Appliqué with Attitude from Piece O'Cake Designs: 10 Projects Featuring Big, Bold Stitches

By Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins

“The bright colored fabrics used throughout and the whimsical patterns make this a delightful read” from the bestselling design team (The Applique Society).

Does your appliqué need a little attitude adjustment? Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins of Piece O’ Cake Designs come to your rescue with creative new projects using bold stitching in contrasting colors of perle cotton thread. Mix & match full-size templates for bright, cheerful quilts and home décor. Give tradition a little twist and add a happy, carefree layer of color and texture to your work. Use this quick needleturn technique to add a touch of whimsy to anything you appliqué. You’ll love making these chirpy birds, doodly daisies, and sweet tulips with your favorite fresh fabrics.

“The dynamic duo behind the Piece O’ Cake brand have experimented with a style of applique that is new to them in this collection of 10 projects . . . they decided to have a go working with large, bold stitches in colors that often contrast with the fabric. The projects they’ve included are all small—cushions, tea towels, wallhangings—so there’s ample opportunity to choose one and give this method a whirl.” —Australian Homespun Magazine

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781607055341

Book preview

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We must thank Gailen Runge and Susanne Woods at C&T Publishing. The idea of appliquéing with attitude came to us out of the blue, and when we asked Gailen and Susanne if we could squeeze this book into their production schedule, they happily said yes. We have always loved working with the wonderful people at C&T. They never let us down!

Without Lori Gray’s help we would not have met the deadlines for this book; we had many other simultaneous deadlines to make. Lori is an excellent quilter. She made many of the bindings, sleeves, and backs, and basted many of the quilts. She even ran quilting errands when needed. We send a great big thank-you to Lori!

DEDICATION

From Linda My husband, Paul, is a retired truck driver. Paul is my biggest fan. Without his help I could never have had a second career in the quilting industry. He runs all the errands on his Harley and works in the office helping with the shipping. Over the years he has cut most of our kits. He has traveled with me to many teaching engagements, helping to tote all the luggage and supplies. Paul loves people, and they love him.

One last thing to share—Paul does most of my basting. Remember that he is a retired truck driver; he had never held a needle in his life!

Fifty years and counting!

From Becky When we were writing this book, my mother had back surgery that changed her life. Her back is much better, but her reaction to the anesthesia meant a stay in the hospital and then in a skilled nursing/rehab facility. During the same period my sister ended up in the hospital as well.

It was during this time that I realized what an amazing job health-care workers do. The individuals who took care of both Mom and Christy were caring and professional—even when it was hard. I am so thankful for the people who dedicate their lives to taking care of us when we need it. Thank you.

And I must thank Linda, who stepped in and did part of my work on this book while I was busy taking care of my family. I am so lucky to have such a good friend and partner!

Introduction

We have spent much of the last 25 years appliquéing with invisible stitches. We love the beauty of stitches that no one can see. About a year ago we had a new thought: What would it be like to make appliqué stitches that were visible? It’s lots of fun, that’s what!

This is needle-turn appliqué stitched with perle cotton in contrasting colors and values. These bold stitches hold the appliqué pieces in place just as well as our invisible stitches always have.

Appliquéing with attitude is fast! The stitches have a happy, carefree appearance, and the perle cotton adds a new texture to appliqué. Although the projects in this book are all stitched with attitude, we have found that a combination of visible and invisible stitches in the same blocks is also a very good look. (Refer to our book The New Appliqué Sampler for detailed instructions for invisible appliqué.) The stitches and ideas found in this book will be useful in all your appliqué projects.

Use our patterns and stitch ideas to get your creative juices flowing, but feel free to make up some of your own stitches with attitude!

Basic Supplies

FABRIC: 100% cotton fabric is the most common quilting fabric. It is readily available, affordable, and easy to sew. Always prewash cotton fabric. It behaves better when it has been washed and dried.

ROTARY CUTTER AND MAT: For most cutting, including cutting strips, trimming blocks to size, and cutting borders, rotary cutting tools will give you the best results.

FABRIC SCISSORS: Small, sharp scissors are best for trimming fabric, clipping inner points, and clipping threads.

PAPER SCISSORS: Small, sharp scissors are more precise than long shears for cutting templates.

CLEAR UPHOLSTERY VINYL: To make the positioning overlays, use 54″-wide clear medium-weight upholstery vinyl from a store that carries upholstery fabric or 18″-wide clear vinyl such as Quilter’s Vinyl. Keep any tissue paper that comes with it.

PERMANENT MARKERS: To make the positioning overlays, a black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanent Marker works best.

THREAD: Use cotton thread with cotton fabric.

PERLE COTTON THREAD: To make lovely stitches with attitude, we like Prescencia’s size 12 or 16 perle cotton paired with a size 9 crewel embroidery needle. Size 12 is thicker but still pulls through layers of fabric without a lot of effort. Size 16 is like a very heavy hand quilting thread. The thicker the thread, the more visible it is.

APPLIQUÉ THREAD: When you need to make invisible appliqué stitches, you need the right thread. There are many brands to choose from. We prefer a fine cotton thread. These work well: Superior Threads MasterPiece, Aurifil 50-weight thread, and DMC 50-weight machine embroidery thread.

PIECING THREAD: All-purpose cotton threads such as those made by Gütermann and Mettler work well for piecing. If you prefer a finer cotton thread, use one of our appliqué thread choices. When piecing with a finer thread, shorten your stitch length.

MACHINE QUILTING THREAD: When we want the quilting thread itself to be less obvious, we use one of the finer appliqué threads listed above for our machine quilting. When we want higher-profile quilting, we use a heavier cotton thread such as King Tut by Superior Threads. We quilt heavily, so the quilt is structurally sound even with the finer thread. If you plan to quilt farther apart you should use a heavier