perfect needleturn appliqué - Tute

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a very large delivery came to my door a couple of days ago. This project has taken almost 12 months and it has finally arrived – but now I have no room left in my studio!!!

What is it you ask?

Yes its my very own appliqué paper  - the stuff I have been using for several years in my gluestick appliqué technique – the secret to perfect needleturn – and for all of you out there who are terrified of needleturning…

This paper is packaged as cut Letter size sheets (yes it came from the US) and IT CAN GO THROUGH YOUR INKJET PRINTER – yes it can. Now you can just print all of your appliqué templates or English paper piecing shapes onto it, cut them out and away you go.. never trace again. AND no removing of papers at the end – just wash and they dissolve into soft fibres inside your quilt.

We are going to start including pre-printed sheets in our appliqué patterns so then you don't even have to print.

If you like Foundation paper piecing then you can print your foundation templates straight onto the appliqué paper, stitch through the paper and then just leave it there! yep, no tearing out of paper at the end.

It is also semi transparent so if you have a pattern with appliqué templates included you can trace them straight onto the appliqué paper.

Ask your local store to get this paper in now! or purchase from here from Australia or here in the USA.

Now for a quick refresher tute on my gluestick method:

trace or print the templates onto the non glue side of your paper. Cut out smoothly. (note the design needs to be reversed if necessary using this method)

Place glue side down onto the wrong side of your chosen fabrics.

Leave a small 1/4” seam allowance on all sides. Fuse with a hot iron and cut out

Clip into inside corners and curves only. You don’t need as many clips as you normally might think.

Using a sewline glue pen or similar run a small line of glue along a section of the paper edge.

Use your thumb to fold over the seam allowance onto the glue. with this glue it will hold just nicely without making a mess.

aim for nice smooth curves, if you are having trouble with points trim the allowance back a bit, it only needs to be about 1/8”

repeat for other side, don't worry about those little tails poking out, we’ll deal with them when stitching down.

your prepared perfectly smooth and rounded leaf shape.

the lines marked on this shape are where the template sits under another piece of fabric so does not need to be turned under. Transfer any of these markings onto the paper when tracing.

Once all of your pieces are pre prepared position them onto your background fabric. This example has the lines transferred on, if not place your design sheet onto a light box, top with background fabric and then layer up all of the appliqué pieces. 

Glue them into position – you can just use your Sewline glue pen or I prefer Roxanne’s glue baste it  -it is a bit stronger and is also cheaper to use when gluing whole panels down for stitching.

Now you just appliqué down each piece using an appliqué needle and a fine matching or blending thread. When you get to those little pokey bits, stitch to the corner and then use the needle to tuck them under before continuing down the next side.

the appliqué world is now our oyster! and I have so many designs in my head I want to do….any requests?

hugs and happy appliquéing!

Helen

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