My first try at hand-applique
 

I'm doing an underwater scene wall hanging, designing it myself. Here's a whale shark, next to the photo I used to come up with the drawing. This is the first time I've tried hand applique. I'm overall pleased, though I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be puffy like this. :) How can fabric be so difficult to manipulate? It's the sharp corners, I'm sure. But it's no fun if it's easy!

Wow, very impressive work!

Very good job. You could even stuff with some batting so it is even more puffy. Keep up the good work.
Sue

Really great!!!!

That's very good for a first try. Is it on a bargello background?

Great job! You could a wisp of batting into it to give it a nice dimension. I' m waiting to see the next phase.

you did a fine job

I think it looks great and I agree with Francie and Susie to give it a trapunto treatment. If you do that with all your appliqued sea creatures they will really pop up off the quilt surface and look fantastic as long as you quilt densely enough behind them to amplify the effect. Your fabric choice for the whale shark was perfect!

Interesting thought! I'm going to let that percolate for a while. It could look pretty fabulous, and would make my puffiness seem deliberate. LOL

I love "natural" scenes in quilty projects, and I think your whale shark is gorgeous!

If you decide you don't want a puffy fish (though I think it would be great left puffy, or made even puffier) you can hand or machine sew inside the fish's outline, easing in the extra fabric. You can do this pre-quilting if it is a small area that you would not need to quilt otherwise, or you can do it while you are quilting (I find that trickier, personally).

And I agree that your whale shark fabric is perfect!

Alison