Tool time with Cherry...ohhhh wait till you see the WISDOM in this!

Hello! I’m Cherry of Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio

and want to thank Madame Samm for inviting me to share my favorite tool…

I looked around my studio trying to decide “which” of my favorites to talk about,

since I have several I absolutely love, and finally settled on The Appliqué Pressing Sheet.

One of my favorite techniques is raw-edge-appliqué, and this sheet is a must have

– you can preassemble your designs with no guessing about placement

– no mistakes in fabric choice, whether for the appliqués or the background fabrics.

Let me show you how I use it, with my little owl

I start with the appliqué templates that have been reversed for a raw-edge finish,

and trace them on to the paper side of, in this case, Pellon Wonder Under,

using a fine-tip Sharpie marker

Fuse the traced templates to the wrong side of your fabric, fusible side down

Then cut on the traced line

You don’t have to have one of these,

but I love the firm ironing surface which allows me to pin everything in place

Lay your design on the mat and pin it down

Place The Appliqué Pressing Sheet over it – yeah, pin this one down too

Preassemble the eyes, starting with the “white of the eye”

Pin, and then “tack” down with a hot dry iron

Add the “eyes” and press

The Appliqué Pressing Sheet gets very hot, so be careful.

Allow everything to cool down, then peel off the eyes.

I like to clean the Sheet afterwards with this fancy “tulle”

Finish the eyes, peel, and set aside

Build the rest of the owl, laying the templates from bottom to top

Peel the owl off The Appliqué Pressing Sheet and remember to clean your sheet

 

Voila! a cute little owl ready to audition backgrounds…

How about a winter scene?

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Maybe some fresh white...

...or, snowflakes?

I think I like the clean, fresh look of the white fabric. I like to spray Sizing (bugs like starch!) to my background piece as a stabilizer for when I blanket stitch around the appliqué pieces.

Spray it to death!!! Yes, it can almost stand by itself it's so stiff, lol!

Center your background fabric over the design 

Fuse the owl in place - don't forget to add the little leaves

Now it's ready for some pretty little blanket stitching.

This was so much fun!

I hope you’ll give The Appliqué Pressing Sheet a try,

and if you like the little owl, come by my blog and get a copy of my pattern.

Happy appliquéing,

                         

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