Rebekah and Karen’s appliqué challenge.

20th September 2023

Rebekah and Karen’s appliqué challenge.

Hi Everyone,
It’s so lovely to be back with another blog for Felicity Fabrics and this one has been a lot of fun!

For this one I was joined with Karen for a challenge and we set the challenge to be something with applique. I had a fair idea of what I wanted to do for my project, I wanted to have some kind of sweater that could fit into my everyday wear.

I chose the fleece back pacific fabric which is a green/blue melange jersey that has a fleecy back making it comfy and warm. Perfect for what I wanted to do.

I had thought about the Chalk and Notch Paige Hoodie but in the end went for the Tilly and the Buttons Nora jumper which I last made about 2 or 3 years ago. I still wear the garments so I knew it would be a make that will stand the test of time.

As for the applique fabrics, I had a rummage through my scraps bag and used two fabrics I had gotten in Japan on our honeymoon 5 years ago. I had made garments with the fabrics but always retained any small scraps. I also used a couple of sewing themed fabrics from the scraps too in keeping with my love for sewing.

Now for planning my applique design. I wanted to do a word in the middle and what better than the word ‘sew’? I then looked on Pinterest for more ideas and decided to keep it fairly simple with square and heart patches on the front. I used a heart template from a set I got in Home Bargains, which helped get the perfect heart shape. For the sleeve patches I just cut the roundish shape around the Geisha.

The fabric is just gorgeous and perfect for the sweatshirt. Soft, cozy and washed well too when I pre washed it. After I cut out my pattern then it was time to start sewing the applique pieces on. I got out my trusty sewing machine manual to see what stitch and foot I need to use as I had never done this before. But excited to get started!!

Now sometimes I dive straight into sewing without practicing but sometimes we just need to especially with buttonholes and now applique. So I used a letter that I had originally cut the wrong way round to practice on. To my surprise it was much easier than I thought. The main thing was to take my time, making sure to stay close to the edge of the letter or shape. I found the whole process quite therapeutic and fun doing something new.

Originally I was going to make the short front and long back version but decided to shorten it into a crop length all round. I had also planned to make the high neck version but found my neck piece wouldn’t have gone over my head haha! So instead I chose to bind the neckline with some Specky Seamstress binding I’ve had for a long time in my collection.

Safe to say I really do love my new sweatshirt, something with a twist and definitely not what you will find on the high street. Don’t we just love this about sewing. Walking through the airport last week I spotted someone with the same hoodie and shoes as me from Primark and it made me appreciate sewing even more because rarely does this happen to me now.

Anyhow I digressed, I hope you like my new sweatshirt and applique. Hopefully this has encouraged you to try applique or another new skill. Bring out your sewing manual to see what else your machine can do. It’s always fun to learn something new!

My fabric I used is sold out now but Felicity Fabrics have lots of other beautiful fabrics you could use. If you see something you like, don’t forget to use Rebekah10 for a 10% discount :).

Thanks for reading, Rebekah x

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I’m always up for a challenge and was excited to be involved in this appliqué one with Rebekah…I had a vision in my head, but unfortunately it didn’t quite go to plan!

As soon as I saw this gorgeous seersucker fabric, I instantly knew what pattern I wanted to make with it, which was the Colette Hazel dress which is now available on the Seamwork website. It has a panelled bodice with a really interesting triangle feature in the middle, which I thought would be perfect for adding appliques onto. In my head I wanted to combine the appliqué with my love of free motion machine embroidery and envisioned some butterflies and bees flying around the dress.

However, when I tried free motion machine embroidery on the seersucker fabric it wasn’t really stable enough and I didn’t want to add anything to the fabric to stiffen it. So I then cut out some flower appliqués to attach onto the skirt, but it just wasn’t looking right and I think they were a little big.

In the end I decided that less was more and added some pockets onto the front of the skirt and did some small appliqué on there and I really like how it adds to the design of the dress.

I wanted to utilise the fabric that Felicity Fabrics had sent me for my applique, so I made some bias binding and used that to hem the dress…it has kept the length and adds a bit of stability to a lightweight fabric.

I know the summer is now at an end, but I have to say I know this dress is going to get A LOT of wear. It is so comfortable and I think it will look great with a plain white top underneath.

I made a size 10 for the bodice but had to make the middle section smaller by taking out a 3cm wedge from the centre. To do this I folded the pattern piece over and placed it back on the fold of the fabric and then made sure I had the length of the triangle the same as the original bodice.

I originally cut out a size 12 overall but a quick toile showed this was too big, however I decided to keep the size 12 skirt as there isn’t much gather and wanted a little more volume.

The seersucker fabric is a dream to sew with and although it is lightweight it isn’t see-through at all. It washes beautifully and doesn’t need ironing – bonus!