Have you ever wished you could make something cute and quick to add to your garment just to take everything up a notch? With appliqué you can! Appliqué is basically making your own patches. Fabric stores will carry ready made appliqués or patches also.
I created a patch for a dress with carrots as the design. To appliqué the carrots on the pockets I used a product called Wonder Under. It comes on a bolt, found near the interfacings, at the fabric store. Wonder Under simply irons on. It has a wax paper on one side and is an adhesive webbing on the other side of the paper. You iron your design to the webbing side, then peel the paper off the other side, and press your appliqué to your creative endeavor. The carrots have a crisp fresh look and the glue keeps them from sliding under my foot when I sew. Then you simply zigzag stitch around each piece.
The Pattern. I have had this Simplicity gardening dress patter since 2008. I would get it out, press it, read the directions and then put it back in its cover. It was a cross between not being up for the challenge and just never having the right fabric combo. Spring 2015 I FINALLY made this gardening dress happen.
I wanted to avoid the dress looking too much like a cleaning service uniform. I tried to pick colors that would really pop to keep this from happening.
I drew the carrots myself because the pattern was missing the transfer printed paper. I find that many vintage patterns are missing pieces. I also used grosgrain ribbon to make the carrot stems. That part was a lot of playful fun.
One of my favorite things with these projects is the hunt to find matching notions. I found vintage bias tape in my stash but I had to take a trip to Joann for some matching buttons.
For fabric I used a baby blue linen as the base of the dress. It was the last fabric I bought from Hancock fabric before they went out of business.
One concern I had was that the pockets and the collar would blend right into the rest of the blue dress. I outlined each one in orange bias tape to differentiate and contrast. This required a lot of eye balling and pinning.
This is what my sewing room looked like in 2015 before I started practicing minimalism. Last year I cleared out a lot of the junk and replaced it with a new work desk and better machines. Even in this clutter I tried to stay organized with my supplies but to often a piece would just fly away. Poof.
Before I completely put together a dress I will almost always put it on my dress form and make sure all the details are correct. Almost always. You can see in this photo the carrots face the center of the dress. In the finished dress they point away.
Be humble.
Behind the Scenes~
If you would like to take my Reverse Appliqué class this fall at Rosewood Art Centre it would be a great intro to making your own appliqués.
Art on the Commons was August 12th and I volunteered and did live demo. It was so much fun getting outside and spending some time with the other artists at Rosewood.
Check out the vest I made for a wedding.
Thank for reading,
Tracy McElfresh
Dream it, Sew it!
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