Venturing into the world of Applique
Applique (encaje de aplicación) is a technique for making pictures out of cloth. I have admired my neighbor’s (Theresia) many wall hangings done in applique and expressed an interest in learning the skill. She has taken me under her wing and is now guiding me in the fine art of applique. We decided to get me going on a 4-block wall hanging with a relatively simple floral pattern. The overall piece will finish out to about 3’ by 3’ or just under a square meter.
She likes to use butcher paper for forming her applique pieces, then arranges them on the background piece to her satisfaction. She then taps into her endless reserve of patience to hand stitch each piece into its proper place. I am presently working on my first block, and am even using her hand stitching technique to stitch my pieces in place – although I suspect that machine stitching is in my future.
One thing she has impressed upon me is the importance of building a hoard of fabric pieces in all colors and in every shade and texture of all colors – even tiny pieces may be useful at some point in the future. She said this while we sorted through her stash of several boxes looking for just the right shade of brown for my Brown Eyed Susans. Now I understand why so many of my suppliers offer bundles of small pieces of fabric, either color coordinated or in random large packs.
Here is a link to one of my fabric packs – the supplier offers your choice in size of pieces in the Charm Pack, or you can choose a specific fabric in larger sizes.
encaje de aplicación