This post piggy-backs on
Maggie's Tea Party Dress. It is for all my crafty peeps who have basic sewing skills but doubt their ability to make a piece of clothing...especially with sleeves, eeek! We are at that point where baby showers and little people birthday party's are abundant. In my effort to go handmade this year for all my gift giving I'm passing along my recipe for heart felt gifts.
Applique is a useful tool to have in your chest of sewing skills. It's a nice way to add a personal touch to a basic piece of clothing. Usually I make my appliques from scratch, creating my own from handmade sketches and then layering additional appliqued fabric to get my final product.
This tutorial doesn't go into that, although you can tell by the bird on the branch that using several layers of applique can create a unique look. One thing that really adds to the look BUT is quite time consuming is top-stitching after each layer of applique but it's worth it and that's what sets handmade apart...plus I just use my scraps which is very cost efficient! This tutorial covers the easiest kind of applique and that is one already printed on fabric...fast and easy, yippeee!
The Tea Bag Applique:
Words of caution. BEFORE you cut on STEP FOUR, using a sharpie you could trace whatever image you wanted to make for your applique. Be certain to position your applique correctly before cutting. For example, if I want my bird on the branch to face LEFT, I need to make sure to trace/cut my applique with the bird facing RIGHT. Sometimes my brain goes on automatic pilot and many times I've traced/cut whatever it my be in the wrong direction and have to start over again, this results in mental verbal abuse!
If you were going to make a pocket you would need to make it now, so that you have something to affix your applique to. Of course, you can always just affix it straight onto whatever you are making, which is what I most often do.
The Pocket: Maggie loves pockets and it just seemed right to add two pockets on the front of her dress. A white sheet was used for the front, sleeves and pockets of this particular dress. The perfect, not to mention totally easy, pocket was created by, first, tracing about 4/5ths of a CD on to the top part of the sheet. Second, before pinning and sewing pocket onto dress, fold the top over about 1/8th and iron, then fold over another quarter inch-iron for a crisp edge. Third, sew across that clean top edge for a nice hem. Lastly, pin the pocket onto the dress and sew making sure to back stitch at each edge where the arrows point, which is shown in picture below. The pocket is perfect for letting Maggie's hand in but not to wide to let things come tumbling out if she bends over...soooo easy!
Whoop, whoop, whoop [think Aresenio Hal] ... DONE! First time learning curve it would take approx. 2-3 hours from making the dress to finishing the pockets but really you've create an heirloom, something to be saved and cherished. I fall off the bandwagon and babyGap get's the best of me from time to time but for someone who doesn't verbally express love too well this is my way of showing my love to the special people in my life.
However, this is one little munchkin' that I don't have a problem expressing my love to!
Call me bias but I think that little number is tops! Happy Sewing!
*Wonder Under vs. HeatnBond. For whatever reason every tutorial I've seen on appliques uses WonderUnder and that is the go-to at the fabric store as well. But in my experience WonderUnder is very tempermental for the following reasons: the iron temperature has to be JUST right in order to work correctly, the texture shows through on thin fabrics, and it can be a bear to separate from the fabric when you get to STEP FIVE...I've left many corners frayed as I try to separate the iron transfer from the fabric on various tie onesies! These issues just seem to not exist with HeatnBond and I can move from ironing fabric with a hot iron to making an applique and it doesn't effect the outcome of the applique like it would the WonderUnder. Of course, you should always follow the manufacters instructions but hey, things happen and I'm just sayin'...
