Artful Appliqué – Part 4

Finding Design Inspiration

Now that you have a grasp of what appliqué actually is, how to do basic fused appliqué, and learned the simple stitches needed to secure your appliqué pieces in position, it’s time to turn this knowledge into … Art!

In this article, I hope to open you to the world of doing something different – through enhancing with stitch, layers and embellishments.

As I mentioned before, this will be less about ‘traditional’ techniques. Nevertheless – and it’s a curious thing – creating something ‘different’ is about design rather than techniques.

The techniques don’t change a great deal – it’s how you use them.  

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission (at no further expense to you) if you click through and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases from Amazon websites.

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Decide what you want to make

What type of design are you after?

• Will it be abstract or pictorial?
• Are you planning heavy thread painting, or a more minimalist approach by enhancing with thread sketching?
• Do you think you may be interested in using machine embroidery techniques?

The overlap between ‘thread sketching’, ‘thread painting’, ‘machine embroidery’ and ‘free motion quilting’ can get a bit blurred at times.

But fundamentally, it doesn’t matter what you call it – or indeed, if you even work ‘free motion’, as long as you are enhancing your appliqué with some sort of stitch, even if that stitch is simple edging to hold the pieces in place. 

As someone who loves thread sketching, thread painting and creating art quilts, my focus will be on enhancing designs using machine stitching. 

This stitching will, in the main, be worked ‘free motion’.

The technique of combining appliqué and stitched embellishment is frequently employed by art quilters who create landscapes, portraits, pictorial and abstract works.

 

And you should not feel limited to creating an art quilt or wall hanging, as the technique can be used for other items as well.

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If you’re uncertain how to do free motion stitching, or feel you need a little practice, get a copy of my handy reference book, Creative Thread Sketching: a beginner’s guide.

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Choose your appliqué design

When creating an appliqué project you can either use a template or printed pattern, or design your own.

Designing your own is, in my opinion, the best way to develop your design skills, but it doesn’t need to be difficult or confronting. 

Your own photos are a great place to start! 

Ideas for designs can be found everywhere – in nature, books, magazines, cards and objects found around the house. 

Please remember what I said about Copyright. You don’t want to find yourself in ‘hot water’ for using someone’s work without permission! 

Sketching a design is not difficult if you have an object or photo to inspire.

Remember to always keep it simple. 

I have a terrible habit of adding too much detail, and paring my designs back to basics can be a painstaking experience! 

Oh dear! I can be my own worst enemy at times.

The curious revelation I often get from forcing myself to simplify, simplify, simplify, though, is that I find myself becoming more creative when there is less detail in my design! 

Simplify – Simplify – Simplify.

What you need when creating a design

First, decide what type of project you want to make.

Your inspiration may be a photo or an object or even a scene you’ve noticed while out and about town and has stayed in your mind.

Other senses can come into play as well. 

As a musician, I sometimes allow my thoughts and feelings about a particular piece of music influence my design, or the colours I choose to use, or whether the piece is abstract or pictorial. 

To put together your design, gather up the necessary tools:

• Tracing paper
• Fusible web and/or freezer paper
• Fabric glues or adhesives
• Appliqué pressing mat
• Stabiliser
• Pens and pencils
• Erasable marking pens or quilt markers
• Fabric

You may not need all of these things to create your design. In fact, you may not need any – except fabric, of course!

Use the objects around you to inspire a design

This abstract piece Strata Gold was not really ‘designed’ at all.

I simply took the piece of petrified wood that was my inspiration and built the design right on the base fabric.

Allowing my ideas and eyes to guide me, pieces of fabric were layered and appliquéd to the base fabric, prior to embellishing with stitch. 

While there is not much similarity between the inspiration photo and the finished piece, the point of this is that you use an object, idea, or picture to generate a design – it doesn’t matter if they don’t look the same.

Trust your instincts about what looks good.

You will know whether you like your design and whether you’re happy with the finished piece. 

It doesn’t matter what other people think. 

This is not a competition. 

Another piece inspired by an object:

I put together this little handbag by employing the techniques of appliqué and free motion stitching to create the fabric. 

What was my inspiration for this design?

A single leaf! 

Create a design based on a photo

Photos offer a wealth of inspiration! 

Follow the picture precisely, or use a dash of artistic licence to transform the image into a representation of the scene. 

A number of pieces I’ve created have been made using this technique – and one photo has actually inspired about half a dozen of my art quilts over the years. 

The source photo is of a Giant Russian Sunflower I grew in my garden (and I have to say it was, by far, the biggest flower – at over 12” in diameter – I have ever grown!). 

I loved it so much that the same photo has been used over and over and over again.

Landscapes can be created from photos, too. 

A picture I took in France of a country church inspired Buttercups in a Country Churchyard, which employs free-form appliqué, layers and thread sketched embellishments. 

Create a design from a rubbing or tracing

As shown here, you could use a shell or (in this case), a (deceased!) starfish to create a rubbing, moving the starfish around under the paper to form a design. 

One of the appliqué designs created from this is this Star of the Sea.

The background is built up with many tiny scraps of fabric that have been stitched in position, with the sea star design worked over the top using free motion zigzag stitch. 

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So, as you can see, you should never feel limited by thinking you don’t have anything to inspire your creative appliqué art. 

Something as simple and ‘everyday’ as an ornament on your mantelpiece could turn out to be a masterpiece in the making! 

This rather bizarre little scene was also created from a rubbing of a frieze of monks I stumbled across in Italy some years ago. 

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Never be afraid to work freely, exploring concepts, ideas, and images, rather than feeling constrained by a predetermined pattern or design. Let your imagination go wild and your stitching go where it takes you.

However, sometimes making a pattern is worthwhile. Brolga Moon is one of my favourite appliqué art quilts. The design was inspired by Australian indigenous art.

Related posts

This article concludes our four-step exploration of Artful Appliqué. If you missed any of the previous instalments, use the links below to find them.

• Artful Appliqué Part 1
• Artful Appliqué Part 2
• Artful Appliqué Part 3
• Artful Appliqué Part 4