Playtime Neighborhood in Fusible Applique

Click here to see quilts using this technique.

(Very suitable for “Precision Impaired” quilters!).

A 6-hour workshop.

A guaranteed smile-inducing workshop. Play like a kindergartener while you make these delightful houses from fusible applique.

Beginners and up. Taught by Amy Stewart Winsor

Learn how to create your own original houses, inspired by the houses on Amy’s award-winning “Make An Appointment” quilt.. You will learn the childlike ways to draw houses with curvy roofs, funny crooked doors and windows, and loads of embellishments to make them charming. 

You will learn to use fusible webbing, fabric, embroidery and numerous embellishment to make houses, , and how to use them in whimsical quilts.  You will see numerous examples from Amy’s quilts.  Straight stitching or satin stitching by machine can be used later to sew around each piece of fused fabric. Some finishing techniques for a wallhanging will be demonstrated.

Course description:

Amy’s award-winning and oft-published quilt, “Make an Appointment” is the inspiration for this workshop. The 28 whimsical houses on that quilt were just the beginning of the many house quilts Amy has made.

You will learn to use fusible webbing, fabric, embroidery and embellishment to make similar houses and buildings from your own imagination, and learn tips on arranging them into an attractive scene. When you get home, you can satin stitch around the appliques. Some finishing techniques for a wallhanging will be demonstrated.

Several examples of houses can be seen on Amy’s website Gallery: “Make an Appointment”, “Frazzled”, and “The Opera Quilt.”


Students supply list:

Fabric:
Bring many colors of solid and solid-reading fabric, plus some large stripes, plaids, polka dots to liven up the neighborhood! For large areas such as grass and sky, you may use patterned fabric which looks like grass and sky. Otherwise, we don’t want fabrics with figures on them (such as people or pigs, etc.) Think of buying appropriate colors to use for roofs, doors, porches, etc. These can be in realistic or quirky, whimsical colors. Windowpanes look good using yellow or grey mottled colored fabrics. Fat quarters and smaller are usually enough. Please bring a possible background for your houses, it can be blue sky or midnight sky or any color you want (I use yellow sometimes.) Remember, your houses need to show up against your sky, so if you are doing a blue sky, bring medium-to-darker fabrics for the houses.  If you are doing a midnight sky, bring light-to-medium colors, or bright colors, for your houses.

Additional supplies needed: Sewing machines will not be used in class.

Paper scissors, fabric scissors, pencil, pen
10 pieces of scrap paper or blank computer paper
rotary cutter and mat
Fusible web (WonderUnder or Heat-n-bond Lite)- One yard or two yards.
Piece of corrugated cardboard to iron on, at least as big as a notebook paper or bigger (not padded)
One iron per four students. Ironing boards.

Optional items:

Background fabric for future use: dark sky or daytime sky colors
Clear Teflon pressing sheet

Interesting pictures of houses
Tiny iron

You'll need later:

Stabilizer: Easy Tear, Tear Easy, or other brands. One yard.