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Stitching straight line applique for instant quilting satisfaction!

Stitching straight line applique for instant quilting satisfaction!

by Tania Denyer

Do you have all your applique pieces ready? Check out yesterday’s post if you missed it.

To begin quilting the Magic Mushroom table runner, sandwich your table runner by placing the backing fabric on a flat surface, right side down.

Next, add your batting and smooth gently and try not to pull too much on the batting or it will become distorted.

Finally add your pieced top and fused applique top, again smoothing gently in place.

Aren’t the Banyan Batiks beautiful? I particularly love the Sun colorway of the Daisy Chain collection. This collection is shipping out in February 2019, perfect for spring projects! Check out the other attractive colorways: Aqua, Begonia, Magenta, and Violet.

Quilt top, cotton batting and backing fabric

Quilt top, cotton batting and backing fabric

Use your preferred type of basting, should you wish to secure the piece further. It’s a fairly small project so you should not require an excess of basting.

The first step is to stitch in the ditch to secure the piece. You may also choose basting stitches for your ditch quilting and remove them later.

Detail showing ditch quilting and straight line applique stitching.

Detail showing ditch quilting and straight line applique stitching.

The next step is to outline stitch your applique pieces. I chose a simple straight line applique.

I started by setting my stitch length to about 1.0 to begin with a small backstitch and then moved the stitch length to 2.4 and returned to 1.0 at the end, again with a little back stitch to secure the thread.

It’s also a good idea to reduce the pressure on your walking foot for the outline applique. Take your time with the stitching and you may also set your stitch speed for slightly slower, if your machine allows for it, so that you can maintain control.

When selecting the thread for the straight line applique, I chose colors that blended with the fabrics. I did try a sample using a darker thread for the applique but I was not happy with the result. It’s often a good idea to audition your thread choice on a bit of scrap fabric before stitching on the table runner itself.

Gütermann threads I chose for quilting and applique.

Gütermann threads I chose for quilting and applique.

I did press the piece as I appliqued. I often stopped to smooth the fabric and make sure I had not run into any wrinkling on the backing. Taking these extra steps as you go will hopefully save you from too much ‘reverse’ stitching!

Join me tomorrow for the next step: adding simple grid quilting to the remainder of the table runner.

Close up of straight line applique

Close up of straight line applique

This is part 3 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 2: Fantastic fusible applique with HeatnBond Light

Go to part 4: Echo and modern grid quilting: how these make Magic Mushrooms the star!

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5 comments

Lori Morton January 31, 2019 - 9:29 pm

Thank you for all the great Applique tips in this lil’ series… I think I’m going to make this Tablerunner…so fun!

Reply
Tania February 1, 2019 - 10:15 am

Hi Lori 🙂 I am happy you found the tips useful… I’d love to see your version, you can tag me on instagram (if you are on instagram) @quiltsocial @iamgingerq and if you have any questions, let me know.

Reply
Deb lebherz January 9, 2019 - 8:52 pm

Thanks for sharing. Thanks for the giveaway.

Reply
Peg January 9, 2019 - 1:35 am

I love the applique tips.

Reply
Tania Denyer January 9, 2019 - 7:56 pm

Thanks Peg… I use this in a lot of my work.

Reply

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