Saturday 15 October 2022: Online Workshop (Stuffed Appliqué!)

Nicholas Ball - Saturday 15 October 2022 - 4.00pm to 7.00pm (BST)

Online Interactive Workshop: Stuffed Appliqué!

As ever, we're really excited to be hosting this workshop - a wholly NEW class! - with the wonderful, engaging & hugely talented Nicholas Ball! This class, Stuffed Appliqué, will see participants embrace their 'inner-improv' creativity and work towards producing some visually stunning & mentally therapeutic results!...

Introduction by Nicholas:-

During the early days of the UK’s first Covid-19 Lockdown I wanted a project that was both distracting and challenging. I was inspired to make a temperature quilt by fellow improv quilter Jo Avery, yet wanted mine to be a little different from any quilting technique I’d attempted before. After some initial research I discovered stuffed appliqué and soon, what started out as a daily creative practice to help ease the monotony of the Covid situation, this technique quickly turned into one of my favourite. The resulting quilt, Viral Temperature, is now the cover star of my new book Use & Ornament and I was overjoyed when the quilt received second place in the Appliqué category at the 2022 QuiltCon competition.

What You Will Learn in this Online Interactive Workshop:-

In this workshop Nicholas will take you through his step-by-step process of creating stuffed appliqués or traditional trapunto. The technique is an age-old one and the origins of the more familiar faux trapunto used by some quilters today. We will begin by looking briefly at fabrics and what he's found works well. We’ll then move onto the appliqué itself, looking at the various combinations of thread and stitches that can be used. You’ll learn how to prep the shapes ready for stitching, how to get the best results for machine appliqué, plus all Nicholas's extra processes he finds give the best results. Finally, we’ll stuff the shapes, which involves more than shoving some wadding through the back of the fabric! Nicholas will show you various approaches to take for various shapes, as well as explain the dangers of over-stuffing!

During the class, we will first make individual units to practice the technique, using a PDF of starter shapes which Nicholas will provide to all those who sign up for the class. Next, students will be free to continue to make individual units or work on a wholecloth example which he will partially demonstrate and which can be completed after the class using the skills learnt. You’ll also learn a pillowcase facing perfect for finishing irregular shaped quilts and wall hangings!

What's not to love about this class? Be sure not to miss out!...

Skill Level for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

Intermediate

The most challenging part of making a stuffed appliqué is the stuffing. The technique is not a difficult one, yet requires some careful handling to ensure that the work looks as good as it possible can. Accurate stitching down of your chosen shape will also ensure the successfulness of the unit, so some shapes will require a little more skill than others.

Material requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

• Small amounts of Bondaweb or similar iron-on fusible fabric web
• Small amounts of lightweight tear-away stabiliser
• Good quality fibre fill or toy stuffing
• Fray check (optional but very useful)
• Good quality thread - Nicholas likes using heavier weight threads to add definition to the appliqué. He recommends Aurifil 12wt, with either a 50wt or 40wt in the bobbin. Or course, you can also use regular 50wt, which will also be needed for stitching the appliqués closed. For those students interested in using heavier weight threads, Nicholas' Use & Ornament Aurifil collection provides ten small spools - seven 12wt, one 40wt, and two 50wt - and is perfect for this class! The collection is available either online or from your local Aurifil stockist.

Whilst not essential for the workshop, Nicholas' latest book 'Use & Ornament' (scheduled for publication by Lucky Spool in October 2022) will expand upon the techniques learnt and provide further information on both traditional trapunto and his Viral Temperature quilt. The quilt is one of the eight quilt projects featured and the instructions provided will allow you to work on a similar quilt in your own time.

Fabric requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

Whilst difficult to give exact fabric amounts and measurements when sewing in an improvised way, please use the following as a rough guide:-

• An assortment of fabric scraps for the appliqué shapes
• Pieces of background fabric, approximately 4 1/2”, for individual practice stuffed appliqués using my starter shapes. For further individual stuffed appliqués using your own shapes, the background fabric should be approximately 1/2” bigger on all sides than the required size of the unit.
• A larger piece of background fabric for the wholecloth technique - a fat quarter would work well

Please don’t stress about these requirements. They are simply a guide and I’ve yet to teach a class where something couldn’t be made because of the wrong fabric pieces. If in doubt, gather up a selection of prints and colours you like and you can cut during the workshop. Accuracy at the cutting stage is not so important using my techniques, so it won’t take long at all if you want to cut your pieces along with me. They don’t need to be perfectly square, so feel free to use scissors!

Equipment requirements for this Online Interactive Workshop:-

• Sewing-Machine
• An Open-Toe Presser Foot (optional but very useful!)
• Pencil
• Fabric Scissors
• Small Embroidery Scissors or Thread Snips
• Small Embroidery Hoop - approx 3" - 3.5" diameter
• Long, thin Tweezers
• A Fine Hand Sewing-Needle - a size 10 milliners works well!
• A willingness to explore your own creativity!

Pattern Information relevant to this Online Interactive Workshop:-

A PDF of some starter shapes will be sent to everyone who signs up for this class, prior to the start. It's important that participants please trace these shapes onto the PAPER side of the fusible web before the class!

​Tickets for this Online Interactive Workshop (via the Zoom platform) will be limited & allocated on a first-come/first-served basis! If applicable, any free pattern, or other information, relevant to this course will be forwarded to you after booking and approximately 5 days before the course date. The ticket price of £30.00 is based on ONE person attending this crafting class.

This CraftyMonkies Online Interactive Workshop is being broadcast from the United Kingdom and the class time given is based on British Summer Time (BST). We advise you check via Google Search (or similar) to see corresponding start-time in YOUR location!

Ordering MATERIALS/EQUIPMENT Online For Any Class/Workshop!  Please ensure you book your place & order any materials/fabrics/equipment online in plenty of time ahead of course dates.

​IMPORTANT!

This class is a live Zoom Workshop ONLY! We are NOT able to offer a recorded Pay-On-Demand video for sale after this event.