Upcycling with GO! Applique Dies

Hello, hello! This is Stephanie from Steph Jacobson Designs, and today I'm sharing some fun and easy ways to use AccuQuilt Applique Dies to jazz up plain clothing items and extend the life of garments that are stained or torn. When my son was young, I made a lot of his pants and shorts from upcycled mens dress shirts. To make a cute coordinating top, I would find an image online and make my own appliques using the leftover dress shirt fabric. When I saw the adorable 2021 Limited Edition AccuQuilt GO! Dinosaur Medley Die (#55213), it reminded me of one of the t-shirts I made for my son many years ago.

At that time (10 plus years ago...), I would find a free graphic online then print, trace, fuse and cut by hand. The process of embellishing and upcycling items with applique is so much easier with AccuQuilt dies! It's a great way to liven up plain clothing items or upcycle stained or torn clothing to give them new life.

Supplies Needed:

• GO! Dinosaur Medley Limited Edition Die (#55213)
• Fabric scraps slightly larger than dinosuar shapes
• Two sided fusible interfacing
• Apparel item to applique

My preferred two sided fusible interfacing is either Heat-n-Bond Lite for lightweight fabrics or knits or Heat-n-Bond Ultrahold for heavier fabrics like denim.

My first item in need of repair is a perfectly good pair of toddler jeans...except for the hole in the left knee.

I decided a cute little stegosaurus patch would be the perfect patch. To make the applique patch:

• Cut a piece of fabric slightly larger than the die cut area.
• Following the manufacturer directions, apply two sided fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric.
• Place your fabric on the die board over the shape you want to cut.
• Cut your applique.
• Place your applique over the area to be patched and fuse in place following interfacing manufacturer directions.

Note:

• If you want your applique shape to face the same way it does on the die board, place the fabric facing you and the interfacing next to the foam on the die board.
• If you want your applique shape to face the opposite way it does on the die board, place the fabric next the the foam on the die board and the interfacing facing you. 

I used a scrap of Island Batik fabric, and it makes the perfect dinosaur skin.

At this point, I would typically use my sewing machine to stitch the applique to the fabric. The legs of toddler jeans are too small to maneuver on a machine. Since I used Heat-n-Bond Ultrahold, stitching isn't necessary, but I decided to add some big stitch hand stitching using cotton crochet thread. To make the eye more realistic, I used white fabric and a black fabric pen to add a pupil.

Any AccuQuilt applique die can be used in this way including the new GO! Flamingo Die (Die To Try, April 2021). I used the same process to add a fun flamingo applique on a plain gray and white striped t-shirt.

Since I didn't want the applique to be too stiff on the t-shirt, I used Heat-n-Bond Lite. The fabrics are more Island Batik scraps, and the batik prints are perfect since they look like feathers.

I used my sewing machine to stitch around the applique twice. I never worry about trying to get my stitching perfectly straight or even and find that stitching twice makes my messy stitching look purposeful. I used a small black button for the flamingo's eye.

Applique is such a fun and easy fix for items needing a little TLC. Instead of tossing an item of clothing that no longer seems useful, break out your AccuQuilt applique dies and get creative!