Circle Skirt Sew-Along - Applique

Following along with Casey at Casey's Elegant Musings, I'm happy to say that I have my circle skirt cut out and the applique is nearly finished!

To create the motif, I used my tried and true "what the heck, let's see if this works" method.  I knew I wanted a vine-ing design...utilizing some flower and leaf shapes that I drafted several years ago.  I don't have any fancy drafting tools...and I needed help with the curves.  So I poked around a little bit and came up with a Fiestaware saucer.  Perfect!  I drew the design directly onto my pattern pieces.

To transfer the design to the tweed, I traced the vine onto plain white tissue paper...and pinned this to the skirt pieces.  I then straight-stitched along the traced line with black thread...and tore the tissue away.  This left me with a easy-to follow guideline for my vine...that would disappear into the final satin-stitching. 

Next, I traced the applique shapes onto a sheet of "Heat N Bond Lite" fusible web...fused them to the back of a remnant of black cotton velveteen...and cut them out.  Now, we're ready to applique!

Working in sections, I backed the entire design area with Sulky "Totally Stable" tear-away stabilizer.  Then, I satin-stitched along the vine line with black thread.  Using my skirt pattern pieces as a guide...I positioned the leaves and flowers along the vine and fused them in place.  I outlined each piece with black satin-stitching.  (I LOVE to applique...but I think it may be awhile before I do any more!)

You may notice that the finished motif is more "leafy."  I thought my original design was a bit sparse...so I added more foliage.


I appliqued the front and back pieces separately, before sewing the side seams.  I debated long and hard about this, and I'm glad I decided on this way.  Maneuvering HALF a circle skirt through my machine and around all those bitsy curves was difficult enough!

Next, I'll sew and finish the side seams...and complete the applique design as it travels over those seams.  Then, I'll add the beaded accents to the flower centers and leaves...something I've never tried!  Stay tuned!