Sheer appliqués dress up this easy-to-sew jacket, making a great accent to any summer wardrobe.
Multi-color sheer fabrics are hot this season. Sheers are beautiful, sexy, classy and glamorous but they fray, slip and slide. However, a little tear-away stabilizer and some smart stitching will allow you to create exquisite sheer appliqués.
Skills and Materials
Skills
Satin stitch appliqué
Working with sheer fabric
Materials
Kwik Sew 2768, view B, omitting the pockets
Fabric as noted on the envelope plus 1/8 yard
1/8 yard of multi-colored sheer fabric
Matching garment sewing thread
Interfacing
Rayon or polyester embroidery thread to match the sheer fabric
Lightweight tear-away stabilizer
Pencil and ruler
Seam sealant
Cutting & Construction
Add 4" to the pattern front and back length.
Cut out the blouse and construct it according to the pattern directions eliminating the buttons and buttonholes.
Preparing Sheer Appliqués
Back the blouse areas to be appliquéd with two layers of tear-away stabilizer.
Using a pencil and ruler, draw nine 3/4" to 2" squares and rectangles on another sheet of tear-away stabilizer, spacing the shapes 1" apart.
Cut apart, leaving about 1/2" inch around each shape.
Cut the sheer fabric into pieces large enough to cover the assorted shapes.
Wrong sides down, pin the sheer fabrics to their corresponding stabilizer shapes, positioning the fabric grainlines parallel to one edge.
Following the marked lines, sew the sheer fabric to the stabilizer.
Fold the fabric/stabilizer shape along one stitching line, right sides together, and sew close to the folded edge (1).
1 Fold along stitching line and sew close to fold.
Fold the opposite side along the stitching line and sew close to the folded edge.
Carefully trim the fabric and stabilizer close to both stitching lines (2).
2 Trim close to stitching lines.
Fold, sew and trim the remaining two sides, creating a square or rectangle with very narrow, turned and stitched edges (3).
Prepare the remaining shapes in the same manner.
Carefully remove the stabilizer from the shape centers. A small amount of stabilizer will remain encased in the stitches and will be covered later with satin stitching.
3 Sew and trim all four sides.
Embellishing the Blouse
Referring to the image at top, pin the shapes to the blouse. Make sure the shape edges are parallel to the garment grainlines. To overlap the shapes, sew the lower one first, then the upper one.
Thread the machine with embroidery thread.
Straight stitch around each shape with a regular stitch length.
Adjust the machine for a 4mm satin stitch and sew around each shape.
Set the machine for a 6mm satin stitch and change to a contrasting embroidery thread. Add satin-stitched squares inside several shapes to complete the embellishment.
Clip the threads, remove the stabilizer and dot the thread ends with seam sealant to secure.
