Embellishing with Appliques: Part 2

Create your own appliques by cutting out patterns from fabric. Patterns can be those that you've drawn yourself or applique patterns that you've downloaded from others, or you can use coloring book pages, stitchery patterns or paint patterns to create appliques from. There are also a few different ways to use these as I've listed below.

• The top picture below is a reverse applique in which the heart was cut from the top square and placed over the bottom square, then zigzagged to hold.
• The middle picture is a rag quilted applique. Place applique on top of fabric and sew away from the edges 1/2" to 1" using a normal stitch. Then clip to rag.
• The last picture shows a traditional applique. With this approach, the applique is cut from one fabric and zigzagged to the top of another piece of fabric.

Posted by www.PatternMart.com

Embellishing with Appliques: Part 1

I think my favorite embellishments of all are doilies. They come in various sizes and don't have to cost much....or make your own if you'd like. Doilies add an old fashioned flair to clothing, quilts, totes and more. Click on pictures to view larger images.


Add as a single layer.


Add smaller doilies on top of larger doilies.


Adding the smaller doilies beneath the larger doilies may be an interesting touch.

Doily on a tote with a button in the center.

Doilies on quilt squares with small buttons in the center.

Posted by http://www.patternmart.com/

Embellishing With Ribbons, Lace, Cording and More

This week I wanted to touch on a few of the edgings that can be used to embellish projects with. There are so many different kinds of fabric ribbons to choose from as well as lace, cording, strung beads and more of this nature. Besides being useful as edging on dresses, pillows and quilts, these are great to place around appliques to make a bold statement. Use to create stripes on solid fabrics or as edging around only particular squares on a quilt or even to frame a specific print on a fabric. As with the other embellishing ideas, these can also be glued onto wood, cardboard, or plastic projects to make an interesting statement.

Visit us again next week for more fun embellishing ideas from www.PatternMart.com.

Embellishing with Beads

Beads are another great way to embellish your work. See how they've been added to a decorator pillow below. I'm also showing a 3-D angel made from beads but you can easily draw a figure onto fabric and sew on the beads to fill in the drawn area to use as a spectacular finishing touch. Using beads on cross stitch and hand embroidery is also very popular. Decorate a blouse, jean pockets, totes, dolls and more! Once again, don't stop at sewing projects. Beads can be glued onto papier mache, wood and other similar materials as well.

As you can see in the top picture, beads come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials as well - plastic, metal, glass, and wood. My personal favorites in the picture are the seashell beads and the hand-painted glass beads.

Visit www.PatternMart.com to find a fun project to use your new beads on.

Embellishing with Buttons

I'd like to spend the next few weeks discussing ways to add pizzazz to our crafts. Embellishing is the most common way to succeed with this. And there are lots of ways to embellish!

Buttons are one convenient way to embellish....from glueing them onto boxes to sewing them onto dolls, quilts, totes, clothing and other sewing projects. As you can see below they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They also are made from a variety of materials; plastic, glass, metal and wood are the most common. Below is only a small fraction from my button stash. I've also included a few pictures showing ways buttons can make your sewing projects look more interesting.

Visit www.PatternMart.com for fun patterns to start your embellishing project.


A few buttons from my stash


Primitive Heart button on a curtain tab

Red buttons on wreaths resemble berries

Button eyes on snowman faces

Buttons are an additional layer on these hearts