Hive 2 October Tutorial - Cupcake Applique Block

A few years ago, with Stash Bee - I did an Applique flower block and the results were fabulous!  (please excuse the wonky picture!)

Last year I opted for Christmas.   This time around I have October.  October is my birthday month - so I thought cake, i.e. cupcakes could be fun!

I've done a couple of different style designs both with different sewing options...

So.......

You will need:

·                     Background Fabric:     A 12.5" square - that shows off your applique

·                     Cake design:       Scraps of bright colours - I used a mix of patterned

·                      Applique method of your choice:  I used bondaweb and blanket stitch, and bondaweb and free motion

·                     Threads:   Your choice

Basic instructions:

I don't want to patronise so will not labour these too much!

Only two rules:

• Finished block is 12.5" Square
• No "Wishy Washy" colours - bright colours please - 

Now for the fun bit!

Cake applique:

Feel free to applique in whichever method you feel most comfortable, i.e. turned edge, raw edge etc.

As we are not trying to turn this into a mammoth time frame, the raw edge method is by far the quickest!

If you aren't familiar with this, I've done a brief tutorial below:

•  Decide on a cake design – I Googled a few things for inspiration and have "Pinned" some onto a pinterest page if you need some inspiration:

• Stashbee - Pinterest

(Incase the link doesn't work:  https://www.pinterest.co.uk/twinkletoesuk/stashbee-birthday/)

• I decided on a Cupcake - so drew out something that looked representative

•  Select some fabric that will ensure this design stands out from your background - you really don't want all this work to be lost and disappear into the background.

• From this design, you transfer the individual elements to bondaweb – don’t forget the overlaps!!,  (don't forget to draw on the non-sticky side, and that you get the opposite of what you draw!)

•  Iron this onto the WRONG side of you fabric
• Cut out on the lines.  I use a large pair of scissors (if i can get a large scissor blade round a design i will definitely be able to stitch around it!)

• I use the Teflon sheet method to initially align.  Simply remove the backing and iron all the pieces onto a non-stick (baking) teflon sheet - EXACTLY how you want them to be. 

• Allow to cool, peel off as one “solid” design, position where you want the design on your background and re-iron in the final position (saves a lot of faffing with trying to get things in the right place!)

• As this is raw edge appliqué you need to stitch around.  How you do this is your choice.  A running stitch all around?  Blanket stitch?  Wide zigzag?  YOU decide!

• I love blanket stitch so I used that in different colours – feel free to have a play with different stitches

• I  know some people are a bit scared of applique and needing to be accurate.  So try the free motion option.    I did this to show you wiggly lines actually look better.    Use a hoop and pull the fabric VERY taut.  I also used a tear away stabiliser just in case and no issues...  enjoy the wiggle!!! They look great and add to the creaminess of the cupcake! 

• You might think this looks awful - but look at a distance....   :)

Have a go - enjoy it!  Any questions ask me  :)

I'm conscious this may be a bit time consuming if you are not used to applique, Both of these took me longer to choose the pattern and fabric than sew up.  The free motion one, literally took me 10 mins to sew.  I did both in 1.5hrs from start to finish (including pattern drawing and fabric selection!).... Don't stress, breathe deep and have a go!