Let’s GO! Play with Appliqué
by Polly Monica of Aunt Polly’s Porch
Polly Monica is a quilter, designer and a fabric lover. She’s designed several projects for the Moda Bake Shop and Studios magazine. Read more about blogger…
I love quilting and piecing, but absolutely despise appliqué. Don’t get me wrong, appliquéd quilts are wondrous to my eyes, but I just can’t do it myself. This was until I bought my AccuQuilt GO!® Fabric Cutter. I can do anything with a sewing machine, but trying to hand appliqué proved how bad I am at handwork. Now with my GO! Fabric Cutter, I can make magnificent projects with machine appliqué.
I adore making small quilted projects as well as full sized quilts. I also love to add appliqué to my favorite pieced blocks. I think a pieced background adds dimension to an appliqué block. It’s also an excellent way to use up your stash and scraps.
I was in need of some new wintery placemats to put out this month with the Christmas holiday finished. Who says you can’t use the GO! Holiday Medley die after December anyway? I went through my stash looking for some soft blues and a fun winter novelty print for the backing. In addition, I found some coordinating red fabric to add a punch of color. When you pull fabrics for your own placemats or table runners, keep in mind the color of your dishes or centerpiece on your table so you can coordinate the colors and style.
I decided to create my favorite block for these placemats—the churn dash. You can make them with a pinwheel block, a star block, a log cabin block, a rail fence block or even just a solid portion of mottled or textured fabric as a blank canvas. I decided on the size of the placemat by measuring a placemat I had previously purchased. I then created a square churn dash block with my chosen fabrics and added a strip to each side to make the mat the rectangular size I desired. If you are making a table runner instead, make sure to measure the table it will go on to ensure that it is the right size.
Perfectly cut snowflakes with the GO! Holiday Medley die
I ironed double-sided fusible onto the back of my white snowflake fabric and then cut out four 5 1/2" squares. I laid these prepared squares (two at a time) only on top of the snowflake portion of the GO!® Holiday Medley (55043). There is no need to lay fabric on the shapes you don’t intend to use. I peeled the paper off the back of the die cut snowflake and pressed it carefully onto the center of the prepared pieced placemat.
Straight stitch or use a decorative blanket stitch around the outline of each snowflake
Finish your placemats by sandwiching thelayers together and you’re ready to quilt
I slowly straight stitched very close the edge all around the snowflake with a pale blue thread. If you prefer, you can use a decorative blanket stitch around the snowflake edges instead of a straight stitch.
I layered the placemat—the right side of the front against the right side of the back—and then the batting, stitched around the edges, leaving a 4" long opening on one of the longer sides to turn it through. Press it carefully and hand sew the opening closed. At this point, you can determine whether or not you want to
quilt it.
Your finished placemat is ready
Fall themed table runner using the
GO!® Fall Medley die (55041)
Imagine all the projects possible with similar type blocks and dies to make more placemats, table runners and wall-hangings. This allows you to keep your home décor fresh for all the seasons of the year. You could use the adorable holly and berries portion of the GO! Holiday Medley die to create a beautiful wreath from small stash scraps. Use the tree shape on this die to make beautiful red and green placemats for the holiday season. The sky’s the limit when you have a GO! or GO! Baby® Fabric Cutter.
I LOVED using the GO! Fall Medley (55041) to make this fall table runner awhile back. Again it’s the same general idea, make a pieced background and use the GO! dies to make fusible appliqués that you place on top and then use decorative threads to sew around the edges and on the leaves to add detail. You now have an artful table runner.
Using the GO! Fabric Cutter ensures that every leaf and snowflake will be perfectly cut and uniform. If you don’t have an AccuQuilt Fabric Cutter, you wouldn’t believe the time it saves in hand cutting. Now, appliqué is fun, easy and no longer impossible and no hand work required. It’s now time to GO! decorate your life for all the seasons of the year!
About Blogger:
Polly Monica is a quilter, designer and a fabric lover. She’s designed several projects for the Moda Bake Shop and Studios magazine. In fact, her sewing room was featured in the Winter 2012 issue of Interweave’s Studios Magazine. To see more tutorials for creative projects and beautiful quilts, be sure to check out her blog at www.auntpollysporch.blogspot.com. Her adorable Westie, Yogi, has almost as many followers as she does.
Watch Video:
Introduction to the AccuQuilt GO!®
Holiday Medley die