reverse appliqué | debbidipity

This is the piece of Ikea fabric (with holes where the members of the group have taken the bit that most appealed to them). It was a great idea of Alex’s to start the term with some simple stitching, to get us back into the swing of things. As I wrote last week, it was difficult to choose, as so many of the motifs are very appealing. I’m seeing more as I look at the photo!

But I’m very happy with my castle choice. I scanned last week’s work, so that I could cut it to make pattern pieces for the towers and castellated entrance in felt.

I decided to use different shades of blue……

……..for each pair of turrets and towers. This proved a bit tricky as I don’t have much blue in my stash. Some were only just big enough, but to make progess I wanted it immediately. I cut out the window areas as I wanted to use organza for them, and use reverse appliqué to attach them all down.

On my search for felt, I found this very sparkly sheer fabric that worked much better than the organza that I had in mind. It frays badly, so care is needed not to handle it too much.

I tacked a slightly bigger piece to the printed piece, then put the felt on top.

I used black perlé for the leaded window effect. I was thinking about blanket stitch to attach the felt, but it didn’t seem quite right. Alex suggested stab stitches. Perfect, and doing them in different sizes gives the appearance of brickwork.