If you’re an advanced sewist, you’re likely comfortable with just cutting out your fabric applique and stitching it right on, with no interfacing and no fuss. It really is just that simple when you’re familiar with how to guide all types and weights of fabric through your machine without pulling it, and you’ve got a feel for stitch length and width. If you’re a beginner, though, in this post I’m going to walk through exactly how to choose your applique fabric, how to prep it, and how to sew it absolutely perfectly. My secret beginner tip? Interfacing, and lots of it! If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I actually prefer to sew without using interfacing in most of my projects–I’m pretty into using as few materials and steps as possible, and I kind of like the challenge of careful sewing. But I also have to give credit where credit is due, and I happily admit that interfacing is a quick and easy way to make your appliques look PERFECT!
Step 1: Pick your applique fabric.
You can pretty much applique with any fabric onto any fabric, although fabrics with a loose weave or a lot of stretch are much trickier. You might remember, for instance, how one specific fabric in a quilt I recently sewed frayed apart at its stitch lines–that’s because it was too loosely woven to stand up to the stitching I wanted to do with it, and it would have done the same thing if I tried to applique it without interfacing the snot out of first. Fleece and jersey knit aren’t loosely woven, but they are stretchy, and they’ll also try to trip you up if you’re not careful. Interfacing solves both of those problems, but for the most natural fit between applique and the fabric you’re stitching it onto, choose fabrics that have similar weight, and that are not overly stretchy or loosely-woven. Weight isn’t the biggest issue, and I did toy with the idea of using upcycled denim for my applique fabric in this project, but the thickness of the denim would have added more dimension to the applique than I really wanted.
Step 2: Pick your applique design.
My Cricut takes most of the work out of designing and cutting an applique, but the planning steps remain the same. Even if you’ve got a Cricut to do your cutting, you still have to do your own sewing, so you don’t want an intricate, fiddly applique. Simple shapes and larger shapes are by far the best. For this project, I chose a san serif alphabet in all caps–no tittles for me!
Step 3: Cut your appliques.
For the absolute least fraying and most ease with cutting, you can also interface your applique fabric for this step. I like a fusible lightweight interfacing, especially if I’m cutting the fabric directly with my Cricut. Adding fusible interfacing before you cut out your applique eliminates any possibility of stretching or fraying, and it makes it just a smidge less drapey, which makes it easier to cut. Drape is very important to me when I’m sewing garments, but I already want these Easter baskets to be stiff, so a little extra interfacing is for the better. Of course, as you can see in the above image, I didn’t actually directly cut my fabric with my Cricut; instead, I cut paper templates. I wasn’t sure what fabric I actually wanted to use for my appliques at that point, so instead I made these templates and I cut the applique fabric by hand when I finally stopped dithering and picked something. Both methods work equally well!
Step 4: Fuse the applique to the backing fabric.
The best interfacing for fusing two fabrics together is a lightweight, double-sided interfacing. Trace your applique onto the interfacing, cut it out inside the lines to make it slightly smaller than the applique, then make a backing fabric, interfacing, applique sandwich exactly where you want the applique and iron it down. Alternatively, if you’re working with a smaller applique or you’re feeling more confident, do what I did in this project and use scraps of leftover double-sided interfacing to tack the applique down in several spots. It’ll keep the applique from shifting, but you’ll still have to sew carefully to keep it from stretching.
Step 5: Stitch the applique to the fabric.
You’ll want to use a zigzag stitch for this. Even with a non-fraying fabric, a straight-line stitch would allow the edges of the applique to pull up over time. Any stitch length between .1 and .5 works for applique–.1 gives a satin stitch, but I have a lot of issues with my feed dogs not wanting to advance the fabric at .1, so I tend to avoid it unless I really want that specific look. Especially if you interfaced your applique fabric in Step 2, you can get away with a slightly longer stitch length and still not have to worry about fraying. For stitch width, I like a fairly wide stitch of at least 4 for this type of applique. I want to make sure that the thread really bites into the fabric enough that the fabric won’t want to pull away over time. The final result is a sturdy, attractive applique that won’t fray or pull and is perfectly situated exactly where you want it to be. You can use this technique for any kind of applique, from home goods to garments, and they’ll all turn out just as cute as these three Easter baskets did.
