Pictorial Guide to Back Basting

Place appliqué fabric

Step 3: Next we will need to baste an appliqué piece into place on the front of our background square. Study your pattern. If the order of appliqué has been numbered on the pattern just begin with appliqué piece number 1. If the order of appliqué has not been numbered on your pattern, you will need to study the pattern carefully. Begin by choosing an appliqué piece on the bottom layer. A bottom layer piece will not overlap any other piece. Other pieces may overlap a bottom layer piece but the bottom layer piece will not overlap any other piece. In a large design, there will probably be several pieces on the bottom layer. Select one.

Choose a fabric for this appliqué piece. Place a piece of this fabric over the design on the front side of the background and pin in place. To me this is the most difficult step in this process. We do not want to waste fabric and yet we want to be sure that we completely cover the piece that we will be appliquéing, including seam allowance. There are two methods that may help you in this placement.

Method 1: Light Source Method of Placement. After pinning the fabric to the front of your background piece, hold the background up to the light with the back facing you. Look at the drawn patch. The appliqué fabric should show completely around your patch and should extend beyond the drawn line by the width of the seam allowance that you will be using. (Approximately 1/8"- 3/16") If there is a lot of extra appliqué fabric showing around your drawn line, reposition the appliqué fabric on the front. Try to shift it into a corner so that 2 sides are close to the edge.

This method works well if you are using a light background or if you are applying the first few pieces on a new block. The method doesn’t work on a dark background as the appliqué fabric on the front of the block will not show through the dark background. Also many layered objects such as a rose with 6-8 petals, will begin overlapping themselves in such a way that you will not be able to see the appliqué fabric when you turn the background over and hold it up to the light. As a result I use the pin method of placement to solve this problem.

Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next