Do you love appliqué but don't want to do the hand work? No problem! Your Janome sewing machine has an amazing number of fabulous decorative stitches for you to play with. I had so much fun making these applique flowers and using a variety of decorative stitches to make these very pretty flowers. All these flowers are from Deborah Louie and her book Machine Magic.
Janome Applique Foot (AP)
There are a few presser feet you can use to make these beautiful flowers. The first one I choose is the Janome Applique Foot (AP) 9mm Part Number: 202086002, 5mm-7mm Part Number: 202023001. It is clear for great visibility of the needle and stitches, and shorter at the front to allow for perfect curves and doesn't get caught on the raised edges of the applique fabric. It was the "A" video of the "A to Z with Janome HQ" Instagram Live series which has been uploaded to the Janome HQ You Tube channel.
If the stitch you want to use has a satin look to it, (dense stitches close together) you may want to change it to the Janome Satin Stitch Foot (F). which has a Closed-Toe, or an Open-Toe for improved visibility. It's made for sewing dense zigzag/ decorative stitching as the bottom of the foot has a channel to allow those heavier, more dense stitches to form and pass under the foot. This foot is clear plastic, as well, for better viewing of the needle and stitches under the foot.
Some of the Decorative stitches I thought I would not like turn out to be some of my favourites. Don't be shy trying a variety of those stitches on scraps of fabric to experiment adjusting the width and length, as well. The stitch above looked messy, I thought, until I used it in the centre of the flower, which is shown in the photo above. Using these decorative stitches is a great time to use some beautiful specialty threads which really shows off the stitching.
Using a decorative stitch to applique the edges of the fabric pieces adds some fun and a twist to the texture of the appliqué. When you use a variety of threads and of different weights, it changes the whole look of the appliqué.
Make sure when you choose your threads you use the proper needles for the weight of the threads. As well, you will notice in the above photo, a heavy stabilizer was used in order to make sure the stitches stay on top of the fabric and not get lost inside the fabric. You always need a stabilizer of some sort to support the density of the decorative stitches.
When I was testing my stiches and all the threads I wanted to use, I noticed that the tension sometimes wasn't quite tight enough when using a 80wt thread, which is very fine, in the bobbin. I love using these threads as the thread is very fine, doesn't add bulk, blends into the fabric, and the bobbin is always seems full and it feels like it lasts forever since there's a lot of thread on it. The finer the thread, the more thread will be on the bobbin!
In order to get a good tension I changed the bobbin holder to the Janome High Tension/ Embroidery Bobbin Holder so that it would pull the top thread under to the back side of the fabric just a bit more. This special bobbin holder creates easy-to-adjust thread tension when embroidering with non-Janome bobbin thread as it's set to a higher tension, 20g. Most regular bobbin holders used for sewing are set to 10-13grams. Most 9mm machines will use Part Number: 202134006 (Please note, the Continental M7 and CM17 use Part Number: 867513208 as they have unique bobbin holders which can not be shared with other machines.)
Anytime you are doing appliqué, don't be shy to try new techniques and stitches. There are so many books out there, and projects on our Janome Canada website under the INSPIRE tab, as well on the Janome Canada Pinterest page. with a ton of projects and ideas. Don't forget your local Janome Canada dealer many also classes which may include appliqué techniques, and they can order you the necessary supplies.
Happy Appliqueing!
Monique
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