August Applique
The flower for August is Gladiolus - such a beautiful flower in so many colors. When I made my collection of flowers, I definitely included a gladys as we often call them, but this week I decided to make a second block using pink instead of my original red.
I printed off the pattern templates for the gladioli and then checked my fabric stash for some pinks and greens - I need 7 pinks varying from light to dark and also 3 greens.
my red and pink fabrics
These pink Hoffman watercolors are perfect!
Hoffman Fabric watercolor batiks
But here's a tip: Sometimes when you don't have enough fabrics..... but you can use one fabric for several different shades. Here's a great example of a fabric that could be used for 2 or 3 different pinks and it really doesn't matter if in places it goes into the yellow a little. In fact, it makes it look more realistic.
fabric perfect for flower creating
The trick is, just have enough contrast between the pieces so they don't all blend into one blob. Of course, a darker outline using thread can help define them too.
I continued on, fusing all my pieces and cutting them out. I built the entire arrangement on my Teflon sheet with the layout guide underneath for guidance
Building the applique on a Teflon Sheet
...then gently removed it ready to be placed on the background.
applique bouquet removed from Teflon, ready to be placed on background
The background I chose for this block was another Hoffman fabric, this time a muted green/grey color. I had a number of comments on the background for my Water Lily with remarks about how they liked the colored background. Personally, I felt it was a little too distracting from the flowers and leaves so this week I chose the muted look instead thus somewhere in between.
applique fused on background
With everything fused in place, it's time to start stitching. I'll use my favorite free-motion technique of stitching around the raw edges twice.
Here's how my new Gladiolus Block turned out!
Gladiolus block finished
You can find the pattern here: Gladiolus Pattern
If you've already made this block, feel free to send me a photo - I'd love to see how yours turned out.... and if you missed my tips on fusible applique posted a few weeks ago, you can find them here: Applique Tips
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