Duplicate Applique Patterns in Seconds
by Serena Smith
Note: Click on the photos for a larger image
I always try to keep a pile of handwork
nearby that I can work on if I have little bits of time here and there. I
can easily pick it up and put it back down to take advantage of small bits
of "useless" time. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish in
little 5-10 minute time periods.
I've finished the odds and ins of my handwork pile and needed another
project. So I decided to stitch some hand applique designs onto some blocks
that I can use in a quilt or wall hanging later. I saw this little quilt in
a Sew Simple Applique book. I absolutely loved the fireflies and colors
used.
I pressed and starched some white batik fabric and cut it into 8" blocks.
The 8" is large enough that I can trim it down to whatever size I need
later. I wanted to enlarge the firefly a little and use Heat'n'Bond to fuse
on the appliqué pieces. What's an easy way to do that? That's what I needed
to find out!
I started to trace each firefly on the paper side of the Heat'n'Bond and the
cut it out slightly larger. After one, I knew there had to be an easier
method. I scanned in the firefly pattern and saved it as a picture file
(.jpg, .bmp, .gif). In WordPerfect (Microsoft Word or many other programs
would also work) I inserted the firefly, enlarged it, copied and pasted it
so I could get two fireflies on a 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper.
I cut multiple sheets of Heat'n'Bond down to 8 1/2" x 11". Heat'n'Bond tends
to roll or curl, so I laid the sheets under my cutting mat to flatten them
for a couple hours. I put them in the printer and printed the fireflies on
the paper side. I could easily cut apart the fireflies, fuse their bodies to
the green fabric and fuse the wings to the lavender fabric.
After trimming off the extra fabric, I fused them on my 8" blocks. There are
ready to stitch! Putting the sheets through the printer works wonderfully!!
It wastes a little bit more of the Heat'n'Bond than just tracing the
patterns, but saves so much time!
