**just a reminder: the following tutorial is property of the blog owner. it is here for your viewing pleasure as well as to help you learn this really cool technique (it really is cool). you are permitted to print off 1 copy for your own personal use. HOWEVER, you are NOT permitted to distribute or publish in any way without my permission. if there are any questions, feel free to email me at: decafplease@yahoo.com i’m more than happy to freely share, as long as we all play nice. **
i decided to use a different project as the examples in this tutorial simply because it shows the right/wrong side of the fabric better. any little bit helps, yes? also, i didn’t go into as great of detail like i did with single layer backbasting tutorial since i’m assuming that it is read first. this tutorial will also be listed on my right sidebar under “more”. now that we have all of that out of the way, let’s get started!
1. have your pattern all traced out and ready to go. remember, we trace the full pattern out onto the wrong side of our background fabric. as you can see, this design has 3 different layers.
2. first, we’re going to start on the center portion of our pattern. i know….but just trust me here. pin that fabric (with about 1/4″ extra all around) onto the right side of your background fabric.
3. now we’re going to use our heavy, thick thread with our big needle and we’re going to use large basting stitches to secure this piece down. you do NOT want to stitch on the stitching line here…go about 1/8″ outside of that line. these stitches are put in just to hold that center piece of fabric down.
4. here we are, all basted down and looking at the right side of the fabric. now we’re going to move onto the bottom layer. we’ll come back and take care of this center piece later.
5. now it’s time to pull out the fabric for your bottom layer of your design. you want to cut out a piece big enough to cover your full design, plus 1/4″ (or more…your preference) extra. place it on the right side of your background fabric, making sure to have your design completely covered. pin in place.
6. using your large basting stitches, baste about 1/8″ inside of your second layer. again, these stitches are just to hold that in place.
7. next, we’re going to use our smaller stitches to sew on the drawn line of your pattern. these stitches will be used as your guide when your doing your applique (unlike any of the stitches we’ve done thus far).
8. flip your piece over to the right side, and you should have something like this.
9. *carefully* cut out the center leaving a generous 1/8″ for your turn under allowance. oh. so. carefully. now you’re ready to applique!
10. applique the outer edge of your design (remember, this is your bottom layer we are working on).
11. time to move onto your second layer of your design. pull out your fabric and cut out a piece big enough to cover plus your turn-under allowance. pin it in place.
12. on this piece you want to use your small basting stitches and stitch right on the drawn lines on both the outer and inner part. these will be your applique guides for this layer.
13. applique the outer edge.
14. time to cut out the center on this piece. make sure to leave your turn-under allowance.
15. reverse applique and you’re done!
isn’t that nifty? and you can use this method on any amount of layers, not just 3. i love it because everything is right where it’s suppose to be and you have no bulky layers to deal with when hand quilting. it all lays nice and flat…and everyone is happy. 🙂
decaf,please 