SAHRR Round 5 - Applique

It's the end of week #5 for the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) and there is only one more border to be added. For our assignment this week, we got a choice of adding applique or rail fence blocks. I decided to go the applique route for my quilt. I even decided to try a form of applique that I haven't done before, Broderie Perse.

According to the Quiltipedia Database at The Quilt Show", Broderie Perse is French for "Persian Embroidery". It is a technique where elements, such as flowers or birds, are cut from fabric and appliqued onto a solid piece of fabric..." The feathered star at the center of my quilt features a beautiful floral print, and I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate more of that print in the quilt. Broderie Perse was the perfect answer!

I cut out many flowers from my fabric and auditioned them on the quilt top before settling on my favorites. I chose four small sprigs of roses for the corner squares around the feathered star.

The photo above shows my sample for testing a variety of ways to stitch down the applique after it had been fused to the background. Along the top edge there is some zigzag stitching, which was difficult to line up exactly at the cut edge of the fabric. If you follow around clockwise, there is some blind hem stitching along the right edge, which did not work well at all. My machine does not include a blanket stitch. I switched to a presser foot that made it easier to see where I was stitching, but zigzagging along the lower right still looks messy to me and frays out the fabric. At the lower left, around the bottom of the stem, is my sample of hand blanket stitching, and that turned out to be my favorite.

This is the only applique piece to be stitched down so far. In the first photo of the post, it is the one in the upper right corner of the feathered star. I used regular poly-cotton thread because it was the best color match I had in my thread stash. The next photo, which is taken at more of an angle shows the stitches a bit better.

It's time for me to link up my post with the other SAHRR folks at Quilting Gail. I'm also going to join the Slow Sunday Stitching party at Kathy's Quilts. Stitching around these flowers is definitely slow going, but I'm very happy with how it looks. We will get the assignment for the last border on the SAHRR tomorrow. I can't wait to see how we finish these off!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA