Klosjes, Phebe and Applique for Valentina

I managed only 6 this week but still one more than my goal so that's ok.

I now have a total of 27!

Look what came home with me this week.  Rural Jardin is in our local store and the large floral is absolutely divine.  The blues are beautiful too.  Another green and brown for Phebe was also added.

I had to make a Klosje straight away with this fabric. 

I am still making slow progress on Phebe.  I have added some greenery and have started appliqueing down some of the pieces.

I love the blue and purple together in this flower.

Here is my finished Browne Sisters block. 

Valentina has asked me to do a tutorial on how I prepare my applique. 

These are the tools I use.  Reynolds freezer paper, Roxannes Glue, a sandpaper board, collection of gel and pigma pens and scissors.

I trace all the shapes onto the dull side of the freezer paper and if there are lots of shapes (like Phebe) I number them all.  If I am doing multiples of a particular shape, like a leaf, I will use templastic.

Cut the shape out on the line that you traced, then iron it onto the right side of your applique fabric with the shiny side down.  Don't worry if you don't get it placed correctly, you can pull it off and iron it down again.

This photo isn't too clear but, once you have ironed your shape onto your fabric, trace around the outside of the shape, onto the fabric using a gel or pigma pen.  Choose a colour that you can see but not something that may show through when you turn the edges under.  For this pink, I have used a silver gel pen.  You can see this better further down.   Cut out your shape about 1/8 inch from the gel line.

Pull your freezer paper off and turn your shape over, wrong side facing.  Place tiny little dots of glue around your shape, making sure it is well inside the edge because when you needleturn, you want to be able to tuck the fabric under without being blocked by the glue.

Turn your piece back over and stick down onto your background fabric in the correct position.  Don't worry if you have to realign it once you start sewing.  You can easily lift off the shape and reglue it down again.  The glue washes out completely in water or you can lift the applique fabric up as you sew to remove the bond of the glue to the background fabric.

There are so many different methods for applique and this is just the way I prefer to prepare mine.  I always use Roxanne's Glue and Roxanne's Applique needles.  I will try and work out how I can put this into a separate little box on my sidebar.

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

Sue-Anne xxx