Hand Applique Help
 

Hi-

I have been watching Missouri Star and Jan Patek hand applique techniques on YouTube and I feel like I'm getting better to the point where I can now make a nice quilt top, however, my ONLY issue is getting the background fabric to lay flat. After I start stitching around, I guess I am pulling the fabric too much, so when I get to the end of my project, its scrunched up and VERY distorted..its driving me NUTS! Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated! JC

I'm sorry you are having problems. Perhaps a hoop would help. Personally, I don't have that problem. I pin everything down on a flat surface.... use a lot of tiny applique pins. It should lie flat. Then, when I stitch I don't pull the thread.... just enough tug to set the thread. Things should still be flat.

it is normal for your background fabric to become slightly distorted when appliqueing (or embroidering) that is why you are instructed to cut your background squares larger (often 1-1 1/2" larger) that way when you are finished you can give your work a good pressing *from the back* then trim/square up the block to the size it should be.

AAHH- I missed the whole pinning part..I am going to do that next, but how do you pin when its a star shape?

Applique pins are very thin and short so you can pin right in the star points.

I like the back basting/cutaway method for many reasons, one of them being that my background and applique fabrics don't slip around on each other. Another is you can baste outside the applique line instead of right on it, so you have a bit of wiggle room when needle turning and if you feel the background and applique not fitting together quite right, you can adjust.

One more thing, and this is probably kind of silly, but it helps me to keep the arm that's holding the project stationary on something, like the arm of my chair, so when I'm working on it the fabric isn't hanging in the air. Gravity can be a bummer for pulling!

I use Roxannes basting glue to hold things in place. Here's a video showing the process. http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-pi...our-block.html
with pinning the thread was always getting caught on the pins. I also like to use a lighter weight thread, 60 or 70 wieght, it blends in better and theres no need to tug so hard to achieve the invisible stitch.

I never use a hoop, I found that with a hoop I almost always pulled the thread to tight and had puckers.

I pin from the back. My thread never gets caught on the pins when pinned from the back, it is a good alternative to glue. Applique for me is often a travel project so the less I have to pack up the better. I have a quilted pouch that holds my scissors, pins, needles. Grab it and go. I love to applique with an even finer thread than 60wt. I use silk (100 wt or 90 wt). My applique stitches are invisible with silk thread.

Yes, always make your background a little bigger. NEVER thought of pinning from the back. What a great idea !!

Not quite sure what you mean by making your background a little bigger. After I sandwich a quilt, I SID. Are you saying to leave extra backing fabric, applique and then SID? Maybe that's why some of my appliqued quilts get wonky too.