Sunday 5 October 2014

Adventures in reverse applique

I've been pretty quiet around these parts for the last few months. Between teaching, making quilts for publication (and no that isn't code for a book!), working behind the scenes helping to get the Tasmanian MQG up and running and looking after a sick husband and three kids, I haven't had time or the head space for regularly posting on the blog - and I really miss it! I think part of it is that it's so quick and easy to share stuff on Instagram (as so many bloggers have mentioned recently) - but to me blogs are so much more and I miss sharing my process in this space. Now that life has settled back to something close to normal, I'm hoping I'll be blogging a bit more regularly :o)

I do have several projects I've been working on recently that I will share soon - but today I wanted to show you the name tag I made for a recent swap. Just as a bit of background, we had our first meeting of the Tasmanian MQG back at the beginning of October, and I announced our first swap at the meeting - a name tag swap. We kept it pretty simple - everyone listed a few likes and dislikes, and we had to aim for a 4" square name tag (not the easiest size to work with!!). 

My partner is a fellow Denyse Schmidt addict, so I knew I wanted to use lots of DS prints in her name tag. And from the very beginning I knew I wanted to try something new-to-me - reverse applique. I started by pulling a rainbow of DS prints, cutting 1" strips and piecing them together. 


Next I cut a 4" square of this lined fabric and wrote my partner's name in Frixion marker. I free motion quilted a couple of times around each of the letters and most of the lines on the fabric and then took a very deep breath.


I used a pair of very sharp, pointy embroidery scissors to cut out the inside part of the letters (and accidentally cut a little bit of the underneath fabric on the 'S' unfortunately - but because there is batting under that it stayed put thankfully!) I decided not to bind it - I quilted right on the edge of the white, and then trimmed just outside it, so the rainbow shows on the bottom and top edges.


It was SUCH a fun little project to make - and I'm definitely going to do more reverse applique. It's such a great technique and I'd love to make a 'wholecloth' quilt using reverse applique sometime soon!

We swapped the name tags at our meeting last week, and I managed to get a photo of them all together. Everyone was pretty delighted with their tags (understandably, they were all seriously fantastic!)

 
I was particularly delighted with mine - made by my friend Briony at Frangipani Fabrics (where I teach and work). It is just so me, and I can't wait to wear it at our meetings :o)


I'll be back in a few days with another recent finish (once it has reached it's new home!!)

xx Jess



17 comments:

Afton Warrick said...

This is a great swap idea. Every guild I attend urges the members to make and wear name tags, but this would motivate folks to get around to it much sooner.

Farm Quilter said...

What a great idea for a swap!! I may have to suggest this for my local guild!

Leanne said...

What a great group of name tags!

Lisa said...

Brilliant! Love all of these wee mini quilts. What fun!!!

Benta AtSLIKstitches said...

Great idea! And lovely to see you here again!

Catherine said...

What a fabulous idea and it looks amazing

Charlotte said...

fab fab fab - yours and all the others!

KaHolly said...

A wonderful idea for a swap and look the beautiful results!

Rosa said...

Great idea and beautiful results!

Carli The Quilter said...

What a lovely idea! These are fabulous and good on you to get a Modern QG going!!

Katy Cameron said...

Love that reverse applique!

Anonymous said...

Cute. They all look great.

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