Name that appliqué method
 

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This is a Row by Row Experience row from Memories By The Yard in San Antonio, Texas. The picture was found on the Texas Row by Row Facebook page.

I live in NC, but my non-quilting sister lives in Texas and was kind enough to pick this kit up for me. It arrived this morning and I haven't had time to unfold everything and really inspect it yet. But, the instructions seem to consist of a list of what fabrics to use for each piece, and a picture to trace. Hopefully there are some instructions or at least tips hiding in there.

From looking at the photo (this is all I have to go on) it appears that it isn't quilted yet, but the applique has a puffy look to it. Does anyone know how this was achieved? It appears to be needle-turned, hand applique... but is there interfacing? fusible fleece or something?

My applique experience is mostly raw edge, although I did do one needle-turn hand stitched mug rug before. I am not worried about doing the hand stitching on this, but I am concerned about making my turtles and flowers look dimensional like these do.

Thanks!!

Looks needle turned to me. The head of the first turtle seems to show the outline of a seam allowance. When applique isn't fused down, it has a bit of a dimensional look. You could experiment with a bit of very thin batting, like Thermore, or just email the quilt shop & ask!

Thanks! I have emailed them, and am hoping they respond... no luck so far, but I know internet communications probably don't rank high on the typical quilt shop's list of priorities in a day. Plus, it looks like their site is really new and still being set up, when I first looked at it last week the online shop part was "Coming soon" and the blog is still "coming soon."

The flowers are dimensional, but I think the puffiness in the turtles is just that the applique hasn't been fused or quilted. You could add trapunto if you want when you quilt it. This is a very cute pattern!

There is a product called rinse away, and also one close, by Ricky Timms, but can't remember name. It is a stabilizer type product. But you can put it under your applique piece so that when you applique it onto the main fabric and wash the quilt, the product washes out, but leaves a little bit of fibers inside and makes the puff. I haven't tried it yet, but have seen some quilts done with it. Looks nice, with just a little puff, like your pictured quilt.

I did a different pattern, but used fusible flees and the pieces puffed up. That pattern is so cute, and I think the fusible flees would work just fine.
Sue

It definitely looks like needleturn. Since it's just a quilt top, I would assume that's all it is. You can see the wrinkles in the fabric. It doesn't look stuffed. I think it was just that the turtles were sewn together & embroidered, and then attached to the background as units. I've made those flowers & that's always how they turn out. I assume it won't look quite as fluffy once it's quilted unless they use a technique like Trapunto or Boutis to maintain that look.

This is the beauty of needle turn, though. When you actually use the needle to turn the piece rather than using the freezer paper method, the fabric stretches a bit & you end up with a gap between the applique and background. It's a beautiful look that can't be replicated by any other method.

I heard back from the shop that did the row! It is needle turn, with no interfacing. I was surprised there wasn't at least some in the flowers! I think I will have to try some of the water soluble stuff that turns to fluff though, this seems like a really good candidate for that.

Although, with what Bree123 said about needle turn without using freezer paper... hmm... looks like I need to do some experimenting!

I did a McCall's pattern with those exact flowers. They are a dickens to create because you have to shape each petal of the flower individually. I ended up buying a floral yo-yo maker & going with smaller sized flowers because I didn't have the patience to gather up every petal individually across the entire quilt. Still, the first one I made was truly beautiful. Wish I kept a pic of it to show you, but they definitely do stick up quite a bit from the quilt. My niece, who was 1 at the time, kept trying to "pick" the fabric flowers off the quilt so I had to tack the edges down. You definitely will get plenty of dimension with the flowers. The only part that I stuffed was the center (put a little bit of poly stuffing in to give it dimension). The petals were fine on their own. I think on this quilt, though, it looks like the center is just embroidered so you shouldn't need any fiber fill at all.

You might want to get some practice with your needle turn skills. You can always send them an email. Most kits won't contain detail info on hand applique. They assume you know how to do it.

Oh, so pretty. I love turtles. How can I get a copy? (without driving to San Antonio!)

Supposedly, the kits are available online after September, but not sure of date. I guess you have to contact the shop for more info. I want one too!

romille,
I'd recommend getting some template plastic & a good marking tool (Crayola Ultra Clean markers are my fave). Trace the pattern right-side up onto the template plastic & cut it out. Then, trace using the template onto the fabric & background (for the background tracing, I mark a couple reference points and then masking tape the pattern & fabric to a large window or glass sliding door.

Because I am just learning needle turn, I use lots of pins.That's not true to the needle turn method, but I was finding at first that without the pins, I was ending up with a very distorted piece. As I've gotten more practice, I'm able to use fewer pins.

I also love Roxanne's EZ Squeezie Glue Baste-It. Sometimes I will use it to baste an item to the background, but I've found it most useful for turning rounded corners. Those little buggers completely bewilder me. I use the water soluble glue to keep the edges from fraying away to nothing while I'm getting the edge set in place.

(The flowers are just a simple basting stitch, so you should be fine cutting those with scissors from the pattern.)

Needle turn. On the flowers can I see embroidered stemans

could be what we used to call"shadow quilting".I did pillow top years ago of an eagle in flight and learned how to do the shadow quilting make the pillow.

It looks to me to be the Eleanor Burns method of sewing the interfacing and batting on to the right side of the fabric and then turning it inside out. I use this method whenever I appliqué birds or animals.

I don't want to butt in about needle turn but if you have any questions about it, I'd be happy to try and help. I teach a needle turn class locally and am working on a pretty ornate applique quilt at the moment.

True needle turn does not use glue and pinning should be kept to a minimum. You need a very fine line drawn on the background fabric to guide where the fabric gets turned under and my secret..... drum roll please..... is to use a wooden toothpick to turn under your fabric. Dampen it in your mouth. That causes the wood grain to lift up and catch the fabric easily. Take teeny tiny stitches and only work on short spaces at a time. I do stuff some of the flower petals with thin batting. I don't cut the back of the quilt top to stuff.

If you have any questions, PM me. I'm always happy to help out a new applique quilter. Here's a picture of one of my applique blocks that I'm working on right now. There are 40 different blocks in this quilt, 8"x8", some with 80+ pieces.

Usually the store has a web site and/or a phone number that you can contact them and get the answers you need

There are several different methods for hand appliqueing, including freezer paper, starch & template, needle-turn and back-basting. For projects with relatively large pieces or a minimal number of small pieces, I prefer back-basting. I also use a wooden toothpick for turning the fabric under. My first applique instructor recommended it, and for me, it makes the turning so much easier, especally on points.

My work has a slightly puffy look to it. In fact, someone looked at one of my pictures and asked it I had used trapunto on the paisleys. I could have done reverse applique on them, but chose to leave the layers of fabric to purposely get the puffiness.
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If I were to this that is the way I would do it...but no batting, just nonwoven fusible interfacing......then sew down with mono using a very tiny zigzag.....as you can tell, I am no good at needleturn and this is my way of achieving the look(as close as I can)....without the frustration....( for me anyway)

Needle-turn . . . hands down!

My cousin does needle turn. I've been practicing specifically with small points and inverted (heart) points. My sister loves little stuff and she makes little brooches and attaches them to seniors lapels where she volunteers couple times a week. I do the sewing and she does the attaching.

Looks like needle turn. It does't look flat like other methods.