What can I say about my experiences teaching Prepared Edge Applique at the Academy of Applique?  It was awesome, inspiring and exhausting (but in a good way!).  Teaching at the Academy is the highlight of my year.  To be surrounded by fellow lovers of applique is so inspiring and recharges my creative batteries.  If you have never attended the Academy, please give some thought to attending next year’s Academy.  You won’t be disappointed:)  Here are a few photos from the 2 classes I taught, Southwest Succulents, and Yellow Finches.  I was blown away by the student’s fabric choices and how each vase had a different “feel”.

Here are some pictures from the Yellow Finch class.

Here are a couple of eager students (below). Donna (on the right side of photo) has never tried prepared edge before.  Her first (!) attempt at a circle is in the photo below.  Are you as impressed as I am?  Wow!

It is always exciting to see some completed projects from previous classes.  Thanks, Pat, for sharing her Rose of Sharon, a class from last year.  Pat hand quilted her masterpiece and it is stunning.

And Peggy’s project from last year is fabulous!  Also hand quilted.  Inspiring:)

Here is a mother/daughter quilting duo.  So nice to see the next generation discovering the joy of creating something beautiful.

So, in the photo below, you can see that the leaves in this project are all “split”.  That means that each leaf has 2 pieces, a light green and a dark green, or in my sample, green and mauve.  I love the look of split leaves, but I have struggled in the past, trying to get a nice smooth point that is not all bulky and yucky.  So I came up with this method that I shared with my class, and I am happy to share with you.

In the class, I provided 2 copies of the freezer paper templates for the leaves.  So I prepped the freezer paper as usual, with a blank sheet of freezer paper underneath to create a thick template.  Here are both identical templates.

Cut both out, but leave one “whole” (don’t cut down the middle).  The other one can be cut into 2 templates.  Set the “whole” one aside for now.

Iron both of the “cut apart” templates onto the back of desired fabrics.  Cut out, leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance all the way around.

Now, prep the centre line only on the mauve piece.

Pop the template out and mark the top and bottom of the template with a marker that you can see on the front of the piece.  Set this mauve piece aside for now.

Take the template off the back of the green  fabric and place it on the front, leaving 1/4″ around.

Mark the centre line, and the top and bottom of the template.

Okay, now put a few dots of glue on the prepped edge of the mauve section and place it on the green section, using the  lines as a placement guide. 

Stitch the mauve section to the green section.

Flip the stitched leaf over and place the “whole” template, lining up the top of the template and the line of stitching.

So, now, you can go ahead and prep both sides of the template as you normally would.

Voila!  A perfect split leaf!

Til next time…

Kerry