To Piece, Applique, Quilt or Tie?

If you are new to the world of quilting, you may be confused about the differences between piecing, applique, quilting and tieing. Here’s a run down on when and where to use each.

Piecing

Piecing your quilt refers to seaming together fabrics (by hand or machine) in a pattern to create your quilt top. Piecing is most often used in creating blocks and quilts where the seam lines are straight or gently curved. Your quilt top is created from many small “pieces” all sewn together, hence the name “piecing”. The standard seam allowance for piecing your quilt is 1/4”. Seams should be ironed to one side rather than opened.

Applique

Applique is the process of hand or machine sewing shapes onto your quilt top in a pattern or design. Applique is often used for curved shapes that would be difficult to seam together. You will instead sew them directly to the quilt top. There are a number of types of applique that are popular with quilters.

Let’s begin with needle-turn. This method requires that you cut your fabric piece slightly larger than required. You will sew your applique in place using your needle to fold a slight seam allowance under with each stitch. Basically, you fold, then stitch, fold then stitch.

Paper-piecing requires that you cut out a paper template (I like to use the lightweight cardboard inserts in magazines), cut a slightly larger piece of fabric. Then you will baste your fabric onto the paper template, with seams turned under the paper. This gives you a nice, neat edge to then applique onto your quilt. When you near the end of appliqueing your piece down, you will cut the basting, pull out the paper and continue to applique the fabric piece in place.

Raw-edge applique means that you will cut your fabric piece to the size you need, and machine sew it to your quilt without turning under any seam allowance.

Fusible applique refers to cutting out your fabric piece to the correct size (no seam allowance), fusing it to a fusible webbing such as Misty Fuse, and then ironing (or fusing) into place on your quilt. No sewing is required.

For reverse applique, shapes are cut from the interior of a piece of fabric and the raw edges are turned under at the cuts to expose a second layer of fabric beneath.

Quilting

Quilting is the process of sewing the top, batting and backing together. You can quilt your project by hand or machine. The first step before you begin quilting is to mark your quilt top with the pattern that you would like to use. Mark lightly with a pencil or water soluble fabric marker. Many pattern templates are available to choose from. If you would prefer, you can avoid marking your top by deciding to “quilt in the ditch” (quilting in the seam lines), or quilt a consistent 1/4” from the seam line (so the quilting lines show).

Before you begin quilting, carefully layer the backing, batting, and top together, being sure that all wrinkles are smoothed out. Baste your quilt project with a long running stitch, cross-hatch. Or, use #2 Safety pins to pin baste your quilt. Pins should be placed every 4-5”. Be sure you begin quilting from the center of the quilt, working your way out to the edges. This will allow you to smooth any wrinkles out to the edge.

When you are finished marking and basting your quilt, you will be ready to proceed with hand or machine quilting the three layers together. Again, start from the center and work outward.

Tieing Your Quilt

Tieing your quilt is another way to join the layers of the backing, batting and quilt top. You can simply create ties (with yarn or embroidery floss) to hold the layers together. To tie your quilt, you’ll need a large eye needle and your choice of yarn or floss. Thread the yarn through the needle, push it through the quilt so both ends of the yarn end on the top and create ties – trim to about 1”. Your ties should probably be spaced at every 3-5” depending on the type of batting you used.

When your layers have been joined by quilting or tieing, you’ll be ready to trim the edges and apply the final binding around the outer edge.