Time saving applique method using HeatnBond EZ-Print Lite

Yesterday we used a SCHMETZ twin needle to sew down the bias strips on our shamrock wallhanging. Over the past three days I’ve shown you how easy and quick it could be to make a shamrock stained glass quilt top using helpful tools such as HEATNBOND_® Lite Iron-On Adhesive Sheets, the HEIRLOOM Bias Tape Maker – 6mm (¼”) and HEATNBOND_®  Quilter’s Edge Iron-On Adhesive Tape – 6mm x 13.7m.

Today we’re going to use another great tool from HEATNBOND to do some fusible applique!

In Monday’s post I included a PDF document and asked you to print it out and trace it onto the adhesive sheet.

Drawing or tracing is a great way to prepare a piece that will be used in a mosaic or stained glass or for a machine applique project when you only have a few pieces to prepare. An alternative to drawing or tracing is to use HEATNBOND_® EZ Print™ Lite Iron-On Adhesive 10 pcs – 22 x 28cm (8½” x 11″). These sheets are especially made for inkjet printers. It’s a great product to use when you need to make multiple copies of an applique piece or design.

For this project you’ll need:

materials

• 16” x 16” piece of fabric for the background
• Multicolored fabric scraps for shamrocks
• 1 package of HEATNBOND_®  EZ-Print™ Lite Iron-On Adhesive 10 pcs – 22 x 28cm (8½” x 11″)
• Shamrock PDF file (download below by clicking on the image)

• Ensure when placing a sheet of EZ-Print™ adhesive into your printer that you insert it so that it will print on the paper side (please follow the printing directions included in the package). The printing results are as clear as on regular paper.

Fusing the adhesive to the fabrics

• Once printed, cut the individual shamrocks from the printed sheet, leaving at least ¼” around each shape.
• follow the temperature recommendations on the package to press the adhesive sheets, paper side up onto the wrong side of your selected fabrics.
• Ensure that you press the adhesive sheet to the wrong side of the fabric for only a couple of seconds.
• Carefully cut out the shamrock shapes following the lines.

I’m going to make this little shamrock project using an array of rainbow-colored fabrics.

The placement options for the shamrock pieces are limitless!  You could place them staggered, in a straight line, or in any other arrangement that appeals to you! I’ll make a circle with mine.

Once you’ve decided on a layout, remove the paper backing and fuse your applique pieces to the background fabric using a hot iron, applying heat for only one or 2 seconds.

After fusing the applique pieces to the background fabric, I’ll machine applique the pieces to the background using a double blind hem stitch.

Of course, you may use any stitch you choose to applique your shamrocks.

Once you’ve completed your machine appliqueing, you can then layer and quilt and finish the project. You can see how using the HEATNBOND®  EZ-Print™ Lite Iron-On Adhesive to do the applique makes this a super quick and fun project!

If you’ll be having a St. Patrick’s Day feast you could use this little quilt project as a table centerpiece!

Come back tomorrow to see how to do “hexagons” – “Paul” style!