hey everyone today we're going to be
starting a new series here on my youtube
channel and it is going to be sewing
techniques from a to z
each week we're going to be tackling a different
sewing technique that coordinates with
the letters of the alphabet so today
we're going to be working on appliques
i'm going to show you guys some of the
best practices to make sure that your
applique turns out perfectly every time
we're going to be going over the
different kinds of stitches that you can
use to create one if you're anything
like me you have a ton of scraps that
are just laying around and really pretty
fabrics that you just can't bear to
throw away because you're going to use
them someday but they're usually too
small to actually use on a big project
so appliqués are great way for me to
use up my scraps and spruce up some
boring items in the process
the first thing we're going to do is
take a square of our double sided
adhesive stabilizer and we're going to
cut the square slightly larger than what
we want are finished applique to finish
at and we're going to peel off one side
of the paper backing i like to first adhere
the side that's the stickiest to my
applique fabric that way the slightly
less stickier side will be to my main
fabric and I can move it around a lot
easier to get the positioning right once
you have that side peeled off go ahead
and stick it to the wrong side of your
applique fabric
now we can take our applique stencil
and trace that onto the remaining paper
side of our stabilizer once you're
finished tracing you can cut out your
applique and remove the paper backing
now we can stick it to our main fabric
now if you don't get the placement right
the first time that's okay it's not
permanent yet you should be able to just
peel your applique up and replace it
once you're happy with the placement of
your applique you can go ahead and fuse
all the pieces together with a hot iron
you will want to check your stabilizer
instructions to be sure that you have it
on the right heat setting and that you're
pressing it for the right amount of time
now appliques usually require a denser
number of stitches which means that we
need to use a tearaway stabilizer behind
our main fabric while we're sewing the
applique to keep the applique from
puckering whenever we sew it
now when it comes to
deciding on the kind of stitch that you
want to use for your applique it's
going to depend on the project that
you're doing and the type of fabric that
you're using now on a fleece project you
might not care about the raw edges
because they don't fray and so you can
use just a simple straight stitch and
that's fine and alot of people use that on fleece
and felt projects now the first
applique stitch that i'm going to show you
how to do is going to be the blanket
stitch and this is a great stitch if you
don't want to use a heavy or dense stitch
and it's also great if you want a more
homemade feel to your project here you
can see me playing with the stitch
length and stitch width and if you want
it to look more like mine i'm using a 3
millimeter stitch length in a three
millimeter stitch width now i'm also
using a specialty a blanket stitch that
comes on my machine and it might not
come on yours and that's fine i'm mostly
using this one because it shows up a
little bit darker on camera but a
regular blanket stitch will work just as
well
now before you start sewing your
applique you need to be sure that
your fabric is lined up with the way
your needle is going to be stitching on
this particular stitch on my machine the
side that I want to lie my
fabric up with is this right notch on my
presser foot because that's where it's
doing that straight stitch at now on your
machine and depending on what stitch
using it might be completely different
so you need to check that before you
start sewing so you don't mess up your project
when you start going around
sharp corners and turns be sure that your
needle is down before you lift up your
presser foot to pivot to keep on track
if you don't your fabric might get
warped underneath the machine and the
stitches aren't going to come out as nice
so just take your time around these
bends and turns it might take a little
bit depending on the shape that you
choose but it's definitely worth it
now here on the applique shape that I've
chosen you can see that I have this
really dramatic point right in the
center so to get my blanket stitch to
look just right on there what I'm going
to do is I'm going to so pretty much as
far as I can and then once i get my
needle right in the middle of that point
i'm going to put the needle down lift my
presser foot up and turn it a perfect
90-degree angle and what that's going to
do is put a perfect blanket stitch right
in the center of my heart and it will
look perfectly symmetrical at that point
then you can put your needle down again
and pivot your heart and start doing
other side
the next applique stitch is the satin
stitch and this stitch you've probably
seen quite often in store-bought clothes
because it is used very often in clothes
that have appliqués and clothes that have
embroidery on them and that's why i like
this stitch so much because it does have
a slightly more professional feel to it
than the blanket stitch does now my
machine has a satin stitch built into
the mMachine and i'm using the four
millimeter satin stitch
however if you have a more basic machine
that only has a zigzag stitch that's
okay too
all you have to do is set your stitch
width to 4 millimeters wide and your stitch
length to 0.8 millimeters long to get the
exact same stitch that I'm doing
however you're gonna want to test this
out and see if this stitch length and
stitch width is good for the project that
you're doing you might want a little bit
smaller you might want a little bit
larger so be sure that you test it out
first
now when you're using a satin stitch to
do an applique you have to pay
attention once again to where you're
actually stitching so on my applique I
need to make sure that i'm lining the
raw edge up with the center of my
presser foot because with a satin stitch
it's going to zigzag back and forth over
that raw edge and you want to be sure
that it's covered another tip I have for
you guys when you first start doing
these appliqués is if you have a corner
or point to your applique shape it has
always come out so much cleaner and
nicer for me if I start and stop in that
corner every time i've started like
maybe in the middle of a straight line
for instance it has always ended up not
quite matching perfectly and drives me
crazy so if I start and stop in the
corner it's always come out a million
times better
so those are the two most common
applique stitches however they're not
the only two stitches that are out there
you can literally use any stitch that is
on your machine that is wide enough to
cover the raw edge now on my machine I
have this kind of scribble looking
appliqué stitch and you can use any
decorative stitch that's on your machine
if you have one with hearts if you have
one just like this then it will work for
the applique so just experiment and see
what you can come up with because
there's a lot of stitches are machines
that we sometimes never used and this is
a great way to get some use out of them and have
a really cool-looking applique in the
end the last steps to finishing your
applique is if you use tearaway
stabilizer you're going to want to go
ahead and tear that away, as the name
suggests and don't worry about any bits
that are left behind you don't have to
pick them out they will disintegrate in
the wash you just want to get the main
chunks of it out and then once you're done
with that give your finished project a
good press and you are ready to go