Some quilters alighn the grain lines of the background and the appliqué fabric?? ...... I have never even thought of that. Does that make me a 'sloppy' quilter? So far judges comments have not come back saying 'Should have aligned grain lines'. Mmmmhhhh....... I'll have to try this next time I do some appliqué. But I may go back to ignoring it, because I have the feeling that watching out for those grains will actually lead to a much less economic use of the fabric.

"To grain line or not to grain line'.... what do you do these days, Robin??

Hi Dawn, I think a lot of the answer has to do with the final use of the piece. I used to be a strong believer in not cutting away behind applique ... until I took Suzanne Marshall's class at Asilomar. Her rationale for cutting away has to do with creating fewer layers to quilt through if you are hand quilting. She also is careful to align the grain lines in the background fabric and the applique pieces because that way, they stretch in the same directions. She does say if you're machine quilting, then it doesn't matter so much about cutting away, unless you want the applique piece to puff up more, in which case, you cut away so that the batting will fill that space. Since you're going to be sending this particular piece on, it probably makes sense not to cut away, though, because it will have a lot of handling.

Lorchen read my mind! Good answer!

Dawn, if you are happy with the way your appliqué looks and feels, and the new owner should be happy with it too.

I normally don't cut away the fabric behind the shapes. I have only done it once, because there were four layers of appliqué on top of each other and I thought that it looked and felt a little too bulky.

I have finally learned to love applique after learning the Judy Niemeyer technique, and have gone on to develop my own technique. My question is, do you always cut the fabric away from behind the applique. When I asked Judy if she does for her quilts, the answer was "No," and I am comfortable not doing so with my quilts. But, I am working on a block that will be sent on to another person, who will do her part, then send it on again. (I will not be the owner.) So, do I or don't I?

Dawn
In (raining AGAIN!) beautiful Northwest Montana