One – Applique of the Leaf

You’ve been asking for it and here it finally is!  A tutorial for how I like to appliqué vines and similar quilt elements.  I am using the pattern “One” by Quiltworx for my example.

The first thing you need to do is determine how wide you want your vein.  I have 2 samples here.  Captains Wheel is the first one, it has a very thin “rope”.  The next is ONE and I used a wider cut strip for this one.  I make a sample out of scrap fabric and just do the steps to see what I will like.  Be sure to use contrasting fabrics for your sample.

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This is “rope” on my Captain’s Wheel quilt. I have placed the dime so you can see how small this one finishes. This strip was cut 1″
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Here it is folded in half and stitched down
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This one is 1 1/2″. Press wrong sides together, like a binding strip
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Here it is pressed
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Stitch down with a straight stitch. All raw edges together. I used 1/4″ seam here
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Stitched – ready to iron
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Now iron!
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Do NOT trim before ironing!  In this sample I did trim before ironing – OOPS!
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In this photo I trimmed the end before I ironed – DO NOT DO THIS! IRON FIRST!
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See what happened, after I pressed?  The angle is wrong!  Now I have 2 options, I can take the whole thing off and restitch — or – I can just trim the end of the leaf a little bit?  What do you think I did?
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Now place the second side, leave each end a little long so you can fold it over for a nice finish.  If you are comparing my sample to the pattern you will notice I switched sides for the long/short edges.  It’s your quilt!

 

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Stitch using approximately 1/4″ seam allowance, all raw edges lined up
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PRESS – this is the top of the leaf.  See how much length I left?
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Pressed – determine how long you want the stem at the bottom
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Carefully trim and fold the end over for a nice finish
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The stem at the bottom of the leaf  after I have folded the end for a nice finish.  I did take this back to machine and finish stitching to the end at the top and bottom.
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Choose your thread colors, I wanted mine to blend, you may want them to accent. You may also want to use your favorite invisible thread
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I used a button-hole stitch on this one, sometimes I use a tiny zig-zag
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This is what the back looks like. The white straight stitch is from the first line of stitching I did. Then you see the yellow button-hole stitch
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And ONE is DONE!

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.  I plan to do a few more so if you have any gentle critiques please post them in the comments.

Remember I am available to teach at your local quilt shop or your quilt guild.  You can find my schedule here.

 

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