Put An End to Boring Clothes and Linens With Appliques

     The word applique comes from the French appliquer which means to apply, "put on" or "lay on."

     It's a cut out decoration that is sewn or fused onto a larger piece of fabric.

     There are a lot of nice appliques you can buy already made.  The Vogue Fabrics online store has a variety of appliques you can buy at reasonable prices. To view their stock, click on the link:        

Then scroll down on the left navigagtion bar to Notions and click Appliques.  Vogue has them in 3 categories:

Iron On and Sew On Appliques, Sequinned and Beaded Appliques, Hot Fix Transfers

   Or make the appliques yourself.                    

     Find a fabric that has a print on it that you can cut out. The best type of fabric to use to make appliques is cotton or a cotton/polyester blend.  It has more intergrity.

     Another great idea is to use a coloring book.  Find one that has simple pictures that you use as patterns.  Then cut the fabric using these patterns to create your applique.

Materials List

1. Applique--purchased or your own
2. Wonder Under Fusible Webbing**
3. Scissors
4. Iron & Ironing Board
5. Fabric glue (optional)
6. Sewing machine (optional)

      How To Make Your Own Appliques

     Pre-printed fabric:

When you cut the out image on the fabric you want to use as the applique, leave about 1/2" around the image and cut it as a large square. 

Cut the Wonder Under the same size as the fabric square.  Iron it to the back of the square with the paper side away from the wrong side of the fabric.

Cut the image out you're using for your applique.

Remove the paper backing. Iron the applique to the garment or item you are decorating. 

If you are not using a sewing machine, put fabric glue on the edge of the applique so it will not frey or unravel.

If you are using a sewing machine to finish the edge, Use a zig-zag stitch to finish the edge.  Adjust the length and width of the stitch to finish the edge. 

Using A Pattern To Make The Applique

Cut a square of fabric and Wonder Under larger than your pattern.

Iron the Wonder Under to the back of the fabric--paper side out.

Cut your pattern and follow the instructions above.

 

This is an applique I put on a child's dress.  I cut out the pattern, fused it with Wonder Under then did a tight zig-zag stitch around the perimeter to finish it.

 **Wonder Under is a fusible webbing available at craft and fabric stores. It has a paper backing that allows you to easily iron the webbing onto the back of fabric.  Then you remove the paper and iron your decoration onto the larger piece of fabric.