applique circles
 

I am making the Day Dreams quilt by Sadie Ann pictured here https://www.caryquilting.com/products/jh317 . I need to make and applique around 150 one inch circles to represent the little puffs of dandelions gone to seed. The directions say "Applique the circles by your favorite method." Since I've only done machine applique on rather large simple pieces, I am at a loss. I thought the pattern would enlighten me. Does anyone have advice or a sure-fire, easy, quick method they would like to share with me?
Thank you in advance!:)

Make a cardboard circle the size you need, (thin cardboard not the thick kind w/ a hollow center) cut your fabric just over 1/4 inch bigger then the cardboard. run a basting stitch around the edge and draw it over the cardboard circle tight. Press the circle well w/ a squirt of sizing or starch, let cool, remove cardboard

There are lots of ways to make circles, I recommend using a die cutting method for that many, such as an Accuquilt Go.
The real problem comes in stitching them down. Doing that many small circles by machine is going to take some time as you will have to go around each circle. Keep the background small if possible and the moving around of the fabric in the machine will be easier. Stitching them down by hand will also take some time. But in my opinion, easier than machine stitching. Only you can decide which method works for you. I once appliqued over 600 yo yos to background for a quilt. I did by hand, while watching TV. Makes for great handwork.
Love the quilt by the way,

Are you wanting to hand or machine appliqué them?

For machine appliqué I draw the circles onto Heat'n Bond Lite , fuse them to the circle fabric, and cut them out, then fuse onto the background, put a stabilizer on the back of the background, and either satin stitch for a quilt, or buttonhole stitch around them if it is for a wall hanging.

For hand appliqué I use the same as Kassaundra described above except I don't put starch on mine, I just pull the cardboard out and hand appliqué the shape down. Awhile back I found a youtube video about using tin foil around the edges to press it before stitching... I tried that but found it hard to manage with small pieces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2INxkVfGyqE

I would use the disks that are made to be ironed on, using a gathering stitch to frame it. Then I would machine appliqué using the tiniest zigzag with invisible thread. BTW invisible thread is not hard to use if you put mesh around the spool.

This is what I do only I use Karen Kay Buckley's plastic heat resistant circles. You can also buy sheets of heat resistant template plastic and make the circle yourself. Be careful when you cut to turn the plastic into the blades of the scissors as you go and cut with one smooth motion instead of chomping bits all around, because that will give you sharp angles around the edge. Once you've cut out your template, run your finger around the edge to find any teensy points and smoothe them off with an emery board.

I didn't know there was template material that could be ironed that would be cool.

I have used the Karen Kay Buckley circles and they are nice. The ones I bought came in a set with several different sizes. Then when making a quilt for DGD that had appliqued flowers with a circle center, of course the center circle was larger than the templates that I had. Found the heat resistant template plastic, I think at Hobby Lobby and it worked great. I used the method of cutting the fabric larger than the template, hand stitched around it on the back and then pulled the thread up until it was flat. Wet it with spray starch and ironed dry. I'm sure there is a tutorial on youtube for this method that describes it better.

Another vote for Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles. I just set them on the fabric, do a running stitch around the edge & pull. Then, I "paint" on some liquid starch with a Q-tip or clean paint brush and press. Once I have the circle shape, I pull out the circle template & press again.

It's possible to make your own templates using the Mylar template plastic (I buy it all the time at JAF for my other templates), but the trick is trying to cut a perfectly round template out of plastic. It ends up involving way too much marking, trimming & sanding for it to be worth my time. The pre-cut perfect circles are well worth the investment. I bought mine at a LQS & don't remember the exact price, but it was quite reasonable.

I personally love doing needleturn applique, but I fudge it a bit with the circles & do turned edge applique, attached by hand, because trying to turn under a perfect circle while I'm stitching is way too frustrating. I also tend to glue baste the circle down in the center so it doesn't shift on me while I'm stitching it. Typically, I would use applique pins, but I find just a small dot of glue (I like the Glue Baste It! EZ squeeze bottle by Roxanne's because I can perfectly control how much glue comes out, but I think any water-soluble glue would work) will hold it nicely & the results are beautiful every time.

If you're going to machine applique them, I agree with Murphy that you want to apply fusible web to the back of your fabric & then cut it out to the exact size using a die cut machine. With fusible, you want to be extra careful to match your needle size to your thread size. For example, with Aurifil 50/2, I'd use a size 70 needle because it is a very thin thread. If for some reason you want a more decorative finish & are using a larger thread, like a 28/2 or 12/2, size up to a 90 needle. I probably would not recommend a size 40/2 thread as it will not lay as nicely on the edge & will not puff up enough to look decorative either.

Can't wait to see a photo of your finished quilt! It sounds lovely.

Instead of template plastic, you could try ironing a few layers of freezer paper together and cutting circles. If you have a die cutter, you could cut out quite a few at a time. When I have a lot of circles, I usually run out of the KKBuckley circles quickly (there are only a couple of each size in the package).