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Applique Techniques

Saptakee Sengupta
Applique is the art of sewing one cloth over another to create beautiful decorations over a piece of cloth. Let us see how to go about with this wonderful art.
In French, appliqué means to put on. Applique is an art, wherein one piece of cloth is sewed over another for exquisite decoration in fabrics. This form of art is also applied in other household corporeals like, toys, garments, apparels, quilts, tablecloth, furniture covers, etc.
Applique work can be done manually or mechanically. Designing manually requires substantial patience and creativity. This form of embellishment knitted over garments, is quite appealing to women. Applique techniques imply accurate cuts and neat sewing in order to get perfect ornamentation.

Hand Applique Techniques
Hand techniques are used for intricate designs. You can personalize your design and get the material fused over your garments. Before starting applique, you ought to know different stitching techniques.
>>First, you need to decide the design you want. If you are a beginner, draw the design on a tracing paper, placed over a cardboard. Keep the designs simple (e.g. heart, flowers, circles, blocks, etc.) to start initially.
>>Once you have framed it, place it over the cloth you want to work on. Cut the cloth in the outline of the design drawn over the tracing paper. Be careful on the edges and ends. Run the scissor smoothly without any haste.
>>Iron the motifs, so that they do not get stretched while sewing.
>>Now place the cut motifs over the piece of cloth and support it with a sewing frame. Start fusing the applique motifs with the cloth, with your favorite stitching pattern. You can apply chain stitch, buttonhole, stem, French, or fern stitch. Couching, embroidery and laid work also look beautiful on applique.
>>Iron once again after completing the decorative designs.

Applique Quilting Techniques
Techniques over quilts are similar to the basic hand techniques. There are special needles for appliquéing over quilts. The needles are usually long and thin. If the quilt is very heavy, thicker needles are preferred.
Machines are much in use today for faster performance. There's also a fusible webbing in the machine to hold the applique in place, while quilting.
The fabric is stitched to the background either with blind or blanket stitch. Dresden Plate and Sunbonnet Sue are some of the common examples of applique blocks over quilts.
Applique designs are beautiful decorative pieces for every kind of upholstery. You need to be little innovative to make it look gorgeous and beautiful.
You learn the art, improvise on the designs and stitching techniques. Choose colorful threads that can give an attractive look to the pieces. Consider the background over which you fuse the applique. Contrast both are unique and have a different charm. You can also add a traditional touch to your fabric with exquisite designs selected from boutiques.
Learning these techniques needs practice and patience. The process though simple, is a very intricate form of art that requires perfection. Once you learn, you can savor the joy of appliquéing. Create your own designs and decorate your apparels with applique.