{week 33} appliqué

I have a craft book addiction – you should see them all! In fact, you can, here you go:

So the last thing I needed was another craft book. But that didn’t stop me buying this one:

It’s a lovely book – it’s spiral bound, which I always like in an instructional book, and the full size patterns are all included in a pocket in the back. I hate it when you have to enlarge a pattern – it’s a real barrier for me to attempting a project. As well as all the instructions you need to learn the basics of appliqué it has lots of inspiring projects and ideas for you to try. I really want to make the coasters as soon as I get some batting. But this week’s project utilises supplies I already have: plain tote bags and fabric.

If you want to join in, you will need:

– plain tote bag
– fabric scraps in patterns and colours that make you happy
– matching or contrasting embroidery thread
– embroidery hoop
– needle and small scissors

I’m using the reverse appliqué technique for this project. I’ll try and explain it as we go along but if you have any questions just ask.

1 ) Draw a circle on the bag of a piece of fabric – I used a small jar as a template.
2 ) Cut squares out of the fabric scraps a centimetre or so larger than the circle.
3 ) Turn the bag inside out. Pin one piece of fabric to the bag – right side facing down. Turn the bag back the other way.
4 ) Draw around the circle template on top of the two layers of fabric.
5 ) Put the bag in the embroidery hoop – only the front of it, if you sew through it all you won’t have a very usable bag!
6 ) Embroider around the circle using a running stitch.
7 ) Remove the bag from the hoop.
8 ) Very very carefully snip away the bag fabric a few millimetres inside your stitched line – don’t cut the fabric underneath. A small sharp pair of scissors work best.
9 ) Repeat as many times as you like. You can tidy up the inside of the bag by trimming the squares down to circles if you like.

If you need any help, let me know in the comments. Happy crafting. x