Pillow top with quilting lines completed.
Hexagon fusible applique template.
Trace onto paper side of fusible web.
THE QUILTED TOP
After stitching one direction with the blue variegated Fruitti thread and
the other direction with the teal variegated Fruitti thread, my 2” grid of
quilting is all finished. Now I just need to prepare my fusible applique
hexagons and decide where to place them!
Placement 1 – scattered randomly across pillow top.
Preparing the fusible applique hexagons
To make your hexagons, trace the following template onto the dull side
of a square of fusible web, making sure to leave at least ¼” between each
of the shapes. Loosely cut each shape out, just outside the drawn lines.
Place these fusible web shapes onto the BACK side of the cotton fabrics
you’ve chosen and then iron. Once the fabric has cooled, cut along the
drawn lines and then peel off the backing paper. To see pictures of this
process, check out my blog post.
Deciding upon a design
Once all of your fusible applique shapes have been made, now comes
the fun part of deciding where to place them. I went through a few
different designs before I came up with the one I was most happy with.
Here are photos of different designs that you could use.
Placement 2 – most of hexagons lined up in one corner of
pillow top.
My fusible applique design finalist
Most of the time when I am designing, I like to rearrange things quite a
bit before I decide what design I like the best. Taking pictures of each version helps with this process. It works well for fusible applique as well as
for rearranging blocks in a pieced top. The size of the photo helps too, as
the quilt image is smaller and sometimes design flaws will pop out at you
better in the photo than when you are looking at the actual quilt.
Sometimes looking at a design for a few days helps too. I especially like
to do this when I’m quilting quilts for other people. If a quilting design
doesn’t come to me as soon as I see the quilt, I’ll often drape the quilt top
over the bed of my quilting machine so that I can look at it for a few days
– eventually a quilting design will start to take shape in my mind and I’m
off to the races.
If you can’t decide what design you want to use for your back porch
pillow, leave your fusible applique hexagons placed on the pillow top
for the night, and you'll see it in a different way – you may decide that
you like it, or decide on a different design. That’s one of the great things
about fusible applique – it is VERY versatile!
Placement 3 – hexagons lined up along left side of pillow top.
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QUILTsocial
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fall 2014
When designing your own quilted top, playing with fabric and
threads has never been so much fun…