Cutting out hearts and circles for applique

Yesterday, I showed you how to prepare the background for the appliqued hearts wall quilt. Now let’s get all the applique shapes ready.

Prepare the heart shapes

Open the PDF file containing the applique heart shapes. Print the shapes on a sheet of HeatnBond EZ PRINT FEATHERLITE iron-on adhesive, following the directions on the package for using the fusible web in your inkjet printer. I used 3 Heart 1, 4 Heart 2, 2 Heart 3 and 5 Heart 4. If you wish to follow my design, you’ll need to print 4 sheets of fusible web. You’ll have some extra heart shapes that you can use for another design. If you don’t want to print on the fusible web, you can trace the heart shapes from the PDF file on HeatnBond Featherlite fusible web sheets or on a HeatnBond Feather Lite 1 yd piece of fusible web.

Cut out the paper shapes leaving about ⅛” around the outside edges.

Spray each of your chosen heart fabrics with Mary Ellen’s Best Press Starch Alternative and then press with the Oliso PRO TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron. This removes all the wrinkles from the fabric and gives it a little extra body, making cutting easier.

Set your iron to medium heat with no steam. Put the cut-out shape, shiny (fusible) side down, on the wrong side of the heart fabrics. Place and hold the iron on the paper liner for 2 seconds. Detailed instructions for pressing are on the package of the HeatnBond EZ PRINT FEATHERLITE iron-on adhesive 8½” x 11 sheets.

Cut out each shape on the drawn lines.

Circles

I cut the circles using the Omnigrip OmniArc Circle Cutter Ruler. Using this ruler, you can make finished-size circles from 4″ to 12″, as well as half circles, quarter circles and arcs. There are easy-to-read angle markings and the ruler is transparent, with neon green double-sight lines that seem to glow on both light and dark fabrics.

Here’s a video that explains how to use the OmniArc Circle Cutter Ruler.

For one 8″ circle and one 6″ circle, press an 8½” square of HeatnBond EZ PRINT FEATHERLITE iron-on adhesive on the back of a 9″ square of circle fabric. I used one color of fabric for all the circles, but you can use different fabrics if you wish.

Fold the fabric in half and then in half again, to make a 4½” square.

Place the OmniArc Circle Cutter ruler on the fabric so the ruler guide lines are on the folded edges of the fabric. If you’re using fabric without fusible web, you can use your Komfort KUT Rotary Cutter to cut the circles. But the fusible web makes the fabric a little to heavy for that, so I drew lines on the fabric for the 6″ and 8″ circles with a fabric marking tool.

Then I cut the circles with scissors. Repeat to make the desired number of circles. My design uses 2 – 8″ circles and 3 – 6″ circles.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you how to put the hearts and circles together to create the Valentine wall quilt.

This is part 2 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 1: Using hand-dyed fabrics for a Valentine wall quilt

Go to part 3: Applying applique shapes to a quilted background