Little Brown Bird Quilt- Questions before I begin
 

I know there are some of you out there that have worked on the Little Brown Bird quilt. I have the book and the DVD so I figured I'd print the templates from the DVD. And, I made a tracing on a piece of clear plastic so I can place the pieces correctly on the background fabric. Anyway, I placed the plastic over the template in the book and the DVD printing is about an inch smaller than the book. The pieces are so tiny...... so I guess I'll make a copy of the book template and start over.

Any suggestions on these tiny pieces? I really want to do this quilt but the little berries are about 1/4" in diameter. Yikes!! I think I'm in for a shock when I try stitching things down. This one will have a huge learning curve.

You CAN enlarge the pieces when you print. If you've already printed everything out, you can also enlarge them on a photo copier. No need to make more work for yourself by tracing the book.

Whoops - forgot to answer your second question. My favorite way of making circles is to use heat-resistant template plastic. Cut a piece exactly the size you want the finished circle to be. Cut the fabric circle 1/4" larger than the template. Sew basting stitches in the seam allowance of the circle, near the edge, making sure you have long thread tails on both sides of the fabric and also both starting and stopping points. Put the template plastic in the center of the wrong side of the fabric, and draw up the thread on one side of the fabric. This will gather the fabric around the template. Holding the thread taut so it doesn't ungather, paint a little water or starch on the edges and use your iron to dry it. Then you can remove the basting stitches and sew your applique on.

HTH!

I'm not familiar with that pattern, but I'd suggest using Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles. They are super fantastic & easy to use. She does have down to that size. You just pick a washer where the inside hole is the size you need. Trace on the inner & outer lines. Then, make your running stitch half the distance between them. Pop in the 1/4" washer & tug on the thread. Presto! Change-o! You're done. To help it stay while you're stitching it down, you can paint the edge with starch & press. Easy perfect circles in under 60 seconds every time! Then another 60-90 seconds to needle turn stitch your circle down and you're good to go.

I've done it with template plastic, but it gets a bit crinkly from the iron and I have the worst time trying to do needle turn without pressing first. The Perfect Circles are made out of some special heat resistant materials that can be ironed & used again over and over. You can also use cut up cereal boxes like they used to do back in the 30's.

Help me, I'm confused. If you're doing needle turn applique, why do you iron it first?

Thanks, Peggi.

I make circles that way using freezer paper. I don't have any heat-resistant plastic. I've just not made any circles that tiny. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've only copied 1 block so far so it's not like I have all 40 done and need to redo them all. But, I'll have to redo about 50 little pieces..... feeling a little frustrated, I guess. I've been planning on making this for such a long time. Once I actually start sewing, I think I'll be fine. ...... I'll stop whining now.

Because I cannot get my circles round otherwise. :P

Maybe I was taught the wrong term for my applique, though. If the edges are turned under & the stitches are barely visible bites coming up through the turned edge of the applique design, what name do you call that technique if an iron was used to press the edges under first?

Bree, you saying something about the method you use for circles made me think about some circle thingy that I bought about 6 months ago in anticipation of this project. It's not the same one you have. It's circleeze.... I haven't quite figured it out yet.

There is so much preparation with this new project...... new things to learn all the time, right?

Oh, ok. My understanding of "needle-turn applique" was that you turn the seam allowance under with the needle as you're stitching, no ironing needed. I'm not sure if there's a term for what you're describing, other than applique.

I recently stumbled across a technique where you baste on the seam allowance line, then pin or baste your piece to the background. As you stitch around the outer edge, you remove the basting. The simple act of sewing on the line makes it easier to fold the fabric. I can't wait to try it, it looks so easy!

Nanna-up-north,
I saw the circleeze, but decided to go with Perfect Circles because I found more YouTube videos on how to use them. If they have a whole bunch of different sized circles like the Perfect Circles set does, just find the circle that's the right size, trace it & then go 2 sizes up from that. Place your running stitch down the middle, put in the right-size circle & pull. Once you figure out how to do the first one, the rest move along super fast. I couldn't be happier with my Perfect Circles. I kept trying & trying & trying to get my circles round using only my needle & drawn line; then, I used freezer paper. Finally, I caved in & spent the $12 for the small Perfect Circles set and my applique work has been zipping along ever since. Regardless of whether I'm using the wrong name for what I do, I get rave remarks on how beautiful & soft the applique is at my quilt guild. Sometimes we need to break the rules to get to where we want to be. :)

With the Perfect Circles I don't need glue or fusible or anything like that. No freezer paper. Just trace, cut, sew, pull, press & applique onto the quilt. :)