hi I'm les from smarmy clothes calm and
today I'm going to show you how to do
fabric appliques like this in the video
tutorial for what the craft calm time to
assemble our ingredients I have the
outside of a bag which I'm using as my
base to open prints and you can use
solid colors if you want and I are not
interfacing I'm gonna make a really
basic pattern for an applique one of my
applications is going to be a heart so
I'm going to fold a piece of paper in
half I already have half a heart drawn
on it just a piece of scrap paper and
then I'm gonna cut it out and you can
really do any shape that you want
hearts pretty easy when I start with
because it's pretty basic but you can
get pretty detailed with appliques I
just take a little longer for example
I'm gonna do a pair of eighth notes for
my second applique I went ahead and cut
the second applique and I have a piece
of iron on interfacing I'm going to lay
them on the side that doesn't have the
glue on it because it's gonna be easier
to trace around it that way
I would suggest using an actual fabric
tracing pen when you do this I only use
a sharpie because my fabric pen wouldn't
show up on video and the Sharpie really
should be okay I don't think it'll bleed
if I get it wet because it's permanent
but I don't want to take any chances
with ruining my project so I would
normally use a fabric tracing pen now
I've got both shapes traced I'm gonna
cut them out if you wanted you could
iron this to your fabric right now
before you cut them out and then once
they're fused you can cut around both
pieces all at once save yourself a step
you get 10 points right now if you
realize the stupid mistake I've already
made which I'll point out in a minute so
you don't make it too so here are two
shapes cut out in the interfacing now
I've cut two smaller pieces of our woven
fabrics big enough to ther appliques and
I'm gonna flip those so that they're
wrong sides are facing up and I'm gonna
take our interfacing making sure the
glue side is down put it on the fabric
and iron and right now you might be
figuring out what I've done wrong the
way I traced out my eighth notes they're
gonna wind up being backwards of course
I'm not paying very close attention and
I have not quite figured it out yet so
I'm gonna go on my merry little way and
cut around her shapes the moral of the
story is with a heart which is
symmetrical
doesn't matter but for more complicated
shapes especially things like letters
make sure you're drawing the reverse or
the mirror image on the back of the
fabric or the back of the interfacing
and here's where I realized I did
something wrong now that I fixed my
eighth notes we're going to place our
appliques just to see how they look and
remember to take into account where
these will be placed once everything's
put together things like seam allowances
and folds can really affect the final
placement of your applique so once you
decide on placement pin your applique in
place since my appliques are going to be
layered I'm doing the bottom layer first
and I'm actually gonna show you two
different stitch options for an applique
on the heart I'm gonna use a satin
stitch which is really just a zig-zag
stitch with a width set fairly wide and
the length set fairly short you want to
start on a fairly straight patch of the
applique I'm moving the bottom edge of
the heart about an inch from the point
and once you get to the point of the
heart stop with your needle on the
outside edge of the point
make sure your needles down and then
pivot to the other side of the heart and
start stitching again when you get to
the curved part your applique you're
gonna slowly guide your fabric so the
needle follows around that shape don't
pull too hard just be gentle when you
get to another corner slow down make
sure you get the needle placed on the
outside of the corner make sure the
needle is down and then pivot again and
again on these curved edges just gently
guide the fabric under the needle
following that shape when you get back
to where you started go ahead and stitch
over your original stitches a little bit
and then you can back stitch my machine
is a butt hole and will not let me do a
reverse zigzag so I have to do a
straight stitch when I backstitch but
either one will work so now I'm gonna
take applique number two place it where
I want it and then pin around it and I
wanted to point out that I didn't give
any specific numbers for the stitch
width and stitch length for the satin
stitch and the reason is because
machines are gonna vary quite a bit so
what I'd suggest doing instead is
getting scrap piece of fabric and
testing out various stitch lengths and
widths until you get one that you like
now for a second applique I'm not going
to do a satin stitch I'm just gonna do a
straight stitch in a contrasting color
thread the edges of this one will
probably have
actually fray even though we do have the
iron on interfacing on the back of it
but I kind of like that effect if you
don't want any fraying go ahead and use
a satin stitch I like doing the straight
stitch on the more complicated applique
designs because it's faster and easier
and I think it a lot of times
turns out looking better now as you can
see on these really curved edges at the
bottom of the music notes I'm actually
advancing the hand wheel by hand meaning
I'm not using the pedal of the sewing
machine I like to do that because it
gives me a little more control around
the detailed areas the applique on the
straight edges I just zoom right around
and then when I get to these round parts
I slow down
advance the hand wheel a few stitches
pivot advance a few more pivot and so on
and so forth pun intended
now once again when we get back to where
we started just back stitch to secure
your stitches bump the camera and you're
done and now it's time to admire our
handiwork
flip it over take a look at your nice
pretty stitches on the back and now you
can finish your project here's my
finished appliquéd bag that's it for my
tutorial on how to do fabric applique
for more tutorials visit what the crafts
calm and for my designs visit smarmy
clothes calm thanks for watching