Not entirely what applique planet I have been living on, I had never heard of back basting let alone front basting!! When Liza posted about her front basting method
here, and then Gay posted a link showing Liza actually stitching this method
here, I just had to give it a go for myself. Not one to shrink from a challenge I thought I would try it out on my second coral tree!!!
Up until now I had always been a freezer paper, finger press and pin girl. I had already cut out the freezer paper for this tree and drawn around the freezer paper for the outline. I'm not sure how Liza draws her outline onto her fabric, but next time I will put the pattern over my lightbox, then place the fabric over that, then draw around the outline, thus skipping the freezer paper altogether. (Any hints Liza?)
Once the outline is drawn, pin the shape to the background fabric (I didn't need many pins to hold it in place)...
(Once again with this complicated coral tree shape I am only cutting around the fabric as I get to it, to help avoid very frayed edges. With most shapes I would simply cut around the entire shape in one go, then pin and stitch it onto the background.)
Once the shape was pinned to the background, I used my freemotion (darning) foot to stitch over the drawn line. The one thing you have to be careful about with the freemotion method is that your stitches don't become too small or they will be very hard to unpick!!!
Here is the coral tree front basted (outline stitched) and ready to be appliqued....
To begin appliqueing simply unpick a few outline stitches...as Liza explained the fabric now has a memory of where the outline stitch was, so when you turn the edge under with your needle the fabric turns under very naturally and easily. If you click on these photo's they will enlarge to see closer detail.
Once you have appliqued around to the next lot of outline stitches, simply unpick a few more and continue with the needleturn applique. I found as I unpicked the outline stitches that it really helped to pull the thread left hanging loose on the back (bobbin thread) through to the front and cut off both the outline stitch threads. This avoids having the back thread getting tangled up in your applique stitches.
And that is it! I truly hope I haven't confused you further, I am not the best at explaining details, which is why I try and put in a heap of step-by-step photos!!!
One thing I do know is that I am truly hooked by this front basting method and will definitely be stitching this way from now on....thank you Liza.
Cathy xo
Cabbage Quilts
might have to give this method a go, it looks interesting
ReplyDeletecheers
Christine
Wow, thanks for sharing Cathy! That’s definitely something I want to try myself!
ReplyDeleteI use the needleturn applique method, which involves a lot of fingerpressing and basting.
I recently bought the Lollypop Trees pattern. Still collecting Kaffe fabrics and deciding on what to buy for the background, but I got scared off a bit by the amount of fabric needed.
I hope to make it my 2011 project!
Thanks for the pics Cathy. Looks like a great method for the more complicated shapes such as the coral trees.
ReplyDeleteI had already decided to give Liza's method a go but Thanks to your Tutorial I understand it alot better & will definetly use this method on my next Lollipops block...Thanks so much Cathy.
ReplyDeletecheers
Thank you for sharing your process, Cathy. It looks like a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteOooh, I like!I have read about it, but never really understood it. Thanks for showing it! Very useful.
ReplyDeleteVery informative Cathy...great pictures and easy to understand. I will try this when I finally get to start my Lollypop Trees!
ReplyDeleteThat looks lovely...
ReplyDeleteI'll have to practice my free motion but I may just have to give this a try. My biggest problem is that I have arthritis in my right hand (I'm a lefty) and it gets painful to hold the pieces in place in order to stitch.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cathy for sharing!!
I used to travel by plane a lot and this was my favorite method for prepping my "in-flight" projects!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU! I've been doing back basting for ages (and love it) and haven't been able to figure out the whole front basting concept. Now I get it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the very clear pictures of your method. I really think that I would like to try this method. I use the old tried and true method of freezer paper and glue but of course it is usually difficult to get the inner loops nice and this definitely looks doable.
ReplyDeleteWOW, Cathy I hadnt even considered putting my darning foot on and feed dogs down to "free motion" baste. DUH!! Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteI trace the lollys onto template plastic, cut out each template and trace around each using a pencil. I have just discovered the chalk pencil by Bohin which has a fine white "lead" and doesnt break. I bought it at the Houston show and will be putting them up for sale on our site.
When I find a gizmo this good, I have to offer it.
What wonderful directions, I also can't wait to see the beautiful tree that you're working on. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pictorial review. I feel a little more confident about tackling the trees.
ReplyDeleteI am with Liza on the darning foot DUH!
ReplyDeleteI knew with the way I did the stitching on an easy shape, that a complicated one like these trees was not. gonna. happen...
I confess that I am not actually working on one of Kim's fantastic patterns, I am making an appliquéd design from my own imagination, but if not for this blog and especially Kim's Lollipop tree design, I might not have even dreamed up my project! Not to mention all the tips and tricks I have learned here. So I do feel a connection!
When I saw Liza's method of front basting my mind immediately leapt to this piece of the pattern. I wondered if it would be too hard to do all of those twists and turns by machine? You've shown us that it IS possible. Thanks so much for taking the time to take such wonderful pics and giving such a good explanation of the step by stwep process.
ReplyDeleteYour tree looks fabulous! :)
Thank you so much everyone. Thanks Liza for the info on how you trace around your shapes. I will definitely be looking out for those pencils!!! xo
ReplyDeleteNot sure my old (OLD) machine would do that accurate of stitching, but your directions are really clear. LOVE your tree fabric--fabulous, as is your other red one! Can hardly wait to see your panel completed!
ReplyDeletei did one test of this but hand basted. I want to try it with the machine basting as I think that will make a difference on the 'memory' part. Thank you for the detailed photos they are GREAT!
ReplyDeleteIt is thanks to THIS method that I finally can "needle turn":)
ReplyDeleteThank you Liza for having told us about it and thank you Cathy for this very nice explanation!!!
Wow Cathy! Thank you for your detailed and clear explanation of this method! Those tree shapes had me intimidated, now I am ready to dive in and give them a go!
ReplyDeleteLove your fabric too!!!
Thank you Liza for the tip about the new pencil.
Great detailed pictures. I think I will try this method and see if I like it. Your tree looks great, doing it this way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Cathy, it is really clear & instructive. I think I've got one of those machine foot gadget. I'll sure to try this when I start my applique again.
ReplyDeleteLove your fabric for the coral tree!! Kim McL
That's exactly how I imagined doing it, I couldn't stand lifting the foot up with the feed dogs up. I have to try this and one other method I've been wanting to try. I loved seeing the close up where you can see the holes left by the stitches.
ReplyDeleteCathy you are 7 degrees of awesome! Thanks for the photos - I'm a person that doesn't always get words but show me a pic and lights go on!
ReplyDelete- how do you know where to position the piece on the background fabric? that's my biggest challenge. I don't want to mark the background fabric too...sometimes it doesn't come out all the way. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous "Anonymous" post. If you have to have the applique piece EXACTLY placed on the background (for example, a tree that has to cover an already-placed tree leaf), it seems pretty impossible to get it right on the mark because the applique piece is oversized. Any thoughts on this from anyone?
ReplyDeleteKathy Webb
When the freezer paper template is still on top, you could place it over a light box or under an overlay then pin it before doing the basting. That's my thought on the how part if you don't want to mark the background.
ReplyDeleteI dont mark the backgrounds at all. I fold the background into quarters and iron so that there is a + crease. I loosely pin the pattern tissue over the background on one side or the top or the bottom, then I slip the appl pieces into place. I wiggle them and push them until they are in the right spot under the tissue. Then I pin the appliques in place, remove the tissue and then baste.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this toot, Cathy! ; ) This is just as I had imagined it. I too thought free motion basting would be the best approach...plus, it would help my free motion skills. That's a win-win! Now if there were just MORE hours in the day...?!
ReplyDeleteWorth a try for sure. I would like to know how Lucy gets the pieces marked.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking the time to share this. i'm a freezer paper girl but this looks like a great method. definitely going to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I'll have to try this if I ever get a machine. Thanks for the clear instructions.
ReplyDeleteRidiculously cool method
ReplyDelete