Applique with Freezer Paper

My personal favorite. Although it does involve more preparatory work than the other methods, it ensures perfect shapes. Recommended for perfectionsts!

You will be needing freezer paper for this method. It can be easily found at the supermarket. Freezer paper consists of two layers: on the one side you have paper and the other side is covered with a thin plastic layer. The advantage of this method is that you can iron your freezer paper template to the fabric and it will stick, and then you can easily peel it off and reuse it. You can continue to use the same template several times, if you wish.

Reynolds freezer paper is usually the easiest to be found at the supermarket:

Use your plastic heart template to trace the heart onto the dull or paper side of freezer paperl  (Note, if working with asymmetrical designs, you will need to reverse the design first before you start tracing). Iron the shiny side of the paper to the wrong side of the fabric.

Cut out the heart shape (with the paper adhered to the fabric), including a narrow seam allowance.

With this method you don't need to clip the curves, but you will need to clip the concave part at the top of the heart.

Turn the seam allowance down, pulling taut against the edge of the paper. Baste the seam allowance in place.

Handling points: Take a cloose look at these pictures. First fold up the fabric over the point itself, and then each side over each other as tight as possible. Use the edge of the paper to guide you. Don’t worry if some excess fabric shows through to the right side of the piece. You will be able to tuck it under or clip it off when you get to that point in sewing the figure onto the background block.

Your piece is ready to attach to the background fabric. As you will note, using the edge of the paper as a guide is very helpful in keeping the shape of the piece accurate. Although some people object to the amount of work involved in preparing applique pieces using this method, it has become my personal favorite because it ensures accuracy. The final results are well worth the trouble!