Applying applique shapes to a quilted background

I showed you how to prepare and cut the circles and heart shapes for the Valentine wall quilt yesterday. Today, we’ll put everything together to complete the quilt top.

Now, it’s time to fuse the design shapes on the quilted background fabric. I tried several different arrangements of the shapes, and here’s the one I finally decided on. It’s a good idea to take a picture of your design before you iron the shapes to the background. It makes a good reference when it’s time to press the shapes in place.

The circles go on the background first. Remove the paper backing from the circles. I like to use a pin or needle to score the paper backing, making it easier to remove. A thin layer of fusible web will remain on the fabric.

Arrange the circles as desired on the UNIQUE Quilting applique pressing sheet. This reusable, double sided pressing sheet is perfect for fusible web projects. It’s made from glass fiber with a Teflon coating that withstands heat up to 280 °C (530 °F). If you happen to get some fusible web stuck on the pressing sheet, you just scrape it off or wipe it off with a damp cloth.

You can arrange some of the circles so they go both over and under the larger circles. Cut a slit through one side of the circle, and then place as desired.

Set your Oliso PRO TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron to medium heat with no steam. Place the circles in place on the UNIQUE Quilting applique pressing sheet. Press where they overlap, for 2 seconds. Now you can lift them off as one unit and place them on the quilted background fabric.

Press the circle shapes onto the quilted background fabric, holding the iron in place for 6 seconds. Complete directions for fusing the shapes on fabric are on the package of the HeatnBond EZ PRINT FEATHERLITE iron-on adhesive sheets.

Remove the paper backing from the backs of the small hearts.

Place the small hearts on the larger heart shapes. Place the heart shapes on the UNIQUE Quilting applique pressing sheet and fuse the small hearts to the larger ones, holding the iron in place for 2 seconds (medium heat, no steam).

Remove the paper backing from the backs of the large hearts and place all the hearts on the background fabric as desired. Using the Oliso PRO TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron set to medium heat and no steam, press them on the quilted background fabric by holding the iron in place for 6 seconds on each heart shape.

I hope you come back tomorrow to learn how to stitch all the applique shapes on the quilted background of your Valentine’s Day wall quilt!

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: Cutting out hearts and circles for applique

Go to part 4: Stitching heart and circle shapes to a quilted background | Applique