Tuesday 22 August 2017

Making Secret Garden Part 7

In my last Secret Garden post on the 1st, I showed you what the Secret Garden Part 7 block looked like (above). Today, I'm going to show you how I make the leaves using a turn edge method. Now, I prefer turn edge, so this is the method I'm showing. But you need to know that using a raw edge is also perfectly fine. In fact, I had planned to raw edge this entire quilt but found myself turn edging without really thinking about it. This happens when you prep as much as I do. I have so many quilts on the go that I sometimes lose track of myself. And when I realized I had gone ahead and turn edged so much..I decided to stick with it.
 Here's my fusible leaf shape with a fabric seam allowance, cut out and ready to turn
My preferred glue is always Elmer's disappearing purple but when I work on these small pieces, I use a glue stick I purchased at a local quilt store because it's smaller and drier to work with. This particular stick has no branding, but it is very dry and tacky - this makes it perfect for working on such a small piece. I could have also used the Elmer's, but it's wetter and when I turn the fabric edges they can roll back out. I usually keep a 6 gram tube of Elmer's next to my applique tools with the lid off to have a 'tacky' and slightly dry stick on hand for the same reason.
 So here's my piece with the glue smeared across it
 Using a wooden orange / manicure stick, I turn the first edge down one side of my shape
As I work the turn, I 'pleat' any excess fabric by bunching it close together as evenly as possible as I turn the shape
 When I reach the tip point of my shape, I dab some glue
 and before turning the other side, I flip the tip point up now
 like so
 Now I add some more glue to the side and hold the shape between my thumb and finger
 And sharply turn the other side so that the side turns over the tip point
 which leaves a little spot a bit higher up which I;ll need to pleat as I glue it down into position
 and this is what the finished piece looks like
 and this is the front
 and this is what it looks like when it all comes together
There is no cheat way around this process; if you're going to turn edge, your points have to be secure and neatly tucked away.
Turn edge applique is all about the prep: I have so many projects on the go that I keep my prepped pieces in envelopes, then bundled together. Often, I will spend days cutting out pieces to ready them for this turning step. I can turn pieces like this on a lap table in front of the TV or radio in the evenings and I usually have a few quilts worth of pieces on my WIP shelves to do during winter. In fact, I often discover prepped pieces for quilts I'd even forgotten I'd started years ago!
and now I have some buds to turn..

5 comments:

  1. You make it look so easy, but mine never look that good. When do you remove the paper? I do it before I sew it to the background and it distorts the shape.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because I am using a wash away fusible, I don't need to remove the paper. But if I was using freezer paper, I would remove it after I had turned all the edges. I would also iron the edges to keep them down after the freezer paper was removed. This is why I love using fusible - it's faster.

      Delete
  2. All of my hand applique has always been needle turn but I'm ready to try this method. Thanks for a very detailed tutorial for the turned edge with glue stick.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Woow... they are very neat... and you have made a lot...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a great post! I've always been afraid of appliqué but this method looks very doable. Could you let me know how you remove the fusible leaf shape or is it just left in the quilt? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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