:
Even if you don’t love to appliqué or don’t consider yourself to be skilled at it, chances are you will enjoy the tile quilt process because it is not exacting. The tile-and-grout form is quite forgiving, and the inevitable deviations from strict uniformity in the grout add to the visual interest and appeal of a piece.
How cool is that?? Get your A-word friends to take a look!
After the appliqué information, there are instructions for several projects with full-size pull-out patterns.
Then there’s a Gallery of Contemporary Tile Quilts. These are fun and inspiring to look at as you see what quilters of today are doing to reinvent the form.
C&T Publishing is graciously sponsoring a giveaway of a copy of Tile Quilt Revival! Leave a comment before 7:00 p.m. California time on Friday, March 5, to be in the drawing. U.S. and Canada only, unless you’d be willing to pay the shipping.
Those subscribed by email, click over the the blog itself and scroll to the bottom of the post to leave a comment.
I wanna start a tile quilt right now, but dang I have deadlines!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Feb
24
Pat Sloan offers new free BOM
Filed Under Blanket stitch, Designers, Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Patterns, Threads | 3 Comments
The ever-zany daily blogger Pat Sloan has started a new, free BOM. Check it out at Pat Sloan’s Corner. A very cute block and great closeup photography of her fusible appliqué and thread choice.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jan
3
Machine Appliqué for the Terrified Quilter
Filed Under Books, Designers, Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Prepared edge, Prizes, Raw edge, Reverse appliqué, Stained glass, Turned edge | 33 Comments
Happy New Year appliqué enthusiasts!
Hey is anybody going to Road to California later this month? I got a call just a couple weeks ago offering me a spot as a vendor and I said yippee! If you’re going to be at this fabulous quilt show and conference in Ontario, California, in two weeks’ time, please come by and say hello! I’ll be in 806.
Now on to our January giveaway, sponsored by Martingale & Company / That Patchwork Place. Sharon Pederson is a Canadian quilter whom I’ve met a couple times, most recently when she came to give a talk at my guild. If you ever get the chance, be sure to go to one of her lectures because it is a highly amusing experience. Sharon’s book Machine Appliqué for the Terrified Quilter is intended for quilters who (like Sharon in a former life) “refer to appliqué as the A word.”
Sharon says that her book is for those who are attracted to appliqué but feel that life is too short to do hand work. Learning that she could appliqué by machine was what it took to make her a total convert! I’ll throw in my 2¢ worth and add that even if you like hand work, it’s great to throw more techniques into your appliqué bag of tricks.
Lots of introductory information is given about fabrics, threads, needles, sewing machines, and stitches. Then Sharon takes you step-by-step through two methods: invisible machine appliqué, where the edges of the appliqué are turned and the stitches are unseen, and fusible appliqué, where the edges are raw and the stitches are visible. Reverse appliqué is also covered.
Sharon gives lessons on a variety of machine stitches, including the satin stitch, narrow zigzag, and decorative stitches, plus how to manipulate them in interesting ways. Great closeup photos accompany this information.
The projects in the book are mostly small and manageable, because after all, “you might be just a little bit terrified about the prospect of machine appliqué, so why further terrorize yourself by trying a queen-size project first?”
If you’re more of a visual learner, you might be interested in the DVD, a separate item. A sample lesson from it is available for viewing on the Martingale website.
Whether you’re terrified or not, this is one great resource for those interested in machine appliqué! Leave a comment by 7:00 p.m. California time on Wednesday, January 6, to enter the drawing for the book. U.S. and Canada only, unless you’d be willing to pay the shipping.
The winner gets my book Easy Appliqué Blocks too, with its companion CD that lets you print 50 designs in 5 sizes!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
11
Awesome Asian Teapots
Filed Under Books, Fabrics, Fusible web, Patterns, Raw edge, Show & Tell, Topstitch | 2 Comments
I came across this entry on longarm quilter Nancy Gambrel’s blog, where she shows off her customers’ quilts and the beautiful quilting she’s done on them.
Lo and behold, there’s an absolutely beautiful teapot quilt made by Pat Besenhofer, and I recognize it as being from my Teapots 2 to Appliqué.
What an internet find! Pat and Nancy both graciously agreed to let me use the photos and put up a Show & Tell of my own.
Asian Teapot quilt made by Pat Besenhofer, quilted by Nancy Gambrel.
Look at the elegant quilted frames surrounding each teapot, setting them off just so.
Pat writes,
This is so cool. My quilt is indeed based on your book Teapots to Applique 2. I would be thrilled to have my quilt shown on your website. And to think it isn’t even bound yet! I’m glad that Nancy and I spent so much time exchanging ideas about the quilting, I think the frame she did works beautifully with the teapots and the corner diamonds.
I’ve been a tea person all of my life, and I get so tired of patterns featuring coffee, espresso’s and latte’s, etc., so I snatched up this book (as well as the first one) when I saw it at the all-the-quilt-books-in-the-world vendor at the Rosemont, Illinois, Quilt Festival a a year or two ago.
This is the first quilt I’ve made with a definite location in mind; it’s going to go in my kitchen. I’ve been second-guessing myself on the pattern, wondering if I should have placed one or more teapots going the other way, or adding a teacup in one spot for a bit of whimsy. I’m happy that you like it as is.
Pat told me that the quilt was done with fusible raw-edge applique. In order to get the teapots facing the ‘correct’ way, she copied the positive images, then flipped the paper to create a reverse image to draw on the fusible web. Pat, that’s just the way I do it. Nancy stitched down the edges of the fusible applique with clear thread.
A beautiful job, both Pat and Nancy!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
2
I’m a Subversive Stitcher!
Filed Under Articles, Back-basting (no-template), Blanket stitch, Books, Fusible web, Hand appliqué, Improvisational appliqué, Machine appliqué, Needles, Patterns, Raw edge | 3 Comments
Writer Dawn Goldsmith invited me to do a guest post on her blog, Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles.
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
Jul
31
Spotlight on Laura Wasilowski
Filed Under Articles, Designers, Fusible web, Raw edge, Spotlights | 2 Comments
Art quilter Laura Wasilowski of Elgin, Illinois, is a founding member of the Chicago School of Fusing. In fact, she’s the Dean of Corrections.
Kay: To me, the CSOF is more about a state of mind that an ivy-covered institution. It’s standing up tall and saying, “I fuse and I’m proud.”
Laura: The mission of the Chicago School of Fusing is to encourage the technique of fusing to create art work. We know that it is the quickest way to get from that idea in your head to the implementation of that idea in fabric. Fusing gives you endless possibilities for making art.
Kay: Were you always a confirmed fuser?
Laura: No, I started out as a piecer as a teenager but as an adult I wanted to make pictorial art. Fusing allowed me to make those organic shapes so important in picture making.
Kay: The readers are going to want to know what’s your favorite kind of fusible web.
Laura: I use paper-backed Wonder Under #805 (regular weight). The release paper that comes with it is so important in creating fused art quilts. You can use the paper for collage building, pattern transfer, protecting the quilt top, and storing fused elements or large fused shapes. It always releases a fused fabric.
Kay: You prefer to use hand-dyed fabric, yes? You dye your own and also offer it in your Artfabrik store. Tell us why these types of fabrics are better for the fused quilts.
Laura: A hand-dyed or batik fabric works best for these raw-edged fused applique quilts. First, there is no finish on these fabrics so they will adhere better (but wash out the starch in a batik fabric). Most importantly, the color penetrates all the way through hand-dyed and batik fabrics so the edges of fabric elements show the color. A printed fabric will have a white background and you will see that white edge around each cut element.
Kay: You also offer beautiful hand-dyed thread. How can it be used?
Laura: I love hand embroidery with my hand-dyed threads. It adds that extra hit of color, texture, detail, or pattern to the surface that cannot be done with fabric. It draws the viewer closer and brings the quilt to life. These threads can be used for any of the needle arts — crochet, knitting, weaving, needle punch, needle point, couching, machine quilting, and bobbin work.
Kay: How do you finish the edges of the motifs in your quilts?
Laura: They are not finished. Steam-setting the glue keeps the fabric permanently adhered to the other fabrics and batting.
Kay: How do you quilt them?
Laura: I first stitch by hand through just the batting and top layer. Then I free-motion machine quilt through all the layers. My Janome 6500 is a work horse and does beautiful free-motion work.
Kay: You’ve authored two books and a DVD. Tell us a little bit about each one.
Laura: My first book, Fusing Fun: Fast Fearless Art Quilts, is a great book for new fusing enthusiasts who want to learn as much as they can about the fine art of fusing. There are six projects with variations, basic fusing terms and instruction, a section of binding and display, and a gallery of fused art work by other artists.
Fuse and Tell Journal Quilts shows readers how to translate their stories or ideas into fabric. From sketches, to photos, to design triggers, each of the six projects helps you make the quilt in the book and tells you how to make your art work using those techniques. The wrapped binding is introduced along with tips on bias fusing, working with cheesecloth, and improvisational design.
The DVD, Laura Wasilowski Teaches You to Create Fused Art Quilts, has a project from start to finish, a tour of my sewing and dye studios, and a gallery of quilts with commentary. And as the Dean of Corrections I go over the rules of fusing from the Chicago School of Fusing. I also sing the fight song sung by the Iron Maidens as they go into battle.
Kay: You’ve been on Simply Quilts and on The Quilt Show. Were those fun?
Laura: Yes, the hosts and crew made it really easy and inviting. As a ham, it was right up my alley! It was also an opportunity for me to hone my teaching skills and to be able to articulate what I do in a short amount of time.
Kay: I hear you’ve become a Serial Quilter. Tell us about this process.
Laura: I have a tendency to work in a series. I’ll take a theme and make quilt after quilt based upon that idea. For instance, in the blue chair series I have my blue chair reading a book, putting its feet up, down at the beach, and plugged in (the Blue Electric Chair). This way I only have to come up with one idea and can make many versions of it before moving on to the next idea.
Kay: You travel a lot for workshops and lectures. How do you enjoy this lifestyle?
Laura: I enjoy meeting new people and seeing new parts of the world. The airports I could live without, but it’s part of my job.
Kay: What are you working on now?
Laura: Hand-stitched small quilts (see Betty’s Bloomers #13, above), new patterns, dyeing fabric and thread, preparing for workshops and vending, and keeping my head above water until December when my teaching season ends and I collapse into a puddle of colorful water on the floor.
Kay: You’re a bit of a songbird. Would you care to leave us with the lyrics of one of your compositions?
Laura: Sure, here are the lyrics to one of my favorites:
*A Sewer from North Illinois*
(sung to Sweet Betsy from Pike)There once was a quilter from North Illinois,
She exercised often and ate lots of soy.
But a hot flash it killed her as she sewed her last seam,
They found her there clutching her sewing machine.
So take all her fabrics and pile them high,
Take all her quilt tops that reach to the sky,
Take all her needles and bright colored thread,
I hope that I get them,
Now that she’s dead.
Thank you, Laura, for that inspirational ditty, and for visiting All About Appliqué.
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Jul
13
Mistyfuse product demo
Filed Under Fusible web, Product demo | Leave a Comment
Sarah Vee ordered some Mistyfuse right about the time we were discussing fusible web without a paper backing. She has checked it out very thoroughly and put up a product review on her Sew Joy blog. Lots of practical tips and hints from her extensive testing! Thanks Sarah!! Great information.
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Jul
8
Hand vs. Machine Appliqué: A Timed Experiment
Filed Under Articles, Freezer paper on top, Fusible web, Hand appliqué, Machine appliqué, Needleturn, Patterns | 13 Comments
I wrote this article awhile ago. I couldn’t get a magazine interested in it, so
I publish it for you here, because I think it’s quite an interesting proposition. This was before I learned back-basting.
Hand vs. Machine Appliqué: A Timed Experiment
by Kay Mackenzie
For quite a long time I was a hand appliquér only. But when I started designing appliqué patterns for publication, I turned to machine appliqué as a speedier way of creating second and third examples of the designs. After all, machine appliqué is a lot faster, right?
Somewhere along the way I became curious about how much time I was actually saving. I decided to conduct a personal timed study to compare a hand method and a machine method. I used a block from A Spin in the Garden, a pattern I was designing.
The spinning vine block in the middle
is the one I used.
I’ll begin by briefly describing the two methods I compared:
| HAND Traditional needle-turn using bias tape maker, freezer-paper templates, and a tracing-paper placement overlay. |
MACHINE Raw edge, small machine blanket stitch using paper-backed fusible web and a tracing-paper placement overlay. |
I used the same block and the same fabrics for both methods. I did not time the initial steps that were common to both methods, including selecting fabrics, cutting background squares, finding my glasses, gathering all materials, supplies, and notions, numbering the shapes in placement sequence, and assigning the colors on the pattern.
After organizing my thoughts and the projects, I set to work, watching the clock and recording the time for each step. I did one method all the way through, then the other. Here are my results.
| HAND | Minutes | MACHINE | Minutes |
| Trace pattern quickly onto tracing paper to make placement overlay. | 2 | Trace pattern carefully onto tracing paper with a heavy marker to make placement overlay, also serves as reversed pattern. | 5 |
| Using front of pattern, trace a freezer-paper template for each shape except vine. Cut out templates precisely on drawn lines. | 8 | Using reversed pattern, trace a fusible-web template for each shape, including vine. Cut out templates roughly outside drawn lines. Cut away centers of flower and leaf templates. | 14 |
| Iron templates onto right side of assigned fabrics. | 4 | Iron templates onto wrong side of assigned fabrics. | 7 |
| Cut out shapes, leaving a turn-under margin outside template. Clip notches. | 6 | Cut out shapes on drawn line. | 8 |
| Make vine using bias tape maker. Apply thin strip of fusible to back of vine. Trace vine placement onto background fabric. | 6 | ||
| Clean and oil sewing machine, change presser foot, insert new needle. Wind bobbin for each thread color. Adjust blanket-stitch setting, test stitching. | 8 | ||
| PREPARATION SUBTOTAL | 26 | 42 | |
| Fuse vine in place. Stitch vine. Then, one shape at a time, using placement overlay, remove templates and place, baste, stitch using thread to match each shape. | 160 | All at once, using placement overlay, remove paper backing and place, fuse, stitch using thread to match each shape (all of one color is stitched before changing thread). Pull thread tails to the back, knot, and bury. | 91 |
| TOTAL | 3 hours 6 min | 2 hours 13 min | |
Hand
Machine
Click either block for a close-up.
It was interesting to note that the pre-stitching phase took longer for machine appliqué than for hand appliqué. Cutting out the centers of the fusible web templates is not applicable for freezer-paper templates, and ironing time for fusible web templates is longer than for freezer-paper templates. For hand appliqué, I didn’t need to set up my machine, and I could trace the overlay quickly and with less care, since it was for placement purposes only.
The time savings for machine appliqué showed up in the last stage, where the shapes were placed, secured, and stitched. The grand total difference in time represented about a 30% overall time savings for machine appliqué.
There’s a lot to think about when looking at these time results. You may be faster or slower at any of these steps than I am. There are many ways to appliqué, and you may use differing techniques that are slower or faster within either hand or machine methods.
Also worth noting is that when I first took up machine appliqué, I don’t think I saved any time at all, because I made a lot of mistakes. Forgetting to reverse the pattern, neglecting to remove the centers of the templates, having the fusible come apart from the paper backing before I had a chance to use it, fusing to the right side of the fabric (force of habit from hand appliqué), and probably a few other embarrassing ways to get things wrong — mistakes in machine appliqué are not a time saver! Now I am comfortable and practiced at both methods, and the times noted in this experiment refer to a “clean run.”
Time, of course, is not the only factor for choosing one method over another. Personal enjoyment, skill level, preference for appearance, portability, appropriateness for the chosen project, type of sewing machine, these things and more can come into play when choosing an appliqué method.
I’m so glad I decided to conduct this personal timed study. Now I have learned that when either method is equally appropriate for my project, and time is the deciding factor, I’ll be saving almost a third by using machine appliqué.
I’d love to hear what you think about this! Did I save as much time as you thought I would?
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Jun
26
Ink Jet Printable Fusible Web
Filed Under Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Photo tutorial, Product demo | 6 Comments
More fusible web! I stopped by the June Tailor booth at Spring Market and noticed one of their new products… Ink Jet Printable Fusible Web. They gave me a package to try out.
The package says, “Use any pattern that you create, scan, or download onto your computer.” I would add a caveat… the pattern has to have templates that are separated from one another. The reason is that when you cut out the shapes, you need to leave a little bit of product outside the line, so that when you cut out the fused motif, you’re cutting fusible and fabric at the same time. That gives a clean edge.
Being a designer, I have tons of appliqué patterns on my computer, but I don’t normally design with all templates separate. To try out the printable fusible web, I took one of my simple patterns from Easy Appliqué Blocks, Moon and Stars, and moved the shapes apart. I also reversed them, which is what you need to do for fusible appliqué. (Didn’t need the centering lines just to print the templates, but I forgot to remove them.)
I took all the paper out of my printer tray and loaded one sheet of fusible web per the instructions. On my printer, the printable side is down so that’s how I loaded it, with paper side down. Then I sent the print job. Well, the sheet crept out of the printer slower than a snail’s pace. I couldn’t figure out why, so I checked my print settings… yep, it was set on Quick. Then I remembered that the package said to use a ‘plain paper’ setting. I rechecked my settings and changed the paper type from automatic to plain paper and tried it again. Voila! It printed on out like I thought it should. On automatic, my printer detected that this was some sort of weird stuff moving through its interior and did the best it could to interpret how to print on it. This was a case of RTFM. If you don’t know that term, it’s short for Read the Fabulous Manual. (Sort of.)
Here’s the printed sheet.
I cut the templates apart.
Then cut the centers away.
Fused to the backs of my appliqué fabrics. (Note: the package says to use no steam, and really, you’ll need to use a dry iron. In case you left any of the lines at all, let’s just say that steam and inkjet do not play nicely together.)
Here’s what the glue looks like after it’s been fused to the motif. Kinda shiny-like.
I positioned and fused the shapes to the background fabric. The instructions again say to use no steam. Normally I would use steam at this stage, because my understanding is that that’s what activates the glue. But I used a dry iron, and, after an initial press, “glided” it as the instructions said to do. Worked fine.
I stitched with my usual small machine blanket stitch and all went well. There was no gumming of the needle.
The product performed quite well for me, and acted just as it said it would. Something to think about is that if you mess up a template, it isn’t going to be all that easy to reprint just one template.
And, all this product was left over. That’s not going through my printer again. I guess I’ll save it and try using it in a future project the old-fashioned way, by tracing.
So, if you see June Tailor Ink Jet Printable Fusible Web and you also have appliqué templates in electronic form (original, scanned, or downloaded), pick up a package and try if for yourself! It costs more but you may enjoy the time saved and accuracy of not having to trace your templates.
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Jun
21
Help wanted ~ fusible web, no paper
Filed Under Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Raw edge | 6 Comments
Just got this comment from Joleen on my Fusible web management post. I’m bumping her question to this new post.
Hi Kay,
I LOVE your site!
I am new to sewing and living in a non English speaking country. I have, due to much hard work and determination, found some sort of fusible web at the local fabric market. I have it in two forms…a small tape ( like scotch tape) and by the meter sheet. However, I am REALLY confused by how to use it. There is NO backing paper…..I would be so grateful for any tips of hints you can give me on how to use this stuff….
Joleen, I think the strippy stuff is like a sewing notion called Stitch Witchery. A ‘tetch’ of this can be useful in appliqué situations where you need just a little strip to tack something down or to effect a repair of some ilk. I have some in my drawer of “things on a roll.”
In past appliqué explorations, I’ve tried using non-paper-backed fusible web, and I’ve always come back to the paper-backed kind. I actually can’t remember how to use the naked web. This is like Misty Fuse I’m thinking. Appliqué enthusiasts, please chime in! Joleen in another country needs your help!
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
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