What projects are you working on? Halloween? Christmas? I just finished a pretty easy Halloween Wall Hanging from Pacific Rim Quilt Company. You could hand applique this project if you'd like. I wanted something done before Halloween without a lot of muss and fuss. I started out with a big piece of Steam A Seam. It comes in 24" wide so it works perfect for this project. With a yard of Steam A Seam, a pencil and light box, I was on my way.
The first thing to remember when using fusible web for applique is that you need to reverse the pattern. That's where the light box comes in handy since I had to turn the pattern over and trace it from the back onto the fusible web. Here's a picture showing my tracings on the light box. Could easily see where the lines were to draw. Make sure you mark the "A" and "B" sections. This is the most important part of the whole tracing process since "A" is the applique or top fabric. In my case it was Michael Miller's Black Fairy Frost. The "B" is the background fabric. I choose a tonal bright orange cotton fabric. It actually has little vines in it but looks fine for this project as the color was just perfect.
Fusing one big traced piece to the back of the black fabric was pretty darn easy. No small pieces at all!
You will be cutting this out as one big piece to applique. Yes, there are a few free standing pieces. Two of the bats are not connected to anything. The cat and pumpkin are connected to each other but not to the bigger part of the applique shape.
It does take awhile to cut out but not as bad as it looks. Just put on your favorite TV show and next thing you know, you're done! Lay down the background fabric, right side up. Lay the top applique fabric on top of the background fabric right side up (after you've cut it out and removed the remaining protective paper.
Lining up is easy since the background fabric and the applique fabric are the exact same size. The black borders are actually part of the applique shape with Steam A Seam on the back. The only placement of pieces are the two bats. Really, you can put those anyway you'd like so don't worry there. The remaining pieces are the pumpkin and cat and they fit into the outline shape so no worrying there either. There is a piece between the two cat tail pieces but if you just look at the picture, it's simple to place. Once placed where you'd like, just press (not iron) holding down the amount of time your fusible web instructions direct.
How cute is that???? Since I did this with Steam A Seam which is a permanent fusible web (glue), there is no need to stitch it if I didn't want to. After all, it is hanging on the wall a few weeks, once a year. I'll probably do some applique stitching around the big pieces. I'm thinking of using glow in the dark thread. Have you used it?
The name of the pattern is Halloween from Pacific Rim Quilt Company. If you're local quilting store doesn't carry it, just drop me an email and I will be happy to send it to you. The cost of the pattern is $12.00.
I hope you enjoy making this pattern as much as I did.
Happy Halloween sewing,
loreen
