Attaching Stems Onto the Border

[Mary N.]

I'm quite new to applique, and I have only used the bias bars to make stems. The Clover gismo looked like it worked great. Do they simply stay folded because of the starch? Another question is once you have your stems cut are you using a fine thread of glue to attach them to the border and the glue sticks for the leaves, flowers, etc.? Are you also then using the monofilament thread zigzag stitch on the stems as we did in Month 4 for the flower baskets. I thank you for your time and your videos are wonderful.

[Margo C.]

I'm quite new to applique, and I have only used the bias bars to make stems. The Clover gismo looked like it worked great. Do they simply stay folded because of the starch? Another question is once you have your stems cut are you using a fine thread of glue to attach them to the border and the glue sticks for the leaves, flowers, etc.? Are you also then using the monofilament thread zigzag stitch on the stems as we did in Month 4 for the flower baskets. I thank you for your time and your videos are wonderful.

Welcome to the forum, QuiltinginSedona!

If I use the stems as soon as I run then through the tape maker, the edges are well behaved. If they get tossed around some they may need to be repressed. Yes, I transfer a line to the fabric indicating where the stem needs to be and just run a small bead if liquid glue along the line and press the stem in place. (Check my classroom video to see how to retro-fit the glue bottle!). I also used liquid glue to position the leaves and flowers. Because I had pre assembled the flower units for my red and khaki version, and had all the leaves touching the stems, I was able to stitch the entire border with a single line of zig-zag stitches, then just had to do the circles individually.

For the smaller version made with the kit fabrics, I used a veri-overlock stitch with Masterpiece threads in colors that match the fabrics.