Secrets to Quilting an Appliqué Quilt

hi I'm Linda with American patchwork and quilting and I'm here with Angela Walters ambassador for handi quilter and we're going to talk today about appliquéd quilts because I think that's a big challenge for people how do I quilt something once I've done all the applique absolutely what's the big question right to quilt within or without you know I've asked that all the time should I quilt inside the applique and honestly the short answer is it depends on what your preferences are sure you can imagine how much they love hearing that but for myself and my own preferences if it's a larger piece of applique so such as this quilt it has this big block and right usable applique then I don't mind quilting within the applique so I'll just add some echo lines but I'll keep the quilting within the applique fairly simple because I don't want to take away from the design that it makes and I don't want to you know really try to force a bunch of stuff in here but if I do want to add just a little bit of detail but a little fun I might add something like this where the echo aligns with some pebbles inside so nothing too crazy but just something that really enhances that shape now I also like to echo outside the applique as well okay so anything I can do to help this separate from the filler design really help it stand out on its own which this isn't so much a problem right because it's a big piece but I even with smaller pieces I would do the same okay so here's another example of another quilt I applicate can you tell I like the fusible okay it's a lot easier for me but what I've done is you know have this kind of leaf shape well again with the echoing of outside just to help separate it from the more dense filler alright just to help separate it and then I do like to add a little echo lines inside I always joke that I have to keep the quilting inside simple so I can go a little bit crazy on the outside of the applique so a balance exactly and I actually have a quilt top I can show you that would be great I'd love to see it on something more traditional and I think it's hard to imagine what to do when it's already quilted because it's already done so you can see here it is a more traditional applique pattern beautiful for time and so what would I do with this well again I would probably echo around the outside of it just to really kind of help separate it from the filler now if you have a little bit of a larger pieces such as the leaf and you feel like it needs more quilting maybe something in there yeah I might add an echo line or just a simple you know vein in there just something to help tack that area down without taking away from the beautiful piece in the look that it makes now do you think on an applicant like this it's a little more traditional if I apt look or if I quilt the background a lot do I get a little more dimension out of the application yeah and I think that works on no matter what type of quote you're working with you really want that to kind of pop off I mean if you've taken the time to cut out that piece and lay out the fabrics just so you really want that to shine so the denser quilting will really make that pop out a little bit more and plus we know I love to quote things of death so that works out great for me with something this multicolored what color thread would you use well you know when it comes a thread selection again it's personal preference but when I'm looking at a quilt like this I would probably match the thread to the background since I'm going to be quilting right along that edge now if you're dealing with a applique quilt with a lot of different colors or two very different like you have a white and a black like it's going to be very noticeable hmm then I would try a monofilament thread okay and this is what it looks like now it looks white on the roll but it's actually clear so clear I can't find the end there it is and what you do is you could quilt with this and you wouldn't see it on the quilt so I really would make that part disappear so if you run over the applique on accident have a little bauble it won't be as noticeable now the rest of your quilting won't show either so that's good or bad depending on how you're working on it so get texture but really not a ton shine and not the design or if you want to just use this to quilt and really kind of stabilize applique and then go with your colored thread you could do that as well so either way so this is a good tool if you're kind of stuck on picking out a color now with monofilament thread do you have to change your tension or anything on your machine it depends on the machine you're using and the normal thread that you use you might want to loosen it up a bit how you can tell if it's too tight is if it's snapping off at the needle okay or if you're seeing that bobbin thread pulled up I've seen that that's what I wondered if that happens you want to loosen it up just a bit but make sure you're not losing tension quality on the back so but it really they're really nice quality polyester threads and so you shouldn't have too much trouble with it hopefully it's great so a little experimentation and they're good to ride exactly thank you so much Angela I really appreciate these tips I think it's going to make things so cheesier next time I try I hope this helps you build your confidence to tackle your next application

Channel: American Patchwork & Quilting

Views: 40,026

Rating: 4.8968482 out of 5

Keywords: American Patchwork & Quilting, sewing, quilting, Handi Quilter, longarm quilting, longarm quilting designs, machine quilting, applique quilts, applique

Id: XE0F4FCmerQ

Length: 4min 40sec (280 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 01 2015