How to Applique on Boutique Clothing

You will learn how to applique on woven cotton clothing. Dress up a outfit you are making or a store bought item with this technique. Check out my other how to's to find out how to applique on knit/ t-shirt fabrics.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• fabric
• fusible interfacing
• scissors
• sewing machine
• wax paper
• iron-on adhesive/ heat n bond lite

1. You will first need to apply lightweight fusible interfacing to the back of the fabrics you are using to create your applique. This is usually done on a light to medium heat setting.

2. Next, apply the iron-on adhesive on top of the fusible interfacing that you just applied to the back of the applique fabrics. I really like the heat n bond lite adhesive. The ultra hold is too much adhesive and ends up causing problems because it gums up the needle as you sew and causes the thread to break.

3. The next step is to cut out all the pieces of your image that you are appliqueing. Remember that some pieces will tuck up under other if you are creating a more complicated applique like my pink panther. Example: I had to cut the tongue longer to tuck under the light pink mouth piece.

4. Now, you can peel off the adhesive backing and layer your pieces where you would like them to be on your clothing. On mine, I layered the pieces of Pink Panther on the black and white dot bodice piece of my outfit. Then iron them on. . .

5. When you sew the applique to the fabric it is best to use a stabilizer on the back of the background fabric/ clothing. I usually use wax paper instead because it is more cost effective and works well. However, I do use a iron on/ tear away stabilizer at times too.

6. Next you want to start sewing the pieces down with a tight zigzag (satin) stitch on your sewing machine. You want the width of the zigzag to be enough to hold your applique securely. I usually start with a tight straight stitch to secure my thread and switch to zigzag and then back to straight at the end to secure my thread again. *** The right side of the zig zag stitch should just come right over the edge of the applique to ensure that it is secured properly.

7. Clip all your threads close when you are finished. Some people prefer to pull the threads to the back and knot them before they clip them close.

8. Once you have all your pieces secured with the satin stitch then you can go back and embellish your applique. I went back and added eyebrows and whiskers to my Pink Panther applique. You can hand embroider details, add buttons, ribbons, etc to further embellish your applique.

9. Make sure you remove all the stabilizer after your applique is complete. :)

[bobobabymae]

on 9/25/2009 Very easy instructions - thanks!

[lynnhsmomof2]

on 12/23/2008 How cute! 5*

[DulceMaria]

on 12/20/2008 Thanks for this great article.Lots of information.