Geez.....what a shame she didn't include needle turned applique, by far the easiest and most portable of the ways to applique! why bother with all that basting, freezerpaper, etc....NOT necessary. All you need for needleturn is your background fabric, your applique piece and needle and thread. A glue stick is nice, to dab a bit on the MIDDLE of your applique piece, to keep it in place. I've tried the other ways and they're WAY too much trouble for me!

Sandra, we did learn needle turn applique (in method #2), without basting. How do you know where to turn under without paper?

Jenn, I like doing needleturn with your #3 method. I think the way Sandra does it is to trace your applique shape on the wrong side of the fabric, cut it out with a 1/8 seam allowance, then "eyeball" it when you do the needleturn. Some people trace the design on the right side then turn it under just inside the pencil mark. I like having the freezer paper piece stuck on top to use as a guide.

Donna

I like method three with needle turn. I do trace my image onto freezer paper, cut it on the lines drawn, press it to the right side of the fabric and then cut, freehand at about 3/8's of an inch out from the image. Then, I remove the freezer paper. I then place it on the background and baste it in place, then I needle turn. Sometimes I use the little sequin pins, but the thread does catch on the pins. A quick baste is my favorite. If you press the image again after cutting, with the paper still on top, you make an invisible crease in the fabric at the papers edge. Then, it's kind of like memory when you applique'. Goes under nicely. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.......LOL

Gee, I seem to be 'skipping lots of steps others take...I'm too lazy to do all that, and I don't think it's really necessary. I simply draw the shape I wish to applique onto the fabric I want it made from (generally on the back, with a pencil,but if on the front, then with a washable marker..... and then cut the piece out 1/8" bigger.....position it where I want it to end up (using a bit of a dab of glue stick to hold it in place), and just start tucking under and sewing around the piece. What could be easier and less involved...give it a try. After all, with applique, we are adding something TO another piece of fabric....it doesn't have to match up exactly to the drawn piece....if it's off a bit, what does it matter? It's not like piecing, where things MUST match up! (and, do try the glue stick....so much easier than basting!)

I like the #3 method the best so far. LOVE IT. What I do is put the pic on the front of the fabric and then use water soluable glue that will wash out on the back side around the edge and turn the edges under -- away from the pattern -- with my fingers.

Then pin or glue it in place and stitch it down -- by hand or machine.

I am going to try plain ole needle turn 'cause Sandra keeps saying it's so easy, but it doesn't SOUND easy -- keeping the fabric turned under in the right place. It SOUNDS faster to me to use glue to turn it all then sew it down. We shall see...

Okay, Sandra, I'll try the glue stick. I tried that fabric glue with the long pointy applicator once and got to close to the turn under lines and guess what---couldn't turn 'em. I'll be more careful. Also, that glue was terrible. And---what do you mean you draw on the fabric?? You mean freehand??? Like I said in another post----I need patterns.
Beebonnet

The ones I've done, I did cut the freezer paper and cut the fabric 1/8" around. Then I spray a little starch on it and iron it down around the freezer paper. Then I pull the freezer paper out. I pin it to keep it in place and stitch around it. Make sure to only use a LITTLE start or you can't even get the needle through it .....LOL. I guess I just admitted to making that mistake myself. Had to rinse them all out about 5 times just to get enough start out to applique it. Wow I can be stupid sometimes..LOL

Lynette

How about paper backed fusible web??? That's my favorite just trace your pattern on the paper side of the fusible web. Cut out design and iron on the background fabric. Then stitch to your fabric using a decorative stitch or blanket stitch. That's my favorite, no hand stitching!!!

Jen - I learned the #1 method many years ago, and I really did like it - made really sharp edges when you pulled the fabric under the edge of the freezer paper. However I don't do anything by hand anymore because of pain. So give it a try and see what fits you - no rules about right of wrong. And good luck and have fun!

I say try em all and do whatever is easiest for you.....I personally use the fusible web stuff,,,and I realize some"purists" pooh pooh that,,,but its my quilt,,I do it my way....Have fun!!!

I like the technique where some one else does it, and posts the pretty pictures for me to look at! LOL
Lisa

I must confess Lisa - that's my favorite applique technique too! Love the look, but I have no patience, LOL.

Mary

beebonnet....I mean that I have a template of the piece I wish to applique, and I draw around that template, on the fabric I wish to make the applique from....then, I cut the piece out around 1/8" bigger than the size I actually want the applique to be. Remember, the dab of glue stick isn't suppose to be i any way permanent...it's just to keep the piece in place without pins, which ALWAYS get in the way of my thread...so, just a swipe IN THE MIDDLE of the piece, no where near the edges.e All these freezer paper, basting, etc techniques are not needle turn, which is the act of using your needle to turn the edge under....not basting, not freezer paper, not NUTTIN.....just your needle turning the fabric under.
I think many people get hung up on doing the whole edge, rather than just tucking under no more fabric than will be held by 3 or 4 stitches....it's easy....really. If I had to do all that freezer paper, spray starching, basting before I could do applique, I wouldn't DO applique....I'm too lazy!

I am with you maggie sue............
Red

Wow, this has been interesting!

Sandra: She did teach us needle turn exactly as you described it, but also using freezer paper. I can understand that traditional needle under probably didn't use freezer paper and I too have a lot of appreciation for tradition.

However..... My thumb was much more swollen and stiff this morning, just from holding the applique in place last night while I stitched. I think the needle turn method will not be easiest or best for me... having to hold the piece AND the folded-under part in place while I stitch puts a lot of pressure on the thumb (you'd have to sever your tendon and then let it recover a little to understand how a little pressure becomes a lot). Also, I have a separate problem in the wrist which causes it to stiffen and become sore if I hold it rigid for a while (like when I'm holding the fabric in place while I stitch with my right hand). Because of this, I think my favorite method will be method #1, and perhaps best of all (for me) would be using the fusible webbing and then adding a decorative stitch. But for those times when a visible decorative stitch won't due, I'll probably have to baste.

Can anyone recommend a good brand/type of fusible webbing?

Lisa - LOL! Too funny.

Thanks for all your replies!
Jen

I use pellon lightweight it doesn't make your appliques stiff! You also can use invisible thread for your appliques.

Red

I am a fuser by preference, but I'm doing a method 3 at quilt club so as to have something to do by hand. I also like lisa's method! LOL

I do needle-turn applique, without freezer paper, without glue, without pins. I use a template of my shape, draw around it with a pencil on the RIGHT side of the fabric, cut it out leaving about 1/8+ extra around the drawn line, baste it in place - with only about 2 - 3 stitches - just enough to hold it in place. Then I turn under just inside the drawn line with my needle as I go around the shape. No paper to remove, no glue residue, just my appliqued shape. Very relaxing. There are many ways to do applique, it seems - whatever works best for you.

Thank you all so much for all this info. I have not tried applique but its on my list of to do's this yr, thank you. I guess in my pea brain I was making something easy and fun hard and terrible. I too will give them all a try.
Thanks

Rita

I like to applique. I use the method of Scraphappy and Sandra, but I help the process along by turning under the piece I am appliqueing on the drawn line, making sure the marking line doesn't show. Then I pinch the folded edge very tightly with my thumbs and index fingers. The little press stays in just enough even on curves and teeny areas where you have to clip to within a thread of the marked edge. Does anyone else do the pinch method?

Hey, do your applique any way you can. If you find a method you like, hooray! You only have to please yourself. You're supposed to enjoy quilting, after all.

I must be picky, because I just don't like raw edges, and I don't like the idea of using interfacing, and I'd hate to cut a hole to pull out a piece of freezer paper, so I have begun to do needle turn applique, and I have to say, I LOVE IT! Besides, it's very portable. I don't mind long car trips when I can sew.

I still haven't given up on mastering needleturn but so far Celtic applique is my favorite just because I can do it. It has nothing to do with what you're trying to master but at least I can say I hand applique. LOL!

Kay

Mollie, I sort of press between my thumb and forefinger, the 3 or 4 stitch-worth of fabric I've just tucked under with my needle...but I don't do the whole thing at one time...just those small increments. And, I hate to admit it but I generally mark my piece on the wrong side of the fabric and then cut it out 1/8" larger. When I applique I sort of know how much to tuck under and don't feel the need to conform to a drawn line.

I also like to watch others appliqué. I have done machine appliqué and tried hand work.
But at the present time I'm not doing any. Who knows what tomorrow may bring.

I do the needle turn and I just pin the piece where I want it to be.
On larger pieces I use preused fabric sheets and sew right side facing sheet, turn inside out, press and sew on quilt.
I agree you have to try them all until you find what works for you.
Rosa

Sandra---I do needle turn because the paper is now Off and the applique raw edged piece is now On the background fabric. One day I discovered that the fabric edge has a tiny bit of memory where the paper was (remember I press my applique" on the Top of the fabric and the seam goes inward)and then the needle turns the fabric Oh so nicely. No paper to become annoying. Usually no pins. Just me, my applique and TV. Also, DH sleeping on the sofa. I use a long skinny needle. This insures tinier stitches that make smoother curves. And, Sandra, you still have to make a template which is actually no different from freezer paper tracing. But, here's the thing. We both have the fastest and easist methods, I bet. I graduated through the years to this method because it got tedious to do all those other steps. And, probably experience helps. Not that I'm so great at it, but I am relaxed about it. My hands are starting to get arthritis now and I hate the thought. Don't ever want to give up applique or quilting whatever the methods.
Beebonnet

I cut templates from freezer paper, iron them onto the right side of the applique fabric, trace around them with a pencil or white pen, cut out 3/8" from the line, remove the paper, place on the background using an overlay (made by photocopying the pattern onto a transparency sheet), loosely baste in place, then needle-turn the seam allowance under. I clip at the inner curves, and I use YLI #100 silk thread in either beige or brown. I also like the little Fiskars microtip scissors for clipping - they're so sharp at the tip.

Carol

Hi Carol----I have used silk thread and loved it, except that it slips too easily out of the eye. The stitches sure are invisible, though. I have a huge collection of vintage cotton thread that I save for applique, but have been thinking about switching to silk. When I baste, I take a small back stitch at beginning and end. That way i don't have to knot. OT---My computer doesn't like the word applique. I say---get used to it. Beebonnet

I, too, use milliners or straw needles....long and thin, and silk thread....both seem to slip through the fabric easier than thicker needles and any other kind of thread. Granted, I have to make a template, but don't have to bother dragging the iron and ironing board out and tediously pressing the edges around it. Just draw around it, cut it out....and I'm off to applique. But, remember, I'm basically lazy and like to pare things down to the easiest way I can find!

I do machine applique. All that hand work bores me...too slow! But I do appreciate that it is portable. Anyone know if you can take hand applique to jury duty these days? I know you can't knit or crochet anymore. We crafters might use those tools as weapons!

If I had to choose a HAND applique method, I would choose Method #2 since that's what I learned years ago. I hate basting. But I had never heard of Method #3 - paper on top. Might have to try that...if I ever get an urge.

When I did jury duty, they told me I couldn't have the tiny, pointy, Gingher scissors. Like I'd want to do anything with them but sew! I think I remember that they let me have my #10 betweens for hand quilting.

Applique is not my favorite thing to do, but I am in the process of making a wall hanging that requires some applique. I am tracing the outlines of my fabric flowers with pencil and then adding a piece of muslin and sewing the right sides together along my pencil lines. Then I am making a slit and turning it inside out and putting a piece of Stitch Witchery under it and steaming it into place to sew it by hand when it is completed.

This is probably not the right way to do applique, but it is working for me. I also do the same (sort of) procedure with my labels. This way when it is steamed in place, it cannot be removed. I also cut a triangle for the label and sew that in place when I am sewing the binding so I only have one side to handstitch in place. Lazy....., I guess so, but it works for me!

Update: Inspired by the ladies at my LQS, who have a weekly hand sewing get-together, I have been doing hand quilting and hand applique. Now that I don't have to be in front of my machine, I have been doing MORE sewing than ever!

Some of you might cringe at the thought of tedious hand work. But when you're sitting in the doctor's office waiting your turn, or it's five hours to the cottage by car, then all of a sudden working by hand is not tedious at all. I can converse with others while keeping my hands busy.

Whether you do your applique by hand or machine, whether you use historically accurate needle-turn style or an easier method employing fusible interfacing, just DO your applique! It has to be enjoyable, not a chore.

I think the bottom line is that you should choose whatever style of applique that has a preparation method that you don't mind doing.

Try several different methods, until you find one you like. Keep your projects small and quick-to-finish until you are comfortable.

Then post those pictures here, or in the gallery!