Appliques 101 {without an embroidery machine}

My fancy little embroidery machine can do some pretty smooth appliques. But this RAINY weekend and week I decided to be creative & try my hand at my own little creations on my new sewing machine. If you are a perfectionist this style may not suit you. It's not going to look like a "machine applique" but it will be cute and won't require an expensive machine to accomplish.

Here's what you'll need:

• Wonder Under or a comparable product like Heat 'n Bond LITE both can be found at Hancocks or JoAnns and both are an adhesive webbing {think giant sheets of Stitch Witch} with paper on one side that peels off. Both can be bought by the yard. 1/2 a yard will get you A LOT of appliques!
• A tearaway stabilizer like Tear-Easy which can also be found at JoAnns or Hancocks and is probably right by the Wonder Under... this will go under your shirt to stabilize your zig-zag stitches. It might be a little pricey, if you can find a tear-away stabilizer on a bolt w/ the Wonder Under it's a LOT cheaper by the yard. It's also great to have around... I stabilize all my button holes with it! Just make sure it's a "tear away".
• Thread in coordinating colors of your fabric scraps
• Buttons will make great wheels or eyes! {SOMEONE please do an OWL and show me!}
• fabric scraps
• iron
• sewing machine with a zigzag stitch--- I'm not sure there's such thing as a sewing machine without zig zag so if you have a sewing machine you're in business!

First make sure you wash and dry your shirt, blanket, towel, or whatever you are appliqueing. The cute little kimono shirt JM had on with the train came in a 2 pack from Target {Circo brand with all the onesies {of course I can't find it online} they were 2 for $7.99}. Thanks, cousin Melissa... we used our gift card to secure these little precious numbers!

While you're washing & drying your garment, I recommend you browse through clip art for images. The train I made up in my mind, the camper I found here and thought of MommaSissy & Courtney and their wild RV adventure! Here's my "inspiration" for the RV!

Next, you'll want to cut out your design on paper and make a stencil/template of it. You will want to keep in mind that your design will be "mirror imaged" when you iron it on your garment. Also keep the scale in mind... the long sleeve tee is a 3t and the design is about 3.5" x 3.5". The train below is closer to 2" x 1.5"!

Iron the Wonder Under to the wrong side of your scraps. Leaving the paper on one side. You will peel the paper off and iron the cut out shapes to your shirt when you're ready. Once your scraps are all "secured" with the Wonder Under trace your designs onto the paper backing of the Wonder Under on your scraps. Like this {sorry, poor pict quality}...

And then cut out all your shapes. In my case I cut out the RV body, the windows, door, bumper & hitch.

And then peel away the paper backing and iron them on your shirt. The Wonder Under is an important step because it will prevent your fabric from fraying & it holds it in perfect position while you zigzag... no pins needed here!!

Cut a square of your tear-away stabilizer and put it under your shirt where you've ironed your applique on. Before you start your zig zag stitches be sure to practice & stabilize your practice stitches too! **If you're really new to sewing or new to your machine you may want to practice your entire applique on a scrap before trying it on your shirt! I don't want anyone cussing me!**

My machine is computerized and I set my width on 1.8 and my length on .5. You'll also want to double check and make sure you've pulled the shirt completely away under your design. You'd be really sad if you sewed your shirt shut. Be sure your zig zag goes through your applique fabric and over the edge of your fabric into your t-shirt when you zig & zag. This will keep it from fraying. You can do it tight or loose... which ever you prefer. The train {pictured below} I did looser {longer stitches} than on the camper.

You'll see in this picture where I started & stopped w/ the door...

You can tie a knot here and trim away threads. Or if your machine has a locking stitch... lock the end and cut without knotting... make sense?

Corners are hard to turn. You'll see on the windows I did the panes first then the sides and then the tops. I didn't attempt to turn those tiny corners. Rounded corners {like the top of the camper} are easier to turn if you don't go super slow... so move at a steady pace as you feed it through your machine! You can see mine are less than perfect! I always love it when y'all show me what you do... so if you try this please email me or comment and add a link if you post pictures on your blog!!! Happy appliqueing!! Now I'm going to sleep on this, make sure I didn't forget anything & post in the morning!