Embroidery On An Applique Quilt Block can be done with different decorative stitches, to add details and a personal style to your quilts.
Quilts can be made with different methods, patchwork and applique are two stitching methods quilters often use to make their quilts.
When you love hand stitching, you might love to make your quilts with applique, as you can create many different patterns and designs, like flowers, houses, landscapes and many more.
Embroidery On An Applique Quilt Block
Applique Quilts are made by stitching small pieces of different fabrics into a bigger fabric piece, the applique can be done with the raw edge, or with the needle turn method. As a quilter, you can decide whether to make your applique quilts with a simple quilting or with some embroidery stitches on each block.
Today, on this article, I will share how you can add some embroidery stitches to an applique quilt block, these embroidery stitches are easy and fun to make, and they will help you to add some details to the applique pieces.
How To Embroider On A Quilt?
When making a quilt with applique, you can decide whether or not to add embroidery stitches, but when you’re making a quilt with a floral design, you might want to add some lines to each petal, or leaves, that will help you to do the applique with all the details on it. The same happens when you work with a landscape, a house, or with a design that has some people on it, embroidery stitches will help you to add any detail on your quilt.
Adding embroidery stitches to your quilts, will also help you to add your personal style, as you keep working on your own quilts, you will discover what embroidery stitches are better for your personal style, and also what threads to use, and the color on your palette for each quilt.
Tutorial
On this tutorial, I will share the steps I follow when I do the embroidery stitches on a Quilt Block made with Applique.
You can follow this tutorial on the same quilt block, or on a block made by yourself. In case you want to make the same Applique Quilt Block I’m working on this tutorial, you can download the free pattern here.
So let’s jump to the steps to add some embroidery stitches on an Applique Quilt Block.
1. Make An Applique Quilt Block
If you’re new to making an applique quilt block, you can read another post on my blog, to learn how to do the applique by hand, but on the video, you will see me doing the applique of a window, the same steps I’m explaining on the video, are the same steps I follow to do the applique of each applique piece.
>>> Embroidery On An Applique Block Free Pattern <<
Download the free pattern and print it out, with the help of a pair of scissors to cut paper, cut out all the paper templates, no need to add any seam allowance on the paper templates.
Trace each paper templates on the pretty side of each fabric, cut each fabric piece with the help of a pair of scissors for cutting fabric, and add 1/4 inch for the seam allowance.
Cut the fabric for the background from a white or light beige fabric of 9 x 8 inches,. And the strip of fabric for the side of 10 x 1 3/4 inches.
Lay on your work table the fabric for the background, and arrange over it the piece for the lawn, and then you can arrange all the pieces for the house and the flower, pin each piece of fabric.
When you have all the pieces pinned, you can do the applique of all the pieces.
Related Post:
- Applique for beginners – tutorial –
2. Hand Quilting
Cut one piece of thin batting fabric and 1 piece of any cotton fabric for the back of 11 x 11 inches.
Some quilters like to do the embroidery stitches on each quilt block before making the quilting sandwich, I found that making the quilting sandwich before, helps me to add some quilting to each block as I work on making the different embroidery stitching on it.
Trace the Diamond quilting lines on the background fabric, by tracing the first line from one corner on the top, to one corner on the bottom, diagonally, then trace the other lines 1 1/4 inch from the previous line, when all the lines are traced in one way first, then trace the first line from the other top corner to the bottom corner diagonally, in the other way.
Make the quilting sandwich, cut a thin batting fabric and a piece of fabric for the back of —– inches for each piece.
To make the quilting sandwich, lay on your work table the piece of fabric for the back, pretty side down, lay over it the batting fabric, lay over it the quilt block made with applique, pretty side up, pinch a few safety pins to hold the three layers of fabric.
Do the quilting by hand, do it simple around the main pieces: house, flower, side fabric and lawn.
How To Add Embroidery Stitches To An Applique Quilt Block
Once your quilt block is quilted, you can do the embroidery stitches on it.
I used DMC embroidery thread, 1 strand for all the stitches, and only 2 strands of thread when making French knots.
Flower
- Stem stitch – Leaves central lines.
- Cross stitches – Leaves edge.
- Long stitches – Leaves lines.
- Quilting stitches – Stem.
Lawn
- Long and short stitches – Make groups of long and short stitches on the lawn, some stitches can be done to the right and some stitches can be done to the left.
- Quilting stitches – Do some quilting stitches with green thread here and there.
House
- Back stitch – Around the door and windows, also do this stitch to make the lines on the windows.
- Stem stitch – To make the stem of the flowers on the house.
- Daisy stitch – Flowers and leaves.
French Knots
Do French knots on the seam on the vertical fabric strip.
When working on the different embroidery stitches, I use to keep the needle on the batting fabric, this way I don’t get any long threads on the back of the quilt, and by working this way, the embroidery stitches add some quilting to the quilt.
Hope you like the quilting created by the different embroidery stitches do on a quilt block and you enjoy the fun of making your quilts with decorative stitches on it.
Thanks for reading my blog today!
Video tutorial.
A