I’m totally cheating with my embroidery machine! It does the best applique! And for this project, it’s perfect. It’s almost comedic to look in my sewing room right now. It’s covered in ribbon, fabric scraps, thread, and starch based glue. I just buy Elmer’s by the gallon. They sell it at Walmart for like 10 dollars, and goodness knows I’m using it by the gallon. ‘A Prayer For Zachary’ did have to take a back seat this week with the blizzard we had, and I got a throat infection. It’s like this avian flu just won’t leave me alone. Don’t get sick, it’s for the birds… Literally! (More Pictures after the jump.)

Back to making this netting and tulle to distort the view of this quilt… I throw down some silicone pressing sheets on my sewing table, (It might be time to invest in a wide roll of it, but it’s so damn expensive.) and I throw down a layer of tulle, netting, organza, or whatever I want to work with. I use clamps to hold it flat to the table, then I drip a mixture of glue and water on it, then start applying my scraps, face down, ribbons, whatever the hell I have really, and then drizzle the glue on it again, then add one more layer of tulle or netting. Once again, drizzle (I use the cheap ketchup and mustard bottles from the food supply store.) the glue and water mixture on top of that, and walk away for a couple hours.

Next thing you know, it’s dry, and all the layers are stuck together! Now, I do go ahead and stitch it down with my sewing machine a couple times back and forth just to lock everything in place. Then I just program a circle applique, with a spiral pattern on the inside to hold everything down to my quilt block. I do have to use a topper to embroider, because my jumping foot would sure as hell get caught inside all of the scraps sewn down on the quilt blocks.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, will my sewing machine sew down through the glue??? Absolutely. You’re not really using a crap ton of it, and it’s also be split with water to keep it from forming loud clumps. I just make sure to use a 90/14 embroidery and sewing needle. To be honest, I think my industrial machine (which I use for expediency, not for power) has a 100 needle in it.

Check out the pictures of these layers below! After this weekend, I’ll show some pictures of the appliques attached, and some of the glue dabbed out with a cloth, just so we can see what it will look like! Wish me luck!