A few of you asked if I could do a little tutorial on how I prepped that centre piece in the third block of “Bed of Roses”. As always, I am happy to share this with you!
First, I always use 2 layers of freezer paper to make my templates and I iron it to the wrong side of the fabric.
I trim the seam allowance to less than 1/4″, even in the inside curves.
Now I need to clip the inside curves. By the way, I never clip an outside curve. Never!
I have drawn lines where I will clip. (I don’t really draw the lines before I clip them, I am just showing the position of the lines.) Notice that the lines are always perpendicular to the freezer paper.
It is very important not to clip right to the freezer paper. I like to leave about 1/8″.
So now, starting at an inside curve, I apply liquid starch to the seam allowance and pull back the seam allowance with my left hand….
…..then I pick up my mini-iron and iron the seam allowance.
And now, if I did not have the camera in my left hand, I would pick up my stiletto and pick up the mini-iron with my right hand and start to press the seam allowance over the freezer paper.
If really just takes a bit of practice! Here is what it should start to look like.
Once the piece is completely prepped, I add a tiny dot of glue to each outside curve.
And now I am ready to stitch the piece in place!
Til next time….
Kerry
Simple Bird Applique 
Nobody does a better tutorial. generosity appreciated. Toni B
Toni Bauman
>
Thankyou Kerry so easy to follow I am still learning to applique and
Find your tips very usefull .silver lady.
So easy to follow thank you look forward to more.
Glad to hear it!
As always..thank you for sharing and showing!! 🙂
You are so welcome!
What a great tutorial so precise I think this needs to be shared with a few of my friends who are struggling. Thank you.
Please share it! There is no need to struggle when it comes to hand-applique!
Thanks for sharing. I’ve been trying your prepping method and I love it. How do you cope with sewing the parts that have nearly no seam allowance?
Hi Janet: Good to hear from you! When the seam allowance is really tiny (almost non-existant) I add a small dab of Fray Check. I also take very small stitched in this area. Hope this helps!
The freezer paper is there when you are ironing, but then it’s gone when you put the glue drops. How do you get the freezer paper out without messing up your applique shape? Your work is SO beautiful, by the way — thank you for sharing your process!
My apologies for omitting that step. Believe it or not, the freezer paper pops right out without disturbing the seam allowance. When I write my next blog post, I will describe how I do this step.
Thanks Kerry. It is amazing to see that it IS possible to do that many tight curves, that close together. It was interesting to see how small you cut your seam allowance, and that you did not clips the outside curves. I did do that on some appliques that I had done, but that made it harder to get a nice smooth edge. You have beautiful smooth lines!!
Thanks, Shirley. That is the smallest that I would trim my seam allowance. Any smaller, and it would wrap around the freezer paper.
That’s great looking fabric! I always love your tutorials. I have learned through error on the clipping of the curves and your example is so right on. It’s funny how they don’t work as well if you clip them at an angle.
As usual I am amazed at how much you get done!
I just posted my eagle block from my Friends of Baltimore. I love it!! Thanks for all your tutorials and blog posts on this quilt. You helped inspire me to finally jump in with both feet!
Hi Belinda:
So glad to hear from you!
Your eagle block is beautiful. Please keep us posted on your progress!
Thank you for your tutorial, it makes it all much clearer.
Kerry, you show more in a few photos than many do in entire videos! Thank you. I’ve always had so much trouble with inside curves and points. I am definitely going to try the way you just showed.
Thanks Eileen! Remember, practice makes perfect. Feel free to refer back to this blog post!
Thank you, Kerry! I loved your tutorial! Hugs.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for the hugs!
Thank you for the tutorial! I learned something new….
Hi Jackie: That is so good to hear!
What a great tutorial. There is nothing like up close and personal pictures to explain the process. Thank you so much Kerry!
I have never yet tried this but you make it look very simple.:)
You had a tutorial on here a year or two ago that helped me immensely and I still do the prep your way 🙂