Embroidered Applique - Love Birds
I have been asked by several people to
teach my method of Embroidered Applique Art, but as I work 2 jobs already – one
FT, the other PT, there is just not enough of me to go around. I am currently working on my larger pieces as
a wedding gift for my niece. I usually
just free-form cut my applique figures from fabric scraps, but I wanted this to
be more defined. I had the idea of what
I wanted to use as the design starting point – more on that later - but I wanted to ensure the design would fit a
standard frame and mat size. This really
cuts down on the expense and frustration when completing a piece. I settled on a gray frame with a charcoal
mat, so I did the background ‘blank’ in grays and silvers.
Step 1:
Cut a piece of craft felt 1-2 inches larger on each side that the
finished size.
Step 2:
Arrange scraps of fabric on the
felt in any desired fashion, making sure
none of the felt backing shows through – I overlap a quarter to half inch on
the pieces.
Step 3:
You can either pin in place or use a glue stick to hold the fabric in
place. I should mention, this is a raw
edge technique, without any fuse medium to hold the fabric down,
You could use a fuse or spray basting, but I makes the hand embroidery harder to do.
Step 4:
Randomly stitch the fabric in place using several colors of coordinating
thread. In this case, I used 2 shades of
gray, an off-white, and some silver metallic.
For a piece this size, 12 x 16, I used about 4 bobbins – 1
per color to stitch the base.
Step 5:
Determine the boundaries of your design by setting your mat over the
base and pin-mark the size. This is
important. For example, an 8x10 mat, for
a 5x7 photo will have an opening this is
only 4.5 x 6.5! So that is your design
area and plan accordingly. Live in learn
from my mistakes!
Step 6:
Start auditioning colors for your project and cut out the shapes.
Step 7:
Pin in place, keeping in mind the mat size opening.
Step 8:
Pick out your floss colors and start stitching!
Design Inspiration for the Love Birds
My first thought was to make the project
using the bird design from an
1860-ish Red & Green Appliqué Quilt having Pomegranate Plants, with a Bird
Border. The original quilt was made by
the family of Pat Birchall, of
Endicott, NY. She inherited it from her
mother-in-law. The quilt was part of the
New York Quilt Project 1988-89, an effort organized by the American Folk Art
Museum in which more than six thousand quilts made before 1940 were documented.
Forty-five “quilt days” were held throughout the state over a twenty-one month
period. This quilt was documented on
9/21/1989, with the notation OWE-84. Pat
lent the quilt for a vintage quilts exhibit I curated for the 23rd annual
Binghamton Sertoma
Million Dollar Antique Show held in 2005 at the Binghamton University Event
Center.
In doing some design source research for
a small 1885-86 redwork
crazy patchwork piece in my collection, I came across a Tidy in Crochet in
Peterson’s September 1876 Magazine .
The design concept is more what I had in mind as the wedding gift.
I ended up using the bird from Pat’s quilt and the arrangement from the tidy. My floss is picked out, and I am ready to start stitching!
Their names and wedding date will be embroidered on the branch the birds will be resting on. I am also making one for myself to celebrate my marriage, back in 1995, to my husband Kris. The finished pieces will be posted once they are complete.
