Wool Appliqué the Piece O’ Cake Way

A. Cotton and linen fabric: Look for 100% cotton, 100% linen, and cotton/linen blend fabrics. Always prewash cottons and linens.

B. Felted wool fabric: The wool fabrics used in these quilts are 100% felted wool (not wool felt). Refer to Felted Wool or Wool Felt?.

Design wall: This is a must-have tool. We each have a design wall made from 1˝ thick insulation foam, available in 4´ × 8´ sheets from a home improvement store. Use as many sheets as necessary to cover your wall space. The foam is easy to cut. It can be attached to the wall with sheetrock screws and then covered with white flannel or batting. You can use a portable design wall if that suits your needs better.

Piecing thread: We used Superior MasterPiece 50-weight 3-ply cotton (on the spool) or Aurifil 2-ply 50-weight cotton.

C. Aurifil’s wool thread works well when hand appliquéing felted wool. It is a slightly fuzzy, 50% acrylic / 50% wool blend thread that is not showy when used with felted wool fabric. You will see the word lana on the Aurifil spool. Lana means “wool” in Italian.

D. Use Presencia’s perle cotton in either a 12 or 16 weight for appliqué stitches with attitude. This thread can also be used to appliqué felted wool when you want a thread that is more visible with a bit of a sheen on top of the felted wool. It is a good choice for big-stitch hand quilting.

E. We recommend Superior MasterPiece 50-weight 2-ply cotton (available only on bobbins), Aurifil 50-weight cotton, and DMC 50-weight machine embroidery thread for traditional invisible appliqué stitches on cotton and linen fabrics.

Machine quilting thread: Superior’s King Tut 40-weight cotton is very nice with felted wool appliqué.

Hand quilting thread: We like Gütterman’s cotton hand quilting thread. Perle cotton size 12 or 16 is nice when you want bigger, more visible stitches.

F. Pins: Use ⅝˝ appliqué pins to pin appliqué pieces in place—we like the Essential Appliqué Pins from Piece O’ Cake Designs. Use fine, long pins for piecing.

G. Needles: For hand appliqué with thicker threads, use a bigger needle. A Richard Hemming & Son 7 or 9 sharp works well, as does Bohin’s 9 crewel needle.

When sewing a traditional appliqué invisible stitch with finer thread, use a smaller needle. Clover’s 12 Black Gold sharp is nice. If you like a longer needle, try a size 11 Hemming & Son milliners (or straw) needle.

H. Needle threader: The Quilter’s Threaders are hand-held threaders that are helpful with thicker threads and larger needles.

I. Scissors: Good scissors are a joy to use. Use a scissor with smooth blades on felted wool. A scissor with a serrated blade works well with cotton and linen. Small to medium-size, sharp scissors are better for precise cutting.

Rotary cutter, mat, and acrylic ruler: When trimming blocks to size and cutting borders, rotary cutting tools will give you the best results.

J. Pencils: To draw around templates onto cotton or linen fabric, use a General’s Charcoal white pencil, or a mechanical chalk pencil that holds a 9 mm refill. We use either white or gray chalk depending on the color and value of the fabric.

K. Permanent markers: To make the positioning overlay for appliqué, a black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point permanent marker works well on vinyl.

Clear or frosted vinyl: Use a clear or frosted flexible, medium-weight vinyl to make the positioning overlay. If the vinyl you buy comes with tissue paper, keep the tissue paper for storage. If your quilt shop does not have vinyl, look for it in online or in stores that carry upholstery fabric.

L. Clear, single-sided, heavyweight self-laminating sheets: Use them to make templates. We recommend the Piece O’ Cake Essential Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets (see Resources). You can find self-laminating sheets at pieceocake.com, at most office supply stores, at some warehouse markets, or online. Buy the single-sided sheets, not the pouches. If you can’t find laminating sheets, you can use clear contact paper.

M. Sandpaper board: When tracing around templates onto fabric, place the fabric on the sandpaper side of the board. Then place the template on the fabric. You’ll love the way the sandpaper holds the fabric in place when you trace. We recommend the Piece O’ Cake Essential Sandboard.

Wooden toothpick: Use a round, wooden toothpick when hand appliquéing cotton and linen fabrics to help turn under the turn-under allowance at points and curves. Wood has a texture that grabs and holds the fabric.

N. Fusible web: We use SoftFuse to hold felted wool appliqué shapes to the block for stitching. It is available in 8˝ × 9˝ sheets and on an 18˝-wide roll. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for this or any fusible that you use.

If you choose to fuse the cotton and linen appliqué pieces, use the product that works best for you. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions. It’s a good idea to test the fusible web on the fabric you will be using.

Spray starch: Use spray starch to add body to lighter background fabrics such as vintage cotton and some linen.

Nonstick appliqué pressing sheet: Always press felted wool with a pressing sheet because ironing directly onto felted wool can leave scorch marks. A nonstick pressing sheet will protect the iron and ironing board when you are using fusible web. Additionally, a nonstick pressing sheet really does help the fusible web to adhere better.

Quick Yo-Yo Maker (Small) by Clover: Used to make the 1¼˝-diameter yo-yos for the Yo-Yo Garden Foot Warmer and Yo-Yo Basket. Refer to the instructions on the package and/or online.

Wonder Clips by Clover: These clips are wonderful to use for their intended purpose (holding fabric layers together without pins), but they also come in very handy if you use them as binding clips for projects like the Strawberry Zip Bag.

1˝ bias tape maker: You feed a bias strip through this little gizmo and it comes out the other side with the raw edges folded into the center of the strip, ready to press as you go. This is a handy tool if you are making the Strawberry Zip Bag.

A good work light: Choose a lamp that gives off a bright, natural light. Sewing is so much easier when you can see what you are doing.

Stuffing for the Strawberry Pincushions: Use wool, cotton, polyester, or crushed pecan shell lizard litter. Lizard litter can be found at some pet supply stores or online.

Batting: We use cotton batting. There are several good batts on the market. It is a good idea to do some research to find the batt that suits you best. Our current favorite is Quilters Dream Select.

Quilting gloves: Quilting gloves make it easier to hold onto the quilt during machine quilting. Machingers brand is our favorite.

Sewing machine: Successful machine piecing and quilting requires the best sewing machine and table that you can afford. For piecing, we use a Bernina. For machine quilting we use the Sweet Sixteen by Handi Quilter.

Appliqué Caddy

We also designed the Quilter’s Appliqué Caddy, which we love to use to keep our appliqué pieces in. You can get it at your local quilt shop or online.

Cotton fabric is usually 40˝–42˝ wide off the bolt. Linen can be wider than 40˝, but it isn’t always wider than that. To be safe, all fabric requirements are based on a 40˝ width.

Use the fabric requirements for each quilt as a guide, but remember that yardage amounts can vary depending on how you cut the fabric. The measurements in this book allow for some fabric shrinkage and minor errors in cutting.

Felted Wool

Felted wool comes in a variety of sizes. These are the most common:

Charm: 5˝ × 5˝

Chunk: 9˝ × 10˝

Chubby: 16˝ × 16˝

Commercial Chubby: 18˝ × 18˝

You can buy felted wool yardage off the bolt from some companies.

This book’s cutting instructions are mathematically correct. However, variations in the finished size of the quilt top can result from slight differences in seam allowances. You should always measure your quilt before adding borders. When measuring, be sure to measure through the middle of the quilt top, not at the outer edges, which can stretch. Adjust the size of the borders if necessary.