Now that you have your applique design attached to your garment or home decor project, you can further enhance your look with decorative stitching.

One way that I really like to finish the look to my design is a very narrow zigzag stitch or satin stitch.  I adjust my sewing machine to have a short stitch length (2.5 on my machine, Pfaff 7570) and a very narrow (.30) stitch width.  I don’t like to see any spaces between my stitches when I do the satin stitch.  I want my stitches touching each other but not stitching on top of each other.  You probably will want to do a sample swatch to determine what stitching looks best for your applique.

Of course, if the satin stitch isn’t your cup of tea, just a simple zigzag along the outer edges looks great too.  A blanket stitch is another nice finish you can do on your applique or if your machine has some built-in decorative stitches now would be a great chance to use some of them.

Another hint to help keep your applique design looking great is to maybe use some tear away stabilizer underneath.  The stabilizer works wonderful especially if you are stitching your design onto a fabric that has a loose weave to it.   It will help keep everything from becoming distorted or stretched out of shape.  You can easily find stabilizer at your local fabric store.

Using appliques is really a fun way to personalize your items.  Also, is a really nice touch to make your handmade gift truly unique!!

• TIP:  Keeping a small spiral bound notebook readily available stored within your sewing basket is a great way to write down important details like your stitch width and length that you use for appliquing.  As often as I think I will remember that info, it just doesn’t happen for me.  This way I don’t have to experiment and saves much time!!

HAPPY CREATING!!

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