Polar Bear Applique

21st-century quilts sew different from Grandma's

Applique: A piecing process using small amounts of fabric that are sewn onto a background fabric in a decorative design such as curved floral or animal motifs. Applique can be done by hand, machine or with fusible web. It is often combined with pieced blocks or placed in the border to frame a pieced quilt.

Batiks: High thread-count fabrics that are made by covering a design area with wax or another substance to prevent dye from penetrating into that area. Indonesia is famous for its batiks.

Batting: Sometimes called wadding or stuffing, this is the layer in the center of the quilt sandwich, giving it warmth and thickness. Batting can be cotton, polyester, blends, silk or wool.

Blindstitch: A type of invisible stitching often used for applique.

Free-Motion Quilting: A type of machine quilting in which the feed dogs are lowered or covered while quilting using a darning foot. Because there are no feed dogs to pull the fabric, the quilter must create the design by moving the quilt sandwich under the needle.

Freezer paper: Quilters use it as a template for applique by drawing the design on the paper side, cutting it out and ironing the template to the fabric using a very hot, dry iron.

Reverse applique: Traditional applique sews a motif (the design piece) on top of a background. Reverse applique quilters sew the motif underside of the background, then cut away and turn under the edge of the top fabric to reveal the motif.

Sashiko quilting: A Japanese style of precise quilting designs using embroidery or crewel floss. The stitches are large on top, but small on the back.

Stippling: Closely spaced quilting stitches following an irregular design that does not cross, used to fill background space and create surface texture.

Strip piecing: Cutting and sewing strips of fabric before cutting the individual shapes.

Thangles: A paper piecing method of making perfect half-square triangles.

Source: Quiltbug.com

Quilt Lovers’ Hangout
Where: 13494 Cleveland Ave., North Fort Myers
Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; noon to 4 p.m. Sunday
Info: 995-0045; quiltlovershangout.com

Sewing Boutique
Where: 13500 Cleveland Ave., North Fort Myers
Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Thursday; 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 9 a.m.

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