If you can follow directions, change thread, and trim fabric, you can create beautiful applique! Applique may look difficult, but Designs by JuJu has done all of the hard work for you. This site has some of the most adorable applique designs I have ever stitched so, truly, the most difficult part is choosing which design to stitch next!
The word applique means “to place upon.” Everywhere an embroidery design features applique, you will need to place a piece of fabric that will be attached to the hooped base fabric.
Every applique design consists of five primary procedures: placement, tack-down, trim, embellishment, and finishing stitches. Some designs only have one set of placement/tack-down/trim color stops. Other designs have several sets, one for each area of applique.
Color stops are placed in the design sequence so you are able to stop stitching long enough to place or trim applique fabrics.
Stitch charts are essential to the applique process. You don’t need any special software because Designs by JuJu includes stitch charts with each design. In some cases, you may need free Adobe Reader to open stitch charts. If you do not already have it, it can be downloaded here.
In this file, numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7 are placement stitches showing where the applique will go and how big the piece of applique fabric needs to be to completely cover that area.
Color stops 2, 4, 6, and 8 are tack-down stitches. After they tack the applique fabric to the base fabric, you trim away fabric outside of, but close to, the stitch line so that the edge of the applique fabric can be enclosed in finishing stitches.
Depending on the design, other areas of stitching embellish the design, in this example: the eyes, ears, and mouth.
Designs by JuJu’s applique designs finish with generous satin stitch widths. That makes these designs ideal for applique beginners (and those of us who are in a hurry most of the time) since you don’t have to trim perfectly for the satin stiches to cover the trimmed edges quite beautifully.
Click here to learn how to create the adorable sock monkey above.
Jumbo Sock Monkeys Applique Alphabet
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