Applique Prep

This morning I Misty-fused fabrics and cut out my kitties and the tree.  For the leaves and birdies though, I used a die cutter. Just like cutting pieced blocks yesterday with my Accu Quilt Go cutter, today I used my Sizzix Big Kick to cut the leaf and bird appliques.

I have been using my Sizzix to cut applique shapes for a couple of years now and I love that it works so well for that.  I first posted about it here in March of 2009. Now of course many have discovered how wonderful it is for this, including Patsy Thompson. In fact, she has even designed  dies for the Big Kick now.

Anyway, while I generally use Misty Fuse, when cutting fused fabric with either the "big kick" or the "go' cutter, it works better to use a paper backed fusible for cutting multiple layers.  Without the paper, the glue sticks all the layers together as they get pressed going through the machine and they are nearly impossible to get apart again.  So for that, I use wonder-under.  I can easily cut 8 layers of fused cotton with the paper on.

Just like I do when cutting blocks, I pre-cut strips...there is less waste this way.





then I pile a stack of 8 on the die over the shape I want to cut



Put the cutting pads over the fabric and under the die and run it through the cutter



and viola! leaves!



For the leaves I used



and the birdies I cut from wool and used



Easy peasy and fast!  Now, you might think my cutting pads look pretty worn, but I've been using them for over 2 years and I'm still getting nice clean cuts...even with 8 layers of paper backed fabric!  When cutting wool, I usually do 3 layers.



Oh, and I save the cut outs too....often I use then in my postcard designs.

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