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May
20
The anatomy of a lollipop
Filed Under Appliqué, Fusible interfacing appliqué, In a Twinkle |
I’ve made a whole lot of lollipops in my career. I’ve done the fusible-interfacing demo so many times that last weekend at the SCVQA show, I put a big stack out on my table and happy quilters went home with batches of them pre-made.
This is a form of appliqué that requires neither skill nor experience for great results. It’s a good technique for big, simple shapes. And it’s very durable, with turned edges, so it’s highly appropriate for kid quilts. The fusible interfacing is the key. I use the sheer-to-lightweight variety. This product only fuses on one side and you want to be sure you are using fusible interfacing, not fusible web.
Here we go with a lollipop. Cut an oversized square of fabric and an oversized square of fusible interfacing. Trace a circle onto the smooth side of the interfacing. Place the marked interfacing square smooth (marked) side up on the right side of the fabric square. Pin in a couple places if you like.
Shorten the stitch length on your sewing machine and sew all the way around the circle just inside the marked line. Pivoting should not be necessary once you find the right combination of stitch length and sewing speed. Go ahead and stitch over the first few stitches when you come all the way around.
Trim the seam allowances to about 1/8″. Pull the interfacing away from the fabric and make a nip through it. Lengthen the slash just enough to turn the pop right-side-out through the opening.
This illustration shows the interfacing side, after the slash has been made and before turning the pop.
Turn the pop. Insert some kind of pointy implement through the slash and run it along the stitching line, fully extending the seam. The pop will look a little puffy yet, but don’t press with an iron yet.
This illustration shows the pop after being turned but before being pressed. Puffiness is normal at this stage, do not fear!
The stick for the lollipop is made the same way, by sewing a fabric-interfacing tube and turning it right-side-out. In this illustration, the stick has already been fused to the background and stitched. Now we’re ready for the pop. Place the pop in the desired location. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the pop in place. (I find that 10 seconds with steam does the trick.) Don’t move the iron back and forth, just set it down on the pop.
This is where Miracle #1 occurs. The pop flattens out and becomes beautifully round. It’s fused in place for your favorite form of machine appliqué. A simple topstitch is shown here, which I use a lot for these, with the same shortened stitch length.
Once the stitching is complete, here comes Miracle #2. Because the interfacing only fuses on one side, it is only fused to the background fabric and not to the lollipop. You can pull apart the layers and trim away the fused background, removing most of the product.
Here’s the back of a block, after the fused layer is trimmed away. Leave about 1/4″ inside the stitching line. These blocks are soft and supple.
So, appliqué fans (or appliqué fans to be), fusible interfacing is another one for your bag of tricks.
Patterns for kid quilts with detailed instructions and lots of illustrations on this method can be found throughout my book In a Twinkle: Youthful Quilt Designs over at Quilt Puppy.
A couple of darling Lollipops, Candy Bars & Jujubes quilts can be seen on the Lots of Lollipops post here on the blog.