Quote Originally Posted by Patrice View Post
this is great. i am bookmarking this. some of those shapes are really narrow. Do you still do a applique stitch around them? What kind of stitch do you do and do you hand stitch or do it on the machine?
Hi Patrice,
Its pretty easy to decorative stitch the larger applique pieces but the tiny vines and intricate shapes are more difficult. I try to do everything by machine so generally use either a straight stitch, satin stitch or zigzag around the raw edges to stabilize them. If I have a long narrow applique piece that I can easily use my zigzag presser foot with, I can then choose one of the many decorative stitches on my machine and pick a contrasting thread for adding interest to the design.

If the applique shape requires free motion stitching, that is where my repertoire is pretty limited at the moment. Since I am just learning FMQ I don't always want to use a contrasting thread if it is in an area that needs to be precisely stitched. For stabilizing the raw edges to prevent curling, a fine monofilament invisible thread can be used which will be hard to see mistakes. Be sure the needle size is not too large and the stitches not too short since you will see the holes made in the fabric even if you don't see the thread!

Sometimes it is desirable to use a contrasting thread and free motion stitch which will stabilize the edge and also add to the design. I have been playing around with this a little bit but have a long way to go before my stitching looks neat and clean where I need it to be. There are some FMQ patterns though that lend themselves to random "anything goes" type stitching so its hard to do something wrong.

Patsy Thompson has a great FMQ Video Tutorial on her website and YouTube which talks about doing an "EKG" stitch around the raw edges with a contrasting thread. It looks sorta like an EKG heart monitor strip with a variety of different length V shapes. This is the kind of stitch which is very forgiving to small mistakes but still lends interesting texture, color and design to your project. Patsy talks very specifically 3/4 through the video about how to adjust your stitching for very small narrow applique shapes. You may want to check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVVQWNZ9uqU&feature=player_embedded#at=423

On my wall hanging project with the Blue/Yellow/Red Leaves I had to decide whether to stitch down the small curly cue shapes or just leave them fused. I did learn a valuable lesson that when using fusible webbing you need to not over press with a hot iron or the applique piece may not stay fused. I had to replace a couple of the curly shapes that I had "pressed the heck out of"! So just enough heat to fuse to the background fabric is all that is needed. Since I don't plan on washing this wall hanging I am going to see how the fusible holds up without stitching on the curly shapes. If the edges start to curl with handling or time, I will probably try to stitch them down using invisible thread.