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Jan
8
Birthday quilt and Sis Boom Pow!
Filed Under Books, Patterns, Photo tutorial, Prepared edge, Starch | 4 Comments
Easy Appliqué Blocks sightings!
To make a bday quilt for her little niece, Sarah Vee used designs and blocks she discovered by reading a variety of quilting blogs. For the bright and polka-dotty flowers in the quilt, she printed out the Daisy, Sunflowers, Posy Bunch, and Tulip Trio designs from Easy Appliqué Blocks. Such a fun and cheerful quilt! Lucky little girl.
Mary on Lake Pulaski used the Vase design for a charity fundraising project called Sis Boom Pow. The fabrics she used, by Jennifer Paganelli, are fresh, fun, and modern. Check it out on the Sis Boom blog. In the comments on her post, Mary puts up the URL for a tutorial on the starch method for turned-edge appliqué on Snippets of a Quilter.
Thanks a million, Sarah and Mary, for hauling out Easy Appliqué Blocks! It worked for you just the way I envisioned, as a library of appliqué blocks right at your fingertips.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Dec
21
Sharp notches
Filed Under Hand appliqué, Holiday, Needleturn, Photo tutorial | 5 Comments
When I posted my illustrated guide to points back in September, I had some requests for the same type of thing for sharp notches. It’s been on my list and I’ve been checking it twice, so here you go. A very happy holiday to you in all the flavors!
Stitches are exaggerated for illustration purposes.
Clip almost to the turn line.
Sew to within 2 or 3 stitches of the notch. There will be very little turning allowance in this area. That’s okay. Use very small stitches and tuck under any loose threads.
Turn the project. Tuck under the first bit of turning allowance on the other side of the notch. In this illustration, some threads from the motif fabric are sticking up in the notch. The needle is not stitching; it is behind the motif, ready to sweep the misbehaving threads under.
Use the shaft of the needle to sweep across the notch, creating a tiny fold and encouraging any threads to go under. The needle is still not stitching, just sweeping.
Take the remaining stitches down to the notch. The last one, directly in the notch, should pick up 3 or 4 threads of the motif fabric.
Sweep again if needed. With the tip of the needle, dig under the motif fabric and insert the needle exactly where the current stitch came out. Swing the needle and come out going uphill for the next stitch. Snug the thread down well to create a sharp notch.
I hope that whatever Santa you celebrate brings you all good things
this year.
“A Happy Christmas to All” by Kay Mackenzie (detail), designs from
A Merry Little Christmas to Applique
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
26
The big things
Filed Under Hand appliqué, Holiday, Needleturn, Photo tutorial | 2 Comments
My husband of 20 years, Dana Mackenzie.
Our dog of 15 years, Bertram Wilberforce Woofster Mackenzie III, aka Willie.
The Last of the Mohicans, Pixel, 19 years old and sleeping snugly in the closet with my old Bernina.
Chutney and Maikai, our two kitty friends of 18 years, to whom we bid a furry farewell this year.
My hands. I was thinking about this after the quilt show in Sacramento last weekend. Sometimes ladies come into my booth, look around, and say, “I used to appliqué but my hands don’t work any more.” That’s a sadness to me. So I’m thankful that I have my hands. Not many people know this, but I’m what I call a ‘closet arthritic.’ Two major bouts earlier in my life stiffened my joints and crimped up my toes but, very thankfully, spared my hands. I can appliqué.
The above photo is a staging shot that I sent to Martingale for their reference in creating an illustration. Here’s the corresponding figure from Easy Appliqué Blocks, showing how I pinch the turning allowance under ahead of my stitching.
Those are the really big things. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Sep
25
Pointy points
Filed Under Hand appliqué, Needleturn, Photo tutorial | 8 Comments
Today I thought I’d post my illustrations showing how to hand-appliqué points. When I was learning to appliqué, this was one of the biggest mysteries to me, and when I finally “got it” my confidence took a big boost.
To begin with, you’ll want a turning allowance of no more than 3/16″. A quarter inch is just too much bulk to stuff under a point.
The stitches are exaggerated for illustration purposes.
Sew to within two or three stitches of the point.
Trim off the folded-under puppydog ear that is sticking out the other side of the point.
Fold the tip down square across.
Take the remaining stitches to the point, the last one coming right out of the tip.
Turn the project.
Starting at the point, tuck the turning allowance under. Don’t try to start further up and work down to the point. There will be no room at the point for the turning allowance if you try to do that. Work from the very point upwards.
When all is arranged satisfactorily, continue to stitch.
I hope this is helpful to you if you’ve found pointy points to be a mystery too.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
All graphics © Kay Mackenzie
Sep
23
Mini Mixed Bouquet!
Filed Under Articles, Back-basting (no-template), Patterns, Photo tutorial | 2 Comments
I just got a note from reader Robin that she was leafing through the latest issue of McCall’s Quilting, and found my quilt! On page 36 to be exact!
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
Aug
16
Invisible machine appliqué video
Filed Under Freezer paper on the back, Glue stick, Machine appliqué, Photo tutorial, Prepared edge, Product demo | 2 Comments
On The Quilt Show website, there’s a link for a series of Bernina Educational Videos that are free for the watching… you don’t have to be logged in.
I found this one on invisible machine appliqué that shows the freezer-paper-template-and-glue method for doing turned-edge appliqué with the blind-hem stitch. The link starts up the video right away.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
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
Apr
14
More great stuff at APQ site
Filed Under Articles, Patterns, Photo tutorial | Leave a Comment
I’ve written before about the American Patchwork & Quilting site, AllPeopleQuilt.com, being a good resource for appliqué info. I just surfed over there again and found a glorious wealth of appliqué information, from patterns to videos to tips and tricks, etc. Here’s the link to their appliqué section.
When I was on the homepage I clicked on one of their most popular searches, “Flower Appliqué Quilts” and it brought up 22 darling appliqué patterns with flowers in them. Some of these patterns are for purchase and download, but a lot of them are free!
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Mar
13
Hand embroidery tutorial at Bunny Tales
Filed Under Designers, Embellishment, Needles, Patterns, Photo tutorial, Product demo, Stems/vines, Threads | 1 Comment
Sometimes I do a little hand embroidery on my appliqué blocks when some really fine details are needed, like whiskers or tendrils. It’s not truly a part of my skill set, and I just kinda sorta go for it.
I was so grateful when Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill put up Embroidery 101 Part One and Part Two on her Bunny Tales blog. I had had a block stuck up on my wall for awhile, waiting for some embroidery that I was putting off. Anne’s post inspired me to get to work on it… my stem stitch is now so much improved!
Appliqué patterns can often be used as embroidery patterns as well, so go read Anne’s fantastic primer and then you’ll have a whole new use for them!
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Mar
4
Lizzie B’s Easy as Chocolate Pie appliqué
Filed Under Designers, Freezer paper on the back, Machine appliqué, Photo tutorial, Prepared edge, Turned edge | Leave a Comment
Liz Hawkins and Beth Hawkins, two couldn’t-be-nicer sisters-in-law who share a name and the company LizzieBCre8ive, have a great machine appliqué tutorial posted over on their website.
The method they detail uses spray sizing to turn the edges of the appliqué motifs before stitching. They say, “It’s easy as pie! Of course, we mean chocolate pie!” (I believe I’ve heard that chocolate plays an important part in their design process).
The tutorial begins just under the video tip they’ve posted about sewing the bottom of their Ooh La La Bag.
Thanks gals!
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications.com
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