“Gulshan”-Machine Applique with a twist

“Gulshan” means Garden or floral bouquet in many sub-continent and middle east languages. When I started drawing designs of bouquets, I had full intentions of creating lightly digitized floral designs with vines and lots of leaves. However, somewhere along the way I was sidetracked…which I usually am and decided to create applique florals but applique with a bit of twist which would be sort of like the Shaded Florals. In Shaded florals, one can applique or do reverse applique using my special technique in the designs. The applique stitch is a specially created stitch and is not the usual satin stitch. In “Gulshan” I decided to remain with the normal satin stitch used for applique but create it in such a way that whether the fabric for applique is applied on top or below the fabric being appliqued, there is no distortion. That was one of my biggest concerns when creating Shaded florals, hence the specialty stitches. Putting myself to task, I decided to experiment with the satin stitch to use the same principle and was actually pleased that it worked well.

“Gulshan” as the name is an applique collection soon to be released, it will first be released at Virginia at the upcoming shows, has a variety of flowers which are perfect for jazzing up garments or home decor instantly. The tea towel above is one of my favourite tea towels from http://www.allaboutblanks.com . I love the pastel polka dot tea towels and have given more of them away as gifts than any other item. Using one of the designs I mirror imaged it to show case the appliqued pansies using batik fabrics. If you ever want to applique, my sincere advice is to try out batik fabrics, they give a totally different look to any machine applique design. Not only do they simply perk up the design but they also give off such an interesting and different look.  The same design was then stitched out on chiffon fabric which was then stitched to a thick towel as a border. The difference….in the polka dot tea towel, the appliqued fabric is on top whereas on the plush bath towel the applique is underneath the chiffon fabric, or reverse applique.

Reverse applique has several excellent points…the major being that the fabrics that are being tacked down need not be trimmed so neatly as they will be underneath the main fabric. Ofcourse, this is another way of creating the shadow work effect which cannot be digitized by any digitizer due to the license owned by one person….hence my way of creating the shadow work effect via fabrics.

As the holiday season is upon us shortly….I just cannot believe this year has passed us by so quickly, I specially wanted the Gulshan designs to be quickly used for decorating or embellishing for the seasons. The black runner with the meandering floral vine is an example of how one design can be used for different seasons. Here, stitched on black using gold and bronze metallic threads gives the perfect Fall season look. The runner took about twelve hoopings and was completed within an afternoon.

I bet some of you are thinking how is this collection different than Shaded florals? Well, the satin stitch is the main difference. LOL. Not completely satisfied with the answer??? When digitizing applique designs, one tends to use the 60/40 technique where 60% of the applique finishing stitch (or satin stitch) is upon the applique fabric and 40% upon the fabric that is being appliqued upon. In reverse applique, one has to be careful otherwise the fabric may not catch and therefore come loose with various launderings, thus the technique of 50/50 which tends to be a heavier satin stitch and is not so appealing. That is where the testing and experimentation comes in to see how one can achieve perfection whether applique fabric is at the top or at the bottom. The same design as used in the black runner was used on the white placemat and what a difference! Actually, the same design can be used for winter decorations as well!

Applique, next to lace is one of my favorite types of embroideries and the varied the better. The designs are fast and very few color changes which makes them perfect for quick decorating. Again, the choice of applique fabric makes such a difference. Some years ago I had made a sleeveless blouse and used some of the applique designs from Farsi II. The blouse was white and I used only one color throughout the design….white. The applique fabric, well, it was a very large open print with lots of white. That blouse has received more comments than any other embroidered tops that I have ever worn!

Home decor is not the only thing that occupies us during holidays…it is also the gifts. My list this year is no where complete but I’m working on it. Last year, the one item that got gobs of attention were the “Carol” purse by my dear friend Carolyn of http://www.creativeneedlecraft.com . Of all the purse patterns that I have ever used, I have to say that the “Carol” is probably the most used and the easiest and speediest (is that a word?). Using the single pansy design I found some snake skin like fake leather fabric in purple color, if you can believe that! Well….purple is the “in” color now so I stitched out some of the appliqued pansies using black velvet as the lining. I love the bag! One word of advice using the leather type fabrics, be careful of the iron when pressing and always press with a pressing sheet…and don’t let the iron get near the fabric. The embroidery was done using a single layer of tearaway washaway stabilizer.

Its been a while since I made something for myself and while I was checking out my stash, I found a piece of brown fake leather type fabric which is backed with believe it or not…batting! I have no recollection of when or why I bought the fabric but I was ever so glad I had because one look at it and I knew what I wanted to make…. a Carol purse for myself! The leather was a bit heavy and I did have doubts about the embroidery and the stitching but everything was a breeze. Again I used one layer of tearaway stabilizer and instead of pinning the leather to the stabilizer I used basting stitches. I did have a concern that the needle perforation marks from the basting stitches may remain, but a quick shot of steam from the back side of the finished design took care of all the holes. Leather is actually quite fun to work with. When I opened the fabric, I was sort of concerned about the fold creases but a shot of steam took care of them as well. Heated leather can be manipulated and can be stretched. Overall, I’m happy with my new purse and yes I am wearing it! As to when Gulshan will be released…. sometime in October.