Applique using modpodge

I read about this on a blog last week and she called it crafted applique. There is a book out on the subject called crafted applique - new possibilities that gives you detailed instructions. If you really want to try this and do it right you might want to buy the book. I'm the type that likes to dive in and experiment so that's what I did.

First I "painted" the modgepodge on the back side of the fabric. Modgepodge is a white glue that dries fast and clear. It's used for decoupage.

 

 

I thought I was smart to lay the fabric on a large sheet of paper to protect my table. The glue went thru the fabric and stuck to the paper. Oooops! (Well that's not really what said but this is a family friendly blog)

 

So back to the drawing board, this time laying the fabric on plastic.

 

 

 

Some basic leaf shapes cut and laid on a background.

 

I'm not taking any chances that some of the glue is on the front so used parchment paper to iron and yes, it does stick to the background just like fusible. That makes it easy to quilt.

 

So her is is, quilted and finished. I made the stems small to see how it holds up under the machine needle. With fusible a small piece like this will shred under the needle but these stems held up nicely. The leaves felt somewhat stiff (as does fusible) so next step was to wash. The modpodge is water soluble so should wash out in the washing machine.

 

 

Here it is after washing. It felt softer so I think at least some of the glue washed out. This was put in with a load of clothes so I'm thinking soaking in hot water by itself probablly would do a better job of getting all the glue out and making it nice and soft. If I were to make a baby quilt or any quilt that was to be washed a lot I would probablly do the applique with a zig zag stitch. Most of my quilts are art quilts and aren't really washed so I just do the straight free motion. I wonder how zig zag free motion would work. Has anyone tried that? I would imagine it's slower to do but when making a mug rig or anything that will be washed straight stitch just doesn't do it.

 

 

As you can see here, my stitches didn't really hold up in the wash and caused the waves. Also to be fair, the background is flannel which I'm sure shrinks differently than the batik I used for the leaves.

 

All in all I like this technique especially for small bits. I will continue using my beloved fusible and freezer paper but will definately include the crafted applique technique into my "box of tricks"

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