Virtual Summer School 2021 – Day 4
Saturday 5 June 2021
Pushing the Boundaries of Applique
Tutor: Lesley Bell
Online Times: 10am, 1pm, 3.30pm
A day of learning about how to use free motion appliqué to enhance your designs. We will push the boundaries of traditional appliqué by exploring the use of different fabrics and papers. This will include collaging backgrounds from different papers and fabrics and making these into background ‘fabric’ to apply appliqué images onto.
Lesley will share experiences of using appliqué in my own work over the years and how it has become an integral technique in her designs. She will introduce you to the qualities and pros and cons of different types of bonding webs and how these can be used to best effect. She will demonstrate how to use the each one for background and appliqué. We will spend some time thinking about images and how to transfer/draw these onto the bonding webs. You will then have a go at applying the techniques.
You will need:
- 6 small quilt sandwiches approx 6 x 6” square / rectangular, with top, wadding and backing (Lesley likes Thermolam for wadding- it’s thin but holds it’s shape)
- Selection of small pieces of fabric for appliqué pieces (Have different types to try out such as lace, organza, old clothing scraps , old table linens, tweeds etc.)
- Several small images to use for appliqué
- Some nice papers : Your own printed papers/dyed, pages from an old book , printed napkins, tissue paper, wrapping paper, newspaper etc.
- Sewing machine with free machine foot (You can use a walking foot if your appliqué shape isn’t too complicated. Have your machine set up for sewing.)
- Titanium Topstitch machine needle 70 (10) /80 (12) (this is not essential but if you want to try using paper I find it’s the best)
- Thread such as wonderfil # 50 wt/ metler # 50wt and embroidery thread – a selection to test what works best for you (You just need 1 spool you don’t need to buy loads)
- Fusible webs: Heat and Bond (This usually comes on a 17” roll have enough to cover each quilt sandwich 0.5m approx), bondaweb and steam-a -seam lite for the appliqué shapes.
- Usual sewing kit including small sharp scissors for cutting out appliqué shapes
- Felt tip pen, such as a sharpie
- Iron and Board
- Greaseproof paper to protect iron
- Acrylic wax (optional)
The live elements of this workshop will be recorded and made available as a replay. You will have access for at least a month.