How to appliqué Baby Bibs

It has been a busy sewing week and one of the activities that has occupied me, has been my appliqué bibs. I first started to do some appliqué when I was making some rainbow pack bags earlier in the year.

I cheat, because I buy the bibs pre-made. In the beginning I was making bibs, but I wasn't getting much enjoyment out of that ... so I had a bit of a play with interfacing, pellon and the zig zag stitch.

Instructions, how I do my appliqué:

1. I generally iron the material I am using and then iron light interfacing onto the back of the material.
   
2. Then I draw my image freehand onto the back of the interfacing with pencil, be it petals, a star or love heart and then cut out the shape with sharp scissors.
   
3. I then iron on some Pellon (double sided interfacing) around the edges and then press the shape onto the bag or bib where I want it to sit. You don't have to use the pellon across the whole back, just the edges. Using double sided means that I don't have to negotiate pins when I am zig zagging around the outside of the shape. However if you don't have any pellon, use pins and sew carefully. With pins I generally sew a straight stitch around the shape to secure it and then zig zag.
   
4. Then set your machine to zig zag or blanket stitch. Sometimes I go twice around to make sure that I have all the raw edges of the material secured. But after a few bibs and adjustments I know what the settings are and I only go around once!
   

Here are some sites to check out to do with Applique. It really is easier than it looks!

• Pellon
• Halloween Applique Quilt or Wall Hanging
• Cat Applique Patterns (purchased pattern)
• All about Applique Blog
• Craftzine has a great Applique tutorial
• A gorgeous blog on Applique and Quilting (my next step)