How To Cut And Sew Decorative Appliques By Hand

10/31/2019

There are many instances in dressmaking when you’ll be forced to replace that convenient machine sewing needle with a much slower hand sewing one. In the case of sewing decorative appliques, you may be asking yourself- why would I ever need to attach them by hand when I can easily topstitch them on the sewing machine? When it comes to decorative garment applications, things are not always as simple as they appear.

In many instances, the only way to safely sew an applique is by hand using a sort of modified slip stitch method. In some scenarios, you may even save some time by opting for hand stitching in lieu of machine stitching altogether. Here are some situations when hand sewing appliques is not only recommended but also essential to the structure, finish and look of a garment:

When adding appliques to fine, silk fabrics which can easily be damaged by machine topstitching.
When the edge of the applique is jagged or has a multitude of uneven corners. Appliques are usually stitched along their outer edges thus you’ll find that if your applique has a variety of unevenly shaped edges, machine stitching will be time consuming. It will also require lots of care and effort to continuously turn the direction of the fabric following the jagged edges.
When the machine stitch risks being noticeable on top of the applique thus undesirable alter the applique look and design.
When adding appliques to areas of a finished garment that are difficult to reach or handle under the machine needle. This often happens with evening wear and more voluminous wedding dresses.
When the appliques include beading, metal decorations and/or sequins that are difficult to navigate around on the sewing machine. These decorative pieces can also accidentally break your machine needle if you make the wrong turn. An instance as such is almost always applicable to bridal and evening wear.

In today’s tutorial, I’ll go a step further by showing you how to actually extract an applique from a lace or ornamental fabric and hand stitch it to the surface of a silk crepe de chine. The need for this comes up quite often when you can’t find the right pre-cut appliques on the market. In that case, it is totally acceptable to cut your own from a suitable fabric. I’ll show you this simple process below.

1. Cut out the desired applique portion from your fabric carefully following its edges.

You want to be close to the applique outer lines but not cut so close that you actually weaken the applique weaving.

2. Choose the desired location of the applique on the garment, and pin it in place in the desired position and orientation.

3. At this point, I suggest hand basting it to the garment as doing so will provide a lot more control and stability in the hand stitching process to follow.

4. Lastly, use thread that matches the applique’s edges and hand stitch through the very outer edge of the applique to the fabric surface underneath. I used a sort of slip stitch style but since my applique is heavier than my fabric, I caught about 2-3 mm of the fabric for increased stability. With a conventional slip stitch, you usually only catch 1-2 threads such that the stitches remain invisible on the other side- mine is just one step more durable.

Note: If you are sewing an applique to a garment that has already been lined, only hand stitch through the top garment layer avoiding the lining underneath. Your goal is to hide as much of the hand stitch on the inside of the garment as possible.

Continue hand stitching until the entire applique is attached as desired.

In most cases, you do not need to iron the finished applique. Especially in instances of working with decorative lace appliques or heat-sensitive fabrics, avoid pressing the application altogether.