5 Things You Might Not Know About Appliqueing

There are those who like to do it

and there are those who definitely don't.

There are those who do it the old way,

and there are those who do it a newer way.

I admit,

I like to do it the old fashion way.

Want to guess?

Why, I'm talking about hand appliqueing.

Here are 5 things you might never

 have known about the wonderful world of

needle turn applique.

1. Appliquers have the best thread collections.

Every piece that's stitched down has 

to have the exact color of matching thread.

So you can only imagine the number of spools 

of thread that includes.

2.  Hand appliquers don't carry

much excess baggage.

There's really very little equipment that's needed,

a needle, a thimble, scissors, and maybe 

a few pins here and there,

minus that big thread collection, of course.

3.  Appilquers don't like to show off,

and do mostly undercover work.

The key to a good applique is not 

having any of that thread show on the top.
Hand appliquers learn to make visible stitches.

 

It's suppose to appear like
the pieces are just part of the fabric.

But, if you were to look at the underside of the piece,

presto!

 There's all those beautiful tiny stitches in

a rainbow of colors.

4.  There can be considerable weight gain when appliqueing.

Just one panel of my Roseville Album quilt

weighed 2.5 ounces before I started

and now that it's complete it's 

 doubled in weight to 5 ounces!

Now multiply that out over the entire

surface of a quilt and you've got a sizable increase of weight.

That could require a few extra trips to the gym.

And, finally,

5.  Hand appliquers can come up short.

No, it doesn't mean that I'm not very tall,

it means

invariably, I'm short an inch of thread

to finish the inch left to stitch.

The question is why does it seem

happen so often.

Those of us who enjoy that "A" word

might get a little wacky from time to time

as we repeatedly 

make those invisible tiny stitches over and over again
that nobody sees.

So hug an appliquer and tell them "good job",

 but no comments about that little extra weight.

We're very sensitive.

Until Next Time-