I have been experimenting with appliqué for a quilt I’m working on. My experiment is part paper snowflakes and part Hawaiian quilt. I started with paper, made my diagram and cut.
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Then I applied the ‘snowflake’ to another ugly material from my stash to make a raw edged appliqué. I never appliquéd before so any suggestions are welcome. Here’s the result.
On the quilt top, for which I am experimenting, the appliqué will be blue on a white background. The thread will be the blue of the appliqué so it will not show up like the prototype. The quilt has stars and quite a bit of negative space, so I thought I’d experiment with my version of merging Hawaiian quilt technique (a loose definition of it) and paper snowflakes. Hopefully, I’ll be able to show you some of the quilt top in a few days. Of course, I’d probably save myself a lot of time if I just watched some videos to learn how to appliqué, but that would be too easy…and not as much fun. Suggestions?
Quiltify 
I’ve had some experience with both machine applique and hand applique…and I find both of them to be a challenge. Machine applique is easier: you just set the machine for zig-zag, and make the length of the stich very small, and voila- you have a tightly-sewn applique about a quarter of an inch wide. Needle-turn hand-applique intrigues me, but I have not mastered it yet.When you do raw-edge applique, is that how it stay when finished? (and I, too, resist videos…I’d rather try it myself first, make my mistakes, and then try to figure it out.
I am eager to see you this blue-white works out. I am madly making cards for a crafts fair on Dec. 21. Will post some photos soon.
Oh, I agree, the “just go for it and learn along the way” method is so much more fun. I like the flower print fabric.
I’m doing raw edge because I don’t know any better. I’ll figure out the turned way next time. I just want to get this quilt top done so I can quilt it. Your cards are really nice by the way.