Fruit Applique and Embroidery Pattern

Hi friends! Lisa Summerhays from Stubbornly Crafty here to share a fun pattern and quick little how-to tutorial with you. Today I have fun fruit-themed applique and embroidery patterns to share with you. I apologize in advance for the minimal photos in this tutorial. My camera's memory card decided to wig out on me but hopefully there are enough to still make the steps easy to follow with the written steps. The tutorial will cover only the applique, not how I made the drawstring bag. Let’s get started. The applique pattern sheet has the pieces separated so you can layer them. The pieces are color coordinated however, if you only have a black and white printer like me, each fruit’s pieces are by each other and can also be found on the embroidery page if you aren’t sure which is which. The embroidery pattern can be used to trace on fabric to embroider as well as to use as a placement guide for your applique.

Supplies:

• DOWNLOAD & PRINT PATTERN HERE
• HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Sewable Adhesive
• Scraps of felt or cotton fabric
• Base fabric
• HeatnBond Soft Woven Fusible Interfacing
• Thread/sewing machine
• Pen
• Scissors

Print out your pattern and cut out the applique pieces. Choose which fruit you want to applique and what you want to make with it. I decided to use the strawberry and peach and to make them into a drawstring bag. I picked out my fabrics and chose a base fabric (the polka dots) as well as felt scraps to use for my fruit that coordinated with my main fabric for my project. Trace the pattern pieces for your fruit on the smooth side of your HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Sewable Adhesive. If you want the fruit facing the same way as it is shown on your printout you want the ink side facing down. If it is facing up it’ll be a mirror image of the printout. Cut out around each piece and adhere it to your felt (or chosen cotton scraps) for your fruit.   Take your base fabric you will be sewing your applique onto. To make it easier to applique on adhere your HeatnBond Soft Woven Fusible Interfacing to the wrong side of your base fabric. Lay your fruit pieces out on your base fabric as you want them to turn out when completed. We will be sewing each pieces on starting from the bottom and working our way up. So first we need to adhere our stems and sew them down. Carefully remove the paper backing on the stems and place them back in their original position. Move your other pieces out of the way and use your iron to adhere the stems in place. If using felt use a barrier cloth in between the felt and your iron so you don’t singe the felt. Take to your sewing machine and stitch the piece in place. I sew around the perimeter of each of my pieces unless they are extra small like the stems. Then I will just sew a line. Instead of backstitching pull your thread tails to the back and tie them off. Repeat with your remaining pieces layer by layer. So next place your peach body and sew around the perimeter (pulling your thread tails to the back and tying them off each piece). Then your strawberry (mine overlaps the peach). Then the heart on the peach and the top of the strawberry. Add details such as seeds, cherry stems, or a sweet face using embroidery floss, small beads, or other embellishments. That’s it for today folks. Hopefully you give it a try. I love the happy little apple, cherries, and pear too! They’d make fun little dish towels, a fun fruity banner, or added detail to any other summertime sewing project. Thanks for sewing along!