In hand or machine appliqué, stems are one of the most consistent elements and make or break your design. Even and well placed stems and vines build a strong foundation for the rest of your design. Therefore it is important to give some attention to the skill.
The teachers of JQG collaborated as part of the National Quilters Day 2021 by making a short demonstration video. I chose to show how to cut and make bias strips. We are busy with the Fireworks Mystery quilt with a multitude of stems.
In hand or machine appliqué, stems are one of the most consistent elements and make or break your design. Firstly, even and well placed stems and vines build a strong foundation for the rest of your design. It is therefore important to give some attention to the skill.
If the stems you need are straight, you can cut the strips length wise on the grain of the fabric. If you have bends, scrolls or waves, it is better to cut your fabric on the bias. This can be a daunting task if the stems are 1/4″ wide.
In this video I show how to fold the fabric and and cut the strips for appliqué stems and vines. In conclusion, I then demonstrated how to thread the bias maker and iron the strips to the fabric.
A bias maker is a very useful tool. Cut your strips double the size of the bias maker. These are normally colour coded, for instance the green one for 6mm or 1/4″ and yellow for 12mm or 1/2″. Pin one end of the strip to the ironing board and iron carefully, in even motion.
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