hi all ..l've got a question

[Lisaau]

Firstly I'm new to quilting and l'm doing a qulting class still making my first one a disappearing nine patch l think tis called .

My question is this l've got an old commercially made quilt thats seen better days and l've cut it down and kept the pieces that are still in good condition and l've cut down an old pair of my husbands jeans and bought 3 mtrs of jeans fabric from a local store.

Now l bought some cheap fat quarters from the same store and one is navy blue with tiny white dot flowers all over it and its so very close in design to one of the fabric in the old quilt. I am going to do this by machine and make it into a rag quilt where you put the 2 wrong sides together and sew the seam right sides out and the seam can be seen on top of the quilt. With this navy blue fabric l want to do some applique on the top a vase with flowers in it. I know with rag quilts you sew top, batting and backing together at the same time with an "X" in the middle from all 4 sides.....but what l'm wondering is can l do that with the "X" in the middle and still applique ??? wont the sticthing show up on the top of the backing fabric or can l applique first then sew all 3 layers together at once?? and if l do that will l need to put the centre of my "X" in the middle of my applique??.

Sorry for the long winded quesiton thanks for any help you guys can give .

[wilder]

Re: hi all ..l've got a question

If I were doing this, on the blocks where you wish to put the applique I would not do an X.  Is the applique going through all three layers, if so, you don't need the X, if not, then sew around the ouside of the applique.          Ruth:icon_wave: 

[shell.scraps]

Re: hi all ..l've got a question

I haven't appliqued yet...so I will defer to one of our resident applique experts!! I'm sure that someone will be along with an answer soon...

but it sounds like it's going to turn out really cool!!

[ktbb]

Re: hi all ..l've got a question

If I were doing this, on the blocks where you wish to put the applique I would not do an X.  Is the applique going through all three layers, if so, you don't need the X, if not, then sew around the ouside of the applique.          Ruth:icon_wave: 

I agree with wilder. The X's are simply a way of simple quilting for the blocks before you sew them together...your applique through all layers will do the same thing. Having X's on some and applique shapes on others might make the back like a funky X and O game! Fun!

If you want to get fancier...well that's another idea...

[Lisaau]

Re: hi all ..l've got a question

Thankyou everyone for your replies thats what l wanted to know. ktbb what do you mean by fancier please... thanks............ooh l was going to applique by hand will that make a difference or not ??..l've never done this before so its all new to me

[ktbb]

Re: hi all ..l've got a question

Thankyou everyone for your replies thats what l wanted to know. ktbb what do you mean by fancier please... thanks............ooh l was going to applique by hand will that make a difference or not ??..l've never done this before so its all new to me

A couple of ways to get a little more quilting without a lot of detail..

fisrst idea: start with the blocks where you don't put an applique and put in a full X...on the blocks where you do place an applique, quilt around the applique...then...add the parts of the X that fall outside of the applique stitch. It looks complicated, but it isn't..just a few short seams. does that make sense?

Another idea: use the x's and appliques then add echo stitching...that is stitching that parallels the original stitching like rings on the surface of the water when you throw a stone into it. Start by putting the X on the square..then, on each of the four sides of the square where a V has been formed, add additional rows of stitching maybe a half or even three quarters of an inch outside the previous stitching. After putting on an applique, use the same distance that you did on the X's (half or three quarters) and parallel the shape of the applique seam until you reach the edge of the block -

still another, slightly different, idea which I have used on rag quilts for my sons - use each of these blocks to try out free motion, writing with thread, etc.. Depending on the fabric being used, you may not even see the threads which means that "mistakes" will not be notices. In my blocks, I practiced writing their names and other phrases or stitching patterns..."i love you", some stippling practice, wrote their name, etc.

Any of these will give you more quilting in the block but are not complicated techniques to use, especially when you're working with small, individual blocks. You could go smaller than the half inch mentioned above, but since you're doing a rag style quilt I think it's not necessary.

[janluna]

Re: hi all ..l've got a question

A couple of ways to get a little more quilting without a lot of detail..

fisrst idea: start with the blocks where you don't put an applique and put in a full X...on the blocks where you do place an applique, quilt around the applique...then...add the parts of the X that fall outside of the applique stitch. It looks complicated, but it isn't..just a few short seams. does that make sense?

Another idea: use the x's and appliques then add echo stitching...that is stitching that parallels the original stitching like rings on the surface of the water when you throw a stone into it. Start by putting the X on the square..then, on each of the four sides of the square where a V has been formed, add additional rows of stitching maybe a half or even three quarters of an inch outside the previous stitching. After putting on an applique, use the same distance that you did on the X's (half or three quarters) and parallel the shape of the applique seam until you reach the edge of the block -

still another, slightly different, idea which I have used on rag quilts for my sons - use each of these blocks to try out free motion, writing with thread, etc.. Depending on the fabric being used, you may not even see the threads which means that "mistakes" will not be notices. In my blocks, I practiced writing their names and other phrases or stitching patterns..."i love you", some stippling practice, wrote their name, etc.

Any of these will give you more quilting in the block but are not complicated techniques to use, especially when you're working with small, individual blocks. You could go smaller than the half inch mentioned above, but since you're doing a rag style quilt I think it's not necessary.

You all are so helpful. Thank you for all the tips! Break a stitch, Jan