Isn't it easy and beautiful?! Every shape can be appliqued this way

I have sooo many fabric pieces. Most of them are wool and wool blends. Now that cold winter steps in, I want to make wool stuff. One of the projects on my mind is a quilted woolen. Since most of the wool fabrics are dark and grayish, a good idea is to use applique to lighten it a bit. So I was wondering how to do it without the applique making a bulk in the already bulky wool and came up with this idea. I’m sure I’m not discovering the wheel, and probably someone already came up with this idea, but since I searched the web and didn’t find it, decided to share it with you as a tutorial for the perfect applique. 

As much as I LOVE the raw edge kind of applique, there are cases, when classic applique with folded edge is better or required. I think a play matt , that will be heavily used needs just that, or I’ll have to constantly make repairs. 

The difficulty I find in applique is the time consuming shaping of the curves and the often teared inner angles. I choose to show you exactly this kind of shape – curves and angles, that will be hard and time consuming to shape with the regular cardboard and iron, or paper  and glue  method… 

The whole trick is in a material I use on my embroidery machine – water soluble fabric. This is a non-woven fabric, that can be stitched and then rinsed leaving no traces. It’s a magic material I fell in love with, since it is helpful in so many things! 

There are two kinds of water soluble stuff used in embroidery – the non-woven fabric, which you can sew a garment from if you wish (don’t go out if it’s cloudy! lol) and the water soluble foil, that is used to keep the embroidery on top of the fabric when terry cloth or velvet is the embroidery base. I’m using here the non-woven fabric, since the foil is too thin and flexible – like an ultra thin rubber sheet.  The fabric kind looks and behaves like some of the non-woven fusible interfacing. 

Here is the tutorial: 

Materials needed for the applique

Trace the drawing of the shape on the water soluble fabric

Place the W-soluble fabric on top of the right side of the main applique fabric

Sew both together, following the drawing lines

Trim excess fabric close to the stitching and cut a small opening in the W-soluble fabric

Use a pencil to turn around, so the seam is inside the applique shape

Make sure all curves are pulled out and there is no bulk of fabric , then iron WITHOUT steam

Place your applique on the desired place of your project and pin to secure

Choose a stitch type you like and top stitch at the edge of the applique or close to it.

Pull the threads from the top to the back of your main fabric and make a small knot or just cut them

Here is your perfect applique - perfect curves and angles! Wash in warm water and the W-soluble fabric will melt away