Bountiful Bouquet Free Block Of The Month–Month Five

Hi there!

click here for print friendly pdf

So it's time again for month five of Bountiful Bouquet. I hope you're keeping up (or at least printing the instructions off). I'll remind you again, I won't take the instructions off the internet, they will remain free as long as Blogger lets me put them up there.

So - you'll be able to see that I had a bit of a snafu with the cutting instructions of month two - I told you to cut five 9.5" squares for our floral row. I've amended that to read six 8.5" squares. Hopefully it isn't too big a deal for you guys - it just means a little bit of wastage, plus you have to find another cream square to use.

This month we are all about applique. I'm trusting you know a basic knowledge of vliesofix (iron on fusible web).

We will require:

• Those background fabrics - six 8.5" squares.
• Various coloured fabrics, including a few greens
• A lead pencil, or a fine ink pen. I don't recommend a wash-away pen because we are going to be ironing over the top of any markings we make
• Vliesofix
• Matching embroidery flos
• Sewing needles (I prefer crewels)
• General sewing requirements (ruler, board, rotary cutter etc)
• Light box if you have one

Click here for the diagrams - you should have six in all. Please note that due to a lot of confusion over trying to read the numbers over what goes when and where on the pictures, I've left them off this time. I don't think we'll need them for this step. Basic rule of thumb - leaves go down first, stems second, flowers after and so on.

The pictures should all fit into a six inch square (or there abouts).  Our finished size of the block will be 7” so you don’t want any getting too close to the edges.

Trace as many pieces as you wish to onto the smooth side of the vliesofix or fusible webbing, making sure that you leave a little bit of space around each shape. Remember to number each piece to correspond with your background diagram. This will save you going nuts later in the placement stage. Cut roughly around each shape in the space provided.

Decide what colours you wish to make each applique shape from. Just like the last applique we did, you can be adventurous here!  Every garden is different.

With the iron on the dry setting (no steam) lay the rough side of the vliesofix onto the wrong side of the fabric you wish to use for each appliqued piece. Fuse the webbing to the fabric by ironing over each piece for a short time. Cut out on the line and let cool completely.
 

Now, as we are working with vliesofix, the nature of it means that all our applique shapes are the opposite of the diagram.  To make placement easy, I lay the diagram so that the reverse side is facing up over the light box.   Now everything should line up well when we do this next step.

Lay the background fabric in over this so that the design is centred in the middle.   You should be able to see your lines through this fabric.  If you want to, you can lightly trace your design onto the fabric so that when you move to your iron, the bits are easily put back into place.

I don’t bother with this step.  I find that if you don’t wriggle much while you’re moving your fabric, the bits stay in place fairly well.

Peel the backing paper from each piece and lay in place over the traced lines on your background fabric where it is indicated. I find the backing paper peels off much easier if you let it totally cool after pressing.

Lay as many out as you feel comfy with and then press in place.   Remember my rule of thumb?  Leaves first, stems second, flowers third.
 

 

 

 
When all  your bits and pieces are in place and you are happy, give it a good final press to secure any loose corners and using a new needle and two strands of matching embroidery floss, blanket stitch around all exposed edges of your applique shapes.

Give them a good press, and trim back each block to 7.5” square. 

 

 

 

 

 

Stitch the six rows together to make one long row that should measure 7.5” x 42.5”.   I haven’t done this yet.  Wayyy behind.

That’s it for now!  Please let me know if you have any queries.  Happy stitching!

Suzie