The Problem

Have you ever worn a pin only to find out later it put a hole in your clothing? Have you ever bought a jacket without pockets on it? Well both of these things happened on my same blue jacket.

Creative Solutions using Reverse Applique

So, it was time to creatively use one of my patterns, Snowy Hearts table runner, to fix my hole with a reverse applique repair and create a reverse applique patch pocket. Specifically I chose the 6” heart pattern piece from the Snowy Hearts table runner pattern.

 I’ve long wanted to use my patterns as reverse applique designs on clothing. This was a beginning foray to experiment with the idea. In the past I used applique pieces from my patterns to make a creative repair. You can read about that in the blog Creative Solutions with Radiance, (posted 3/28/2017).

Maybe the design I chose for this project doesn’t excite you. However, if you read on, you will understand the process of using machine reverse applique to decorate and adorn an existing garment of yours, whether you are repairing a hole or simply adding a reverse applique decoration. And we have many other patterns you could choose to use instead. Our many blocks designs would work well and easily. Or you could take any of the motifs from any pattern, taking small snippets of a bigger design to use. 

Let’s get Started: Considerations

The jacket was a polyester blend, so I decided to do machine reverse applique rather than make the repair by hand. To be consistent I would also machine the heart for the added patch pocket.

The pin I wore left a hole up on the left shoulder, so that’s where I was going to put a reverse applique repair heart.  The hole left by the pin was small, and my heart repair was going to be a larger creative design.

 To get an idea of where I wanted my reverse applique repair heart and heart patch pocket, I made two copies of the pattern pieces and positioned them on my jacket. I angled the repair heart on the upper left, and did a straight set for the patch pocket. Adding the two hearts, instead of just one, would give balance of design and color to the plain blue jacket, too, since I was introducing new colors into the jacket.

Fabrics:

I selected my fabrics from my stash. I chose a two Malaysian Marble batiks by Turtle Hand Batiks. One was a purple, to be used as the background fabric (the heart) and the other a gray with blue swirl as the top fabric of the heart and backing of the patch pocket. Once I was happy I began, starting with the reverse applique heart.

Requirements:

2 – 6 1/2” x 6 1/2” purple marble squares , background fabric for the hearts; 2 – 6 1/2” x 6 1/2” Gray marble squares for the pocket; 2 – 6” x 6” Soft Fuse squares; Silver-gray Floriani Embroidery thread. I also needed my Kai 4” , bent-handled sharp-tipped scissors and Terial Magic spray-on stabilizer. (We have a convenient Machine accessory kit, too.)

Tracing the Pattern

I lay each Soft Fuse square on the pattern with the paper side up, and traced the heart.  The one for the jacket I trimmed to about ½” around the outside of the heart’s exterior edges. The one for the pocket I kept as a 6” square.

 Jacket: Reverse Applique Repair Heart

 I lay my trimmed Soft Fuse heart on the inside of my jacket on the upper left side.  I took some time making sure it was angled and positioned the way I wanted it. I slid the Soft Fuse heart under the jacket’s neck and front placket facings.  Just take your time. 

Once I was satisfied, I ironed it in place. Next I cut the heart design out, cutting right on the lines of the design using my sharp-tipped Kai bent-handled scissors.

 I then pinned the facings back, out of my way, and pinned the jacket to my ironing board. I pinned it right side down, smoothing out where the heart was so I could smoothly lay the purple background fabric on it. I peeled the Soft Fuse paper off, placed the right-side of the purple fabric background square on top of the cut-out space, and ironed it on. I then unpinned my jacket from the ironing board, but kept the pins holding the facings back.

I needed to stabilze the fabrics. To stabilize it, I sprayed the purple fabric and jacket where I was going to stitch with Terial Magic spray-on stabilizer. After spraying, I waited 15-20 minutes and then ironed it dry the rest of the way. It turns my fabric firm and stable so it doesn’t pucker or get sucked into my sewing machine’s satin stitch as I machine reverse applique. The Terial Magic washes out when I’m all done with my project. 

I went to my sewing machine. I chose a silver-gray Floriani embroidery thread to do my machine satin stitch because that would also work with my reverse applique patch pocket that I was going to make next. I set my zig-zag stitch length to .3 and width to 2 to give me a dense satin stitch that would solidly cover all the polyester edges. Each machine is different, so your settings might not be the same as mine. I also put my open-toed presser foot on.

 I satin stitched all the raw edges of the heart, cut from the blue jacket, to the purple background fabric peeking through.  Once the stitching was done, I turned the jacket to the inside and trimmed the excess purple background fabric about ¼” from the stitch work.

 Now that the reverse applique repair heart on the shoulder of the jacket was done it was time to create my reverse applique patch pocket.

 Patch Pocket: Reverse Applique Heart

I collected together my 2 – Gray marble squares, remaining Soft Fuse square with the heart design already traced onto it, and the remaining purple marble background square.

 I ironed the Soft Fuse square onto the wrong side of a gray marble top fabric square. Using my sharp-tipped Kai bent-handled scissors I cut the heart design out right on the lines (if you cut it out carefully, you can use the cut-out for an applique version in another project).

 Next I peeled the paper off of the gray cut-out top fabric square, positioned it atop of the right side of the 6” purple marble background square and ironed them together.

 Again, I needed to stabilize the fused square, so I sprayed it with Terial Magic spray-on stabilizer. After 15 minutes for air drying and ironing dry, I was ready to satin stitch.

 I went to my sewing machine and used the same thread and settings on my zig-zag stitch as before and machine reverse appliqued the raw edges of the gray marble top fabric to the purple marble background fabric.

 Next I changed my presser foot to my ¼” foot. I stitched a ¼” seam on the bottom of my fused heart block and the remaining gray marble square, the back of my patch pocket.

 With right sides together, I pinned the 3 un-stitched sides of the pocket and 1” towards the corners of the stitched side. Using a ¼” seam allowance, I sewed starting with 1” on the stitched side, then around all 3 of the unstitched sides, and ending with 1” on the stitched side. At the corners, clip at a 45° angle deep into the stitching at the corners being careful not to cut the stitching. Then cut the tip of the corner off.

 Turn the pocket right side out. Use a bodkin or other blunt-tipped pointy object to crisp the corners of your pocket. Fold the raw edges of the bottom at the stitch lines, and tuck the raw edges inside. Pin and iron. Top-stitch close to the bottom edge, or hand stitch the opening closed. Iron the whole patch pocket well. Top stitch ¼” along the top edge of the patch pocket.

 I positioned the pocket on the lower right front of the jacket and pinned in place.  Then I sewed it to the jacket by top-stitching ¼” on 3 sides, side-bottom-side, back tacking for extra strength at the top edges of the pocket, the stress points of the pocket.

 My jacket was done. Creatively repaired and imminently more practical now that it had a pocket. Plus I had made my first attempt at using one of my patterns to decorate a garment with reverse applique.  All in all, a very successful endeavor.

Many of our other patterns, based upon a block design, would also be great patterns to use to decorate your clothing. Or you can use motif snippets taken from larger patterns on your garments. Let your imagination go wild to think creatively about our patterns. You could put a design on the back of a jacket, in the front corners of a jacket opening or the hen of a jacket, on the yoke of a shirt, or along the edges of a skirt. These are just a few ideas. Check these patterns out in our shop to get your creative juices flowing.

• Block section: Block 10, Beehive and Tudor Rose Mug Rugs, Twinkling Stars Ornaments, any of our 9 Flowers.

• Table Runner section: Chantilly Lace, Autumn’s Promise, Yorkshire Pudding, Flowers in the Wind, Woodland Fern, Pacific Splash,

• Quilt section: Spring Breeze, Twinkling Flurries, Double Dutch Delft, Falling Leaves, Midnight Explosion, Lollipop Garden, Hospitality Quilt, Tulips & Lace.