Hey peekaboo everybody. It’s Rob. And if you didn’t know my last name is Appell which
I’m pretty sure is short for applique. And I’ve got a really cool super forgiving,
super simple project today, a pineapple peekaboo. Let’s get started.
Peekaboo you say. What the heck does that mean? Well it’s just a glorified way of
saying reverse applique. And if you’ve seen my other reverse applique tutorial we’re
going to do this a bit different. I’m still using batik because I love the batik fabrics
because it works beautifully when we’re doing our raw edge fused applique, right?
And as a matter of fact the quilt you see behind, I’m hoping you see there’s a really
cool island scene. There’s a wave and a volcano and an island and a sunset and all
that going on as the peekaboo itself behind the pineapple. And it doesn’t even really
matter which style batik fabrics you’re using. As a matter of fact I had this really
cool package from Robert Kaufman that is primarily grape style prints. But I love the saturation
and the colors that were used here. So these ones are the ones I cut up for the background.
And I also used a few different of the actual fat quarter pieces to build what I’ll call
the foundation in the project. I want to walk you through building your peekaboo and I even
have in that little description below, there’s a link for you where I’ve got your very
own printout of the pineapple. Drop it there so you can have it hold still there for a
second. This is a regular 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper. You have my blessing to do whatever
you want with this. Take it and enjoy it. I enlarged it to fit my pieces of fabric.
Like I said I was working with two fat quarters as my background so this is roughly 22 wide,
36 inches tall. If you’ve never worked with fusible web before I’m going to point out
something. As I slide this down, this is my big version. You’re going to see the words
TRACE SIDE on my papers. And when we work with fusible web we often need to flip it
over to mirror our design. This one won’t really matter for you. But if this is a brand
new application of fusible web I just want to point that out. So anyway you might see
the words Trace Side. This is what I’m working with here. And I did go ahead, let me just
show you so it will make sense. Here’s my black fabric. This is that black batik fabric
here. And what I’ve done is I have taped, so yes scotch tape can be ironed over quickly.
There’s a little bit of scotch tape right here. And I taped together layers of fusible
web because you have to get your fusible web ready first, trace onto it and then we press
it onto the back side of our applique fabric to be, right? It’s a batik so there’s
no real true back side here. Before I cut out the pineapple though I needed to do one
more step to prepare that peekaboo. So let me talk about that for just a moment, we’re
going to come back and get this pineapple taken care of.
So my pineapple was created. And as I was creating my pineapple for that scene what
I wanted to do, sorry about the noise for a second here. What I did is I took my pineapple
and I put it underneath my new pieces of freezer paper, tracing paper, whatever you’re using.
Then this odd shape is the shape of the pineapple that I traced because while I was doing that
I don’t need to extend my entire design across all of that two pieces of fat quarter
fabrics. I only need to extend my design just past where the pineapple is going to hide
it for the peekaboo. So I was able to use more small pieces in my applique so it was
a real stash buster if you want to do it that way too. So I just created a design. I drew
it out, mapped it out for myself. You can use anything and as I matter of fact I’m
going to show you how cool the pineapple actually looks through one solid piece of fabric as
well. The image was created. The relief was created so that I didn’t have to work too
hard because a lot of our work in this background isn’t going to be seen. So we really don’t
need to be stressed. Like I said it’s very, very forgiving. Ok let’s get these out of
the way.
Ok so I’ve got a cutting mat down because I’m going to use my new shark applicutter,
my little 14 millimeter rotary cutter to cut out all of these pieces. It’s really super
fun and easy. If you’ve never done it before hold it like a pen. And let’s start on a
big piece so it’s just easy to get our practice. And I’m just going to come around and I’m
following this line here. And you can start and stop anywhere you want. This is a point
so I’m not going to try to go around that corner. I’m going to come back down here
to this point like this. And I’m going to come around. And you don’t have to stay
right on these lines because of course these are just our reverse applique lines. However
you don’t want to go too wide past them in case you were cutting it pretty close on
your peekaboo parts. So again we’re just going to cut out all these pieces like this.
And one of the things I would like to talk about if you’ve never used fusible web before.
Why we put the fuse on first and then we cut out is so that the glue that is left behind
by the fusible web when we peel the paper off, the glue then acts as a fray check along
the edges. And that’s also why I mentioned we use batiks so much in our applique work
because it keeps it from unraveling. It looks really pretty.
You also have the body of your pineapple to do. And these are real easy. But I want you
to be thinking about the actual structure of the pineapple because you’re going to
use that structure when you do the free motion. So I have some of these walls that have the
straight edges. And I have some of these that I drew with a curved line. So if you’re
using my pineapple what I do actually is I went through and I cut a bunch of my straight
lines first because I”m all about efficiency. Like that, see. And then I can come back in
here and I can cut my curve lines. And what I find is what I do things repetitively my
body gets that motion ingrained and it really starts to help. And I can come around here.
And so I think I missed that little corner and put a little nibble in there. And I’ve
also learned the back of the tool works good for popping pieces out. If you miss any of
those corners you just hit them like that. Missed a corner, I missed an entire line over
here. Ha! Ok. But we’re just going to go through and see how easy it is to cut these
pieces out. But for me to get to the next step I’ve got to jump ahead so let me get
all these cut out. I’ll be right back.
Thanks for waiting for me while I cut out those pieces. It didn’t take long. But I
did want to make sure I cut them really nice and clean because those will be raw edges
later on. We’re just going to stitch around them when we’re finished. Now I also want
to point out I’m going to leave this paper backing on my fusible pineapple here until
the very last minute. Because I don’t want this to turn into like wet duct tape in the
wind. If I start to peel this paper off to get this glue ready here, even though the
heat n bond featherlite itself is not sticky so it won’t really stick to itself. It could
get damaged. If you’re a steam a seam fan I’m just going to caution you because it’s
naturally sticky this could be a problem if you’re using the steam a seam product. But
the heat n bond product is wonderful for this. I’m going to leave the paper on the whole
time. And now I want to talk about getting our peekaboo or my island scene prepped out.
And what I did for that starting with my background all over again. You can see right here I put
a seam between two fat quarters. So this down here is a fat quarter. This up here was a
fat quarter. And this is the 18 inches this way, 22 inches this way to fit within the
sizes I needed. Now I want to point out real close that I’ve gone ahead and with the
free motion machine quilting and just my regular threads. And there is not stabilizer or anything
on the back of this because I’m just doing free motion. I’m not doing satin stitching.
I’ve used the machine to anchor and hold down all of my pieces on the background itself.
So I’ve stitched around the pieces with a matching color thread. I didn’t use any
of the clear threads. And I’m holding them securely. I want you to not be concerned how
the free motion goes so much. And of course you could do it with your feed dogs up because
so much of this is covered by that peekaboo or the pineapple itself you won’t see it.
So here’s what I”m trying to also teach. When I was putting in my rays of my sunset
up in here, I’ve left my stitches so that you can see. So as I was traveling around
in sections I’ve actually come around here and I’ve used a jump stitch to get from
one point to the next. And now that it’s getting ready for the actual next phase of
basting it all together, pressing it together. I need to cut these jump stitches out of the
way. So I’m going to pull these out real quick. But I also want to point out that some
of these stitches like right here because this is all going to be covered like this
underneath the pineapple itself, is I simply ran a running stitch or actually just quilted
my way from one point to the next. And every time we do running stitches versus jump stitches
we’re not cutting our threads. We’re not starting new knots. So we’re less likely
to have anything untie. So what I’m trying to say is you don’t have to start and stop.
You don’t. And use the peekaboo itself as part of your navigational tool. I know a lot
of big words. Ok now so I’m going to get these trimmed away. And then the next thing
I like to do as my entire island scene is ready to go is I’m to build my work surface
as I’m ready to baste the actual quilt.
So the next thing I want is I want a piece of my background fabric. Now you’re background
fabric should always be at least an inch or two bigger in all directions, ok? And I’m
going to talk about pressing this down and getting the paper off of the back of our peekaboo.
I’m not going to really anchor this and quilt it here. If I would I would use my clamps
that I love so much. I don’t know where they’re at right now. I forgot to bring
them to the filming set. So anyway, I would use my clamps to hold these down so it would
be really secure. So secure your background. I’m just using this for a demonstration.
I’ve got my background there. I’m going to put down my batting. My batting is also
larger than my design. Float that in the middle. The design itself is going to go down here.
So you can see that that backing and that batting is past there. And that’s just good
quilting, ok? Just going to hand smooth this out. Make sure it’s all good. Now what we’re
going to do is we’re going to go ahead and get our pineapple in place. While the paper
itself is still on. And I’m going to do all of my last minute checking. And when I
say my last minute checking what I’m doing, for example, is I’m going around and I’m
looking through here to make sure that I got all the jump stitches cut. That any of those
running stitches, remember those are hidden here now. So all of the design itself is just
the way it is. It’s all looking great, ok?
And then what I’m going to do is I’m going to start down on one side of my fusible web.
And I’m going to find a good corner and I”m going to start to peel the paper off.
And I’m going to treat this like I did when I was putting those cool stickers on my windshields
and stuff when I was back in high school decorating my car. Is I want to peel the paper off slowly.
And I’m just going to do section at a time. And it’s a little lacy. So try to keep track
of all your paper. So watch this trick. I’m going to get up to where that splice in the
fusible web is and then I’m going to remove the paper. There we go. Remember I taped it
together. I’m just going to peel that loose. Just going to peel that loose. Ok so now this
part itself is free. This piece here can lay back down flat this way. And now what I do
is I come and peel this this way. And I come in here. Oh this is a good point to point.
See right here, I didn’t get a good bond right on my fuse. So as I start to pull this
away I’m seeing that the glue is sticking to my paper. So I’m just going to pick a
different location to start from. I’m just going to come over here. And then as I work
towards that spot, ok? So then what we’re going to do is we’re going to get all this
paper all the way off. And then I’m getting my iron heated up. It’s a dry iron because
of the fusible web I’m using. And I”m going to do a press down motion. I do not
want to slide my iron at all because I don’t want things to move around while I’m doing
that. And once it’s all pressed then let’s talk about the fuse, or the free motion machine
quilting.
So as you can see I’ve got all the paper removed on the back and I’m just going to
slowly get this up into location. And whenever we cut these curves in our applique pieces
we want to make sure that everything lays nice and flat. And I kind of use my hands
like this in this patting motion. So I’m going around, I’m looking to make sure everything
is awesome. And I”m going to get that hot, dry iron ready. And I”m going to go ahead
and like I said earlier I’m going to go ahead and press this down. Oh but wait! I
forgot to show you my original idea. That’s right, this is what I was originally thinking
before I put that island scene in. So check out how cool these can be with just a single
awesome batik in the background. So just use the whole batik as the same size as your cut
out here for your foundation. And then cut away your peekaboo and put it all out here
just like this. And this would definitely be considered a reverse applique just a little
bit different technique. Now are you ready to see how we’re going to finish off the
machine quilting on our island scene? Let me get back to that.
As I begin that pressing I am, I’m going to start right in the center of my project
and I want to work from my center. And it’s just a few seconds for the heat n bond featherlight.
And I’m lifting and I’m pressing. And I’m going to work all the way to the edge.
And then I’m going to come back to that center, right back here where I started. It’s
still nice and warm. And I”m going to keep working. And I’m just going to treat it
just like a grid and go back and forth across the whole thing. I do not want to slide that
iron because it could turn some of these edges or make things get weird, ok? So once it is
completely pressed down and cooled I used the curved safety pins. Of course like I said
I would have secured my background. Then I’m going to put a couple safety pins. Let’s
not put them in the black if at all possible. Let’s put them in the background because
we’re going to sew, free motion style or with your feed dogs. You can do this either
way. We’re going to start by, up here in the middle, we’re going to follow the straight
lines of the work. And actually I just come down the straight line as I’m free motion
machine quilting and I come around the corner here or I can come around the corner of the
small oval and right back up. And because I started in the center I’m going to run
and I go on both sides of the straight lines, all of my straight lines first. Then I stop,
cut threads, and then I’m going to come back and I’m going to do these arced motions.
And like I said earlier about cutting the same motion over and over again, quilting
the same motion over and over again, is actually for me much easier because it’s more rhythmic.
So all the straight lines first and then all the curves. So once all that work is done
then I can come back up here and I can do the quilting around the plume or the crown
on the pineapple.
And then if you’ll join me at the quilt itself on the wall. Check this out, I did
not do any other machine quilting in any other portions of the background. I just wanted
everything to show, the basics of the stitching. I just wanted your eye to be able to catch
in nice on that really cool island scene that was peeking through in your new way of doing
reverse applique. Boy I know that’s a lot of information. I hope you learned some super
cool new tricks and techniques to simplify your design process. And you know me, I love
creating applique and I love your comments so I’d like to hear from you. What are you
thinking? What should we do next? Right here at Man Sewing.
Thanks for being a Man Sewing fan. It’s great to have you out there encouraging me
to create fantastic new content. If you’ve missed any of the videos we’ve got links
for you here and here. And when you’re checking those out make sure you’re subscribed. We
don’t want you to miss any of the action.