The Tiny Applique Stitches

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Update from last post: I had another ultrasound last Friday and found some tissues remaining in my uterus. I was send to the Day Surgery, had a D&C and started another round of recovery. While resting at home, I resumed my sample blocks quilt and worked on a Baltimore album style applique block. This time, I tried prepared edge hand applique., using Appliquick fusible webs and glue to turn the edges before stitching the pieces to the background fabric. As I was working on the fell stitch, I wondered how close the stitches need to be. Then, I remembered the pictures taken at the Maryland Historical Society Museum last Christmas. Browsing through the pictures again, I must admit that my stitches are too sparse from a Baltimore lady's standard... (need improvement)

I felt guilty that I used mostly a cream color thread for applique and don't bother about the stitches being (hardly) visible. But that's how people had done in the past actually. I think they were proud of they tiny stitches and fine workmanship, and wouldn't mind the stitches being visible. 

Indeed, the stitches, even done in white thread, are invisible if you are more than 4 inches away. 

Fall 2016

It's been more than 3 months since my last update. There has been so much going on actually. In mid-August I found myself pregnant but was horrified with more than 2 weeks of spotting and light cramping. I pretty much stopped all sewing and quilting, and off from work for 2 weeks. The symptoms improved in September. I thought I would be fine. Unfortunately, when I had my first appointment with my OB on October 3, the ultrasound showed that I had already miscarried (no bleeding yet). The bleeding started in the afternoon, and became really heavy at night. This was my first pregnancy and my husband and I had no crew what to do, so we went to the emergency. Long story short: it's a terrible night. I spent the rest of the week resting at home and drank bowls and bowls of chicken rice wine soup to recover myself from the miscarriage. The bleeding lasted for two weeks, and I am finally recovered this week. It's been an emotionally and physically challenging period for me. I am glad that I am finally able to stepping out of the blue and resume normal life. More quilting and knitting will be coming up!

Look, I now have everything organized in the basement:

I can't wait to have more work done!

Bits and Pieces

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Remember the blocks I showed in March? I added a few more... My sampler quilt is one step closer to being completed!

These are the four blocks I added recently to the sampler family.

These are 8" blocks! Accuracy? Checked!

I push myself hard for accuracy, indeed. 

Yup I made another "Keep Calm and Sew On" panel. This time with retro fabrics. Also, the "cushion" is in invisible machine applique instead of raw-edged. The "needles" and "thread" were hand-embroidered. 

I used glue stick and cuticle pushy and nail cleaner sticks to prepare the applique pieces.

Oh yes. I will challenge myself with a floral border for my sample quilt. Stay tuned to see the finished quilt!

Keep Calm and Sew On - Machine Applique from Start to Finish

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Here is a lengthy post about how I did my mini quilt, Keep Calm and Sew On. 

Prepare a final quilt layout, and trace it to the background fabric. I typically draw the final layout on tracing paper or freezer paper, because for fusible applique, your need the mirror image to prepare the fusible pieces. The mirror image can be traced quickly over semi-transparent tracing paper or freezer paper by flipping the final quilt layout to the wrong side, and putting the fusible web on top of it. 

Mirror-imaged letters can be printed directly from Word.

Trace applique elements onto the paper side of fusible webs with a pencil.

For the letters, a quicker way is to print the letters, mirror imaged, directly from Microsoft Word. It has mirror image function under “Word Art” – Format Shape – Shape Options - 3-D Rotation. By simply rotating the x-axis by 180 degrees, you wold get the letter mirrored. Print the letters out, and trace them to the paper side of the fusible web with a pencil. 

Cut and iron fuse the fusible webs onto the wrong side of the applique fabrics. For applique pieces abutting each other, leave about 1/8” of overlapping allowance on one of the pieces, so there won’t be a gap between the pieces. 

Note the 1/8" overlapping allowance I put on the  pin cushion top and side-face fusible pieces. The cushion bottom piece does not require any overlapping allowance because in my plan it would be the last piece to be ironed onto the background fabric and nothing else would be put on top of it. 

Always cut with a pair of sharp scissors!

Trace the flower outline onto the cushion top piece, so the flower can be placed accurately.

For appliques involve more than one layers, don’t forget to trace the upper layer patterns onto the background layer. 

The background applique piece always gets fused first.

Embellish... I used a triple straight stitch for a more defined look. Note I place a piece of paper behind the background fabric to avoid puckering. 

Fuse the foreground pieces.

The finished look before machine applique. 

For machine applique, personally I like to use the blanket stitch and fine zig ziag/satin stitches. There is no set rules about setting of the stitches, just experiment and choose a setting that looks good. For this particular project, my blanket stitch is 1.5mm wide x 1.5mm long, and my zig zag stitch is 1.5mm wide x 0.3mm long. I always applique with Bernina Open Toe Foot #20.

The quilting part can be tricky. To make the applique pieces more prominent, I have to make the background as flat as possible. I also wanted to practice my machine quilting, so I opted for a densely quilted background, filling the negative space with circles, swirls and feathers. 

Tiny stitches...

Playful feathers...

Trim the raw edges for binding...

Done!

My magic weapon to stick the mini quilt onto the wall...

It's a perfect piece for my sewing room!

Keep Calm and Sew on

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It's so exciting that I finally have a quilting project done!

Believe or not! I haven’t done any free motion quilting for almost a year, and I was surprised by how well my quilting could still be, or even better… after such a long period without any practice! I had no trouble at all filling the void with pebbles, swirls, feathers and swirl-feathers! I love the subtle but definitely visible and rich background texture, and I love the applique! I think this is the best piece of free motion quilting I have done so far. It took me a few evenings to assemble the applique and an entire weekend to quilt.

Finished Size: 13.5" x 22.25"
Needle: Schmetz 75/11 quilting
Top Thread: WonderFil Invisafil for quilting (this thread works great with quilting with a 75 needle but breaks constantly when paired with a 70 microtex… my experience); WonderFil Konfetti 50/3 cotton for machine applique
Bobbin Thread: Aurifil 50/2 cotton
Background and backing fabric: White cotton sateen from Fabricland
Batting: 2 layers of 80/20 cotton-polyester blend - leftovers from other quilting projects
Applique technique: raw edge fusible machine applique in blanket stich and tiny zigzag
Fuse: SoftFusePremium Paperbacked Fusible We

Here is the more detailed post that shows how I made the quilt from start to finish. 

Apron

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This is my favorite way of apron construction, so far. 

With the strap passes through the facings, the apron can be used for people of different heights! This is so important for me, because Ben is about 10 inches higher (although this apron is not for him lol).