Designing an Applique to Match a Print

I thought I'd share a little about how I come up with some of my applique designs.  I love to use prints when I can because they tend to hide stains better than solid colors.  When I saw this onesie in the size Sweet Pea's is growing into, I couldn't resist. You've probably noticed how store bought outfits will often use a print and then have embroidery or applique that is a larger version of the print's pattern. 

I decided I wanted to do the same thing.  I tried drawing the flowers for the pattern free hand, with no luck.  They just didn't look right.  Then I decided to try using the scanner.  I felt pretty brilliant.  I scanned it at a fairly high resolution, so I could enlarge it on my screen. 

Then I traced the flowers right off my screen (just be careful to only push very lightly, so you don't damage your screen.) 

Then I traced my flowers onto the papery side of Heat'n Bond Lite. 

Then I cut them out, sewed around the edges, and was done.  For more a tutorial about how to use Heat'n Bond Lite to applique knits click here.  As you can see my final design is a bit different from the ones on the onesie.  To simplify things, I have the red and blue flowers on the same plant, but the shapes of them are similar.  I used denim flowers, because I'm planning on making another one of these recycled denim skirts for Sweet Pea as part of her outfit.  (If you decide to applique denim, be sure to use some Fray Check!)

For a tutorial for making the thin stems using applique, click here or scroll down.  I didn't make a printable of this pattern since I made it to match a specific shirt, but if anyone is interested in one, let me know and I can make one.

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