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.
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″
Here it is folded in half and stitched down
This one is 1 1/2″. Press wrong sides together, like a binding strip
Here it is pressed
Stitch down with a straight stitch. All raw edges together. I used 1/4″ seam here
Stitched – ready to iron
Now iron!
Do NOT trim before ironing! In this sample I did trim before ironing – OOPS!
In this photo I trimmed the end before I ironed – DO NOT DO THIS! IRON FIRST!
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?
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!
Stitch using approximately 1/4″ seam allowance, all raw edges lined up
PRESS – this is the top of the leaf. See how much length I left?
Pressed – determine how long you want the stem at the bottom
Carefully trim and fold the end over for a nice finish
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.
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
I used a button-hole stitch on this one, sometimes I use a tiny zig-zag
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
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.
Like knowing what NOT to do.
When I know there is the potential to have a stumble, I try to alert you in my tutorials!