Friday, January 25, 2008

Well I did break down, but only a little. . . . .


Does that count if my stash acquisition is a small one? I have 3 baby quilts waiting in the "wings", so this seemed a wonderful way to complete one of them. Yes?

I have thought that I will make Baltimore Blues from Sindy Rodenmayer, at www.fatcatpatterns.com. So being very much at the beginning, I trying to decide if I should hand applique or machine applique? And if machine, raw edge or using steam-a-seam? Thus I made samples of each of these to try to get a feeling. This is also perhaps not the best fabric to use, but the color and pattern seemed to work really well. So - what do you think? I'll tell you what I think, after the photos.





You have to ignore the rumpled background square, as that didn't stay smooth, but the idea was still, did I like raw edge applique for this setting? The steam-a-seam heart seems to be the very nicest. The however part of that is that it is definitely heavier, even using very light weight interfacing. And then there will be 2 more appliques on top of this one. Oh, it is a puzzlement. I think I'm leaning toward the steam-a-seam as it will be a wall hanging and the weight won't matter too much.

3 comments:

Greenmare said...

that is sweet sweet fabric! not a break down at all, you saved yourself from saying "why didn't I get that??"

Anonymous said...

I like to use steam a seam for applique as well. I don't know if you do this, but I cut the centers out of the steam a seam applique shape before I iron it to the fabric. As a result, only the edges of the fabric have the steam a seam. I try to use as little as possible as fusible appliques can take away from the softness of the quilt. This method takes more time but it's worth it. Hope this helps. Canadian Gail

Barb said...

LOL...yes a small breakdown is OK...especially in this case! As for your thoughts on hand or machine applique...for a baby quilt I tend to go with *machine* because it will have *many times* in the laundry...and machine applique tends to hold up better! I also like the suggestion by "Canadian Gail" to trim out the center of the "steam a seam" for eliminating the stiffness! GOOD IDEA GAIL! Barb in PA