Hello Love,
Today I bring to you an amazing musical curtain panel! I used a musical minky fabric with a gorgeous soft pink cotton fabric and one of my favorite materials, felt. For this project I used my handy dandy brother sewing machine and a sewing technique called Applique!
Applique or appliqué is just a fancy term us sewing enthusiast use for describing when we sew on a patch of fabric on to a larger patch of fabric, for a more in depth description go here: Wikipedia
When it comes to working with applique I like to first set up everything where I want it then take a picture for a reference. I find it saves time and you don’t have to remember where exactly each piece goes or reconfigure the whole layout.
Of course I also like to take out the color thread I’ll be working with. For this project it’s some what like a quilt because of it’s length, and my brother sewing machine is ideal for this project because of it’s “long arm”.
I used a spray adhesive to temporarily bond the felt onto my panel. You can also baste stitch but that takes a lot more time. I usually like to baste when it’s an intricate project where you do not want the fabric to move at all. Some fabrics are very difficult to work with but cotton and felt are quite ideal and Spray adhesive is starting to be my new favorite craft tool, it works on paper too!! ^_^ You can find it at your local craft shop, I got mine at Joann’s.
I’m sewing on just a few small pieces on a lengthy material, so I like to roll it up before I begin to sew, I don’t want my fabric to pucker much and since I’m sewing on top of multiple fabrics (2 pieces) I’d rather get as much of a flat surface as possible. Some people like to roll it on their laps, but because this panel is not actually as large as a quilt, this technique works best.
You can choose what ever stitch length you’d prefer when Appliqueing, I like my stitch length a bit long, I just like the look of it then the small tiny stitches, sometimes they can be a pain. Plus, if I make a mistake, I can easily use my seam ripper (while stitching with a long stitch length) without fear of damaging the fabric.
Unlike the smaller stitch length (FYI: This is usually where baste stitching comes in handy for those projects requiring a more secure stitch. And you do not want to damage your fabric by going back and ripping off the thread while also ripping your gorgeous one-of-a-kind-discontinued fabric, it happens).
Baste Stitch, again just a fancy term us sewers and quilters have when addressing a temporary stitch, it’s not meant for long term use. For a more of a long winded description go here: Wikipedia
And there you have it my friends, some tips & tricks with Applique on this wonderful curtain panel. Sometimes I like to break out the old school. Haha, let me tell you Love, some projects require the hand sewn touch, a machine is great but hand stitching is a lot more pliable. ♥
