Right now I'm fascinated by applique quilts. I just love the look of applique on a quilt. It can take a boring quilt and make it shine. One that caught my eye was a simple jelly roll quilt with a name appliqued on.
I haven't had a reason to make one until recently when my DD mentioned a friend of hers was expecting a baby boy. I think I've only met her friend Sarah once or twice, but hey, why not make a quilt for her precious baby boy!
Sarah told my DD they were going to do the nursery in yellow and gray. Since DD is in Chiropractic school, she's broke so we headed to Walmart to see if we could find fabric. I was pleasantly surprised by what we found. Their Waverly brand actually seems to be good fabric. This is what we picked.
The darker gray with white polka dots is going to be the backing and the stripes at the bottom are going to be the binding.
Now, I've never appliqued before but I wasn't going to let that stop me. It couldn't be that hard, could it? We decided to put his name, Ollie on one of the larger strips.
We found a simple font and cut out the fabric on my Cameo machine. It was surprisingly easy, it worked on the first try! I had researched and knew to use heat n bond lite. I got it on the quilt and his name looked great!
Now came the part I wasn't so sure about...actually sewing around the letters. I can honestly say I learned a lot in the process. It's not perfect and if you look close you can see all my mistakes. But...what's the saying? From a galloping horse it looks great!
After appliqueing his name. I realized I had a lot to learn about applique. As luck would have it,Prairiepoint Quilt and Fabric Shop,a quilt shop near me was having a class on applique. I was lucky enough to get one of the last spots available. I wish I had taken the class before I did the quilt but I feel much more confident for the next time I attempt applique.
The two most important things I learned from the class were: 1. Use tear away stabilizer behind the applique and 2. Have an open toe applique foot for your machine. I didn't have the special foot when I did the quilt and it was very hard to see what I was doing, especially around the curves and corners. I ordered one online and it was amazing how much it helped.
I quilted it with my walking foot and did wavy lines. I learned this technique from Jacquie Gering at Craftsy. I first talked about her class here. I honestly think this is the best class I've taken from Craftsy. I learned so much from Jacquie and frequently refer back to the class.
One thing Jacquie really emphasizes is using tape for registration lines so you don't veer to the left or right.
I tend to just plow ahead and hope for the best, but this time I took my time to measure, use my painters tape like Jacquie shows and I think my quilting it starting to look much better.
Another first for me on this quilt is using striped binding. I was a little nervous, what if I didn't cut it straight? What if it look crooked on the quilt? But, I discovered I love striped binding. I love the way it frames the quilt. I will definitely use it again.
Here's the finished quilt:
What's a new technique you were nervous or scared to try? I'd love to hear from you.
Happy Sewing,
Lori
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