Quilting Reverse Applique with Applique

As promised, this is the blog on quilting reverse appliqué with appliqué.  A sequel, if you will, to the blog “Quilting Reverse Applique”. If you missed that one, we encourage you to go back and read it.

Added Dimension: Reverse Applique with Applique

 I love the added depth and dimension you can create in a quilt when you combine reverse appliqué with appliqué.  After you have stitched your quilt top, whether by hand or machine, you then want to bring out that dimensional beauty with the quilting. 

 The challenge when quilting a piece that has both techniques is to make the reverse appliqué deepen into your quilt batting and make the appliqué pop so you heighten the differences, creating rich, inviting texture.  The danger is when quilting the appliqué or piecework you can quilt too close to the reverse appliqué and flatten it out.

 In our patterns there are two types that use both techniques.  Those patterns that have reverse appliqué and appliqué in the same quilt but separate from each other, and those that have the two techniques alongside each other.

Double Dutch Delft (56” x 56”) Hand reverse applique. Hand quilted.

 Reverse Appliqué and Appliqué in the Same Quilt, but Separate

 The first quilt I experimented with combining reverse appliqué and appliqué was Double Dutch Delft Quilt (56” x 56”). Half the blocks were appliqué and half were reverse appliqué. They were independent blocks separated by sashing, so very easy to quilt differently without the risk of how the quilting of each style of block detracting from the other.  The learning was of how much quilting to do surrounding the cut outs in the reverse appliqué block to hold it without flattening it.  This quilt was stitched by hand and quilted by hand.  I used elements from stencil #10-564 by JD Stencil.

Double Dutch Delft (56” x 56”) Hand reverse applique. Hand quilted. Applique block.

Double Dutch Delft (56” x 56”) Hand reverse applique. Hand quilted. Reverse applique block.

Christmas Berries (40” x 40”) hand reverse applique with applique. hand quilted

 Around this same time I designed Christmas Berries, Medallion VII (40” x 40”), which appliquéd a 3rd color onto the piece after the reverse appliqué stitching was completed.  The original was created in classic red and green fabrics.  Recently we reimagined the pattern in spring fabrics. This is a pattern that ends up looking like it’s all appliqué, even though its done with our trace, baste, snip & stitch reverse appliqué process, so the quilting is easier to think about doing…approach it like appliqué, until you get to the outside border that is created by the stitch work. You need quilting to keep the fabric layers anchored, but you don’t want to flatten that outside edge. On the original red & Green medallion I created a poinsettia design that I quilted in the borders.  On the spring remake I used stencil SCL-213-08 by The Stencil Co.

Christmas Berries (40” x 40”) hand reverse applique with applique quilted by hand.

Christmas Berries (40” x 40”) hand reverse applique with applique quilted by hand.

Illumination, Medallion X (56” x 56”) version. for Hand or Machine. stiched by machine, lonq arm quilted

 Illumination, Medallion X in its 56” x 56” version is another pattern that uses reverse appliqué and appliqué to create added dimension in the overall quilt. Here the center medallion is reverse appliqué and the border is appliqué.  This piece was long arm quilted by check by Cozy quilting of Loveland, CO. They did a small stipple inside the cut out shapes of the designs in the medallion and then a feather motif in the corners.  On the border they quilted a feather in the larger spaces and then did a small stipple to fill.  If I knew then what I know now about batting and had chosen a wool batting instead of a cotton batting, you would really be able to see the difference  because of the added puff that wool batting would give to the piece.

 Reverse Appliqué and Appliqué Alongside Each Other

Fuchsia, 8 of 9 (16” x 16”) for hand or machine reverse applique with applique. Stitched by hand and quilted by machine.

 This next group of patterns has reverse appliqué and appliqué alongside each other and so requires careful attention to the quilting to keep the beauty of the design alive.

 All of our flowers, of which there are nine to choose from, have an option to create them with reverse appliqué greenery and appliqué blossoms. This Fuchsia, 8 of 9 (16” x 16”) pillow, made in beautiful hand-dyed fabrics by Stipples etc., is a good example.  Although we stitched this sample by hand we quilted it by machine. We quilted in the ditch of the reverse appliqué greenery and added veins to the leaves.  Using variegated thread we quilted 1/8” around the appliqué blossoms, sculpted the petals and stitched ½” lines and grid work in top fabric.  

Amidala’s Flower mini-quilt X (28” x 28”) for hand or machine reverse applique. This sample made by hand and quilted by machine in batiks.

 Amidala’s Flower mini-quilt X (28” x 28”) is similar to our flower blocks.  We will look at two samples, one made by hand in cotton batiks, and one made by machine in silks.  Both were quilted by machine.  The batik version was layered with cotton batting, and the silk version has two battings: cotton and wool.  Hand stitched pieces, as you will notice, show the dimensions more than machine, even though the machine piece has the double battings.  I think it’s interesting to look at the side by side comparison.

 Like the Fuchsia, I quilted in the ditch of the reverse appliqué greenery and the added veins to the leaves.  Next I quilted around the appliqué blossoms.  I like to quilt each version of a quilt differently to see what happens.  The top of the batik version of Amidala’s Flower I quilted with a classic ¼” ending 1/8” – ¼” away from the reverse appliqué, within an octagonal frame. In the corners I quilted fan lines to echo the pieced fans in the borders.  I picked up that octagon in the plain orange border squares and around the butterfly corner blocks. I used elements of a stencil to quilt the fan blocks in addition to quilting in the ditch of the blades and around the appliqué of the butterflies.  

Amidala’s Flower mini-quilt X (28” x 28”0 for hand or machine reverse appliuque with applique. This sample made by machine and quilted by machine in silk.

 On the silk version of Amidala’s Flower I quilted the greenery the same as in the batik version.  I did a double line of quilting around the appliqué blossoms. In the top I did an echo of the octagon to fill with ¼” and ½” lines, and filled the corners with stencil SCL-213-08 by The Stencil Co.  I took elements of this same stencil out into the border into the fan blocks and then into the plain pink squares and set under the machine embroidered butterflies. (Working with a local shop teaching a workshop, they scanned our butterfly pattern into their machine embroidery program and created the butterfly with machine embroidery on their Babylock machine) Like the batik version, I also quilted around the elements of the butterfly.

Glorious Medallion XV (42” x 42”) reverse applique and applique for hand or machine with paper-pieced border. stitched by hand and quilted by machine.

Being Sensitive to Your Piece 

By being sensitive to your piece, your appliqué will pop, and your reverse appliqué will deepen. How much quilting should your piece have?

I am not someone who generally heavily quilts a piece, but there should be enough quilting and the quilting should bring a balance to the design. Some pieces will ask to be heavily quilted, like Amidala’s Flower above, and some will not, like Glorious, Medallion XV, which we will look at next. Or perhaps you persoanlly like a lot of quilting. Trust your gut.

Years ago an experienced quilter told me that if there was a lot of angular piecing you wanted some curved quilting, and if there was a lot of curved piecing you wanted some angular quilting. BUt then the traditional mind set was that you quilted 1/4” inside all piece work. And now with pantographs, I’m sure that’s all changed again. I know rules are really guidelines, but I tend to follow the basic guidelines of bringing design balance to a piece with my quilting.

 Glorious, Medallion XV (42” x 42”) is a bursting medallion with reverse appliqué sun and rays and appliqué dots surrounded by a paper-pieced diamond border.  I coordinated several stencils to get the desired movement of the piece… an outward explosion of God’s glory.

 So I designed the machine quilting for Glorious as follows: All the yellow is reverse appliqué and so the quilting is in the yellow, first in the ditch and then using elements of stencil SCL-354-08 from the Stencil Co.’s in the center sun. For the outer rays I quilted in the ditch and then echoed inside approximately ¼”. I quilted in the teal blue top fabric in the ditch and ¼” around all the appliquéd circles to accent the appliqué, and lines out from the center to the ring of dots.  The corners of the medallion are anchored with another Stencil Co. stencil, HW-137, which has both angles and curves bridging the center design and the angular border. The inner border is quilted begins the angular frame with a quilted zig-zag stencil (ZNC-082-75, The Stencil Co). The Pieced Diamond border is quilted with straight lines that continue the diamond shape and then curve lines that connect to the center medallion using elements from stencil 10-319 by JD Stencils and stencil HW-173 by the Stencil Co in the Border Corner blocks. 

An assortment of stencils for the quilting for Glorious, Medallion XV.

stencil SCL-354-08 by The Stencil Co for the sun center.

Lollipop Garden Quilt XV (40” x 40”) for hand or machine reverse applique with applique. Stitched by machine, quilted by machine.

 Even when the piece is whimsical, like Lollipop Garden Quilt XV (40” x 40”), you want to put some thought into the quilting.  Whenever we take the time to carefully stitch part as reverse appliqué and part as appliqué we want to keep that unique and playful beauty showing to its best.  Here, like in my other flower type patterns, the greenery is the reverse appliqué and the blossoms are the appliqué. That’s because that’s how a garden is to me.  The greenery is the backdrop for the blossoms that jump out at you that say, “Look at me”! After doing my machine reverse appliqué and appliqué work I assembled my 40” x 40” quilt top.  In the reverse appliqué greenery I quilted in the ditch and added a center vein to each of the leaves.  I quilted a scant 1/8” around the appliqué blossoms.  On this sample I quilted in the ditch of the piecework and across the corners of the flower blocks. I then selected block stencil #30536 by Full Line stencils to hug the 4-patches and border swags that was a lovely compliment to the overall quilt design.  I again used one element of the design rather than the entire design. Their mesh stencil and pounce pads made quick work of transferring the stencil to my quilt and free motion quilting it.   

Autumn’s Promise table runner and placemats for hand or machine reverse applique. stitched by machine, quilted by machine.

I created Autumn’s Promise table décor XI by machine reverse appliqué with basic stitching and quilting. To make the table runner I did all the stitch work first and then sewed it together and quilted it.  But to make the placemats I did our appli-quilting method.  What’s that?  I cut and fused everything together, did all my piecework and layered it with batting and backing.  Then I went to my sewing machine.  It was now that I did my machine reverse appliqué of the stems and leaves and machine appliqué of the acorns, which also became my first round of quilting.  Then to my greenery I quilted in the ditch and added veins, and quilted around the acorns in the ditch.  I quilted in the ditch of the piece work and used a 3” oak leaf border stencil (SCO-174-03 The Stencil Co) for the borders.  The table runner I constructed in the traditional method, doing all the reverse appliqué and appliqué work before assembling the top.  I quilted in like manner as I did the placemats, adding the Harvest Winds stencil (UEW-111 The Stencil Co) for the center block.  Clearly I could have added more quilting around the Oak leaf block, but as a sample, it was done.  Quilting a classic ¼” grid or some oak leaves and acorns in the corners would be a nice addition.

Autumn’s Promise placemat made by machine. Greenery with reverse applique, acorns with applique.

Oak leaf stencil by The Stencil co. used for the borders.

 I think by now you get the point, and hopefully lots of ideas for quilting reverse appliqué combined with appliqué. You want to keep your quilting even throughout your piece without flattening it out.  You went to all that work to stitch in the different dimensions created by having reverse appliqué and appliqué in the same quilt piece, you want your quilting to accent those dimensions, creating depth and texture.  

 Let yourself be creative when approaching your quilting.  Look at the pattern itself for quilting design ideas as a place to start.  And begin to look at your stencils as elements and motifs that fit into and around what you have stitched or sewed. Just as a pattern can be a creative starting place, so can a stencil be a creative jumping off point. Consider the relationship of angular and curved design elements between your quilt pattern and your quilting patterns to create a balanced whole that has interest and movement that satisfies your eye when you look at it.  Trust your own instincts.  Enjoy the journey and have fun. And remember, quilting is a journey of excellence.  Happy quilting!