Fussy Cut Flower Appliqué

One of my favorite recent projects is an embellished denim jacket I personalized. I was inspired by my friend Stephanie Organes, who used fabric from one of her Andover Fabrics collections to decorate a jacket with floral appliqués and a quilt block, and I decided to give it a try. Here’s how I decorated the front of my jacket with flowers using a technique called Fussy Cut Appliqué.

How to Do Fussy Cut Appliqué

This process is actually really easy to do and only requires a few basic materials, including scraps of your favorite floral fabric. I used Felicity Fig from Stephanie’s Wandering collection, which I absolutely love for its deep, vibrant colors and gorgeous blooms. You can also use fabric with animals or other objects to create your appliqué if you prefer. I used a denim jacket as my base, but you can also appliqué onto a sweatshirt, a pair of jeans, a pouch, a tote bag, or pretty much any other fabric.

Materials

• floral fabric with sizeable flowers (or pattern/design of your choice)
• double-sided fusible interfacing
• iron
• scissors
• coordinating thread
• sewing needle
• denim jacket or other base

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What is Fussy Cutting?

Fussy Cutting refers to the technique of deliberately cutting a piece of patterned fabric in a way that allows you to feature a specific part of the design in your project. Sometimes, in quilting, this means cutting a square that has your desired pattern or image positioned in the center. For our project today, we’re going go even farther and cut out the outlines of the shapes we want to use.

Instructions

Choose the specific flowers you want to use.

For one spot, I picked a grouping of flowers that were connected to each other, and for the other, I used three individual blooms.

Iron a piece of fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric where your desired flowers are.

Lay the rough, non-paper side of the interfacing against the fabric. Iron according to the instructions on the package.

Carefully cut out your shapes.

You’ll want to use a pair of very sharp scissors to help avoid any fraying. My favorites are the Missouri Star Quilt Company 6” Everyday Scissors, which are super-sharp all the way to the very tip. Try to avoid cutting very thin/small detail areas, as these are harder to adhere.

Iron the shapes to your jacket (or other base).

Use the iron to press your base material for a few seconds (jacket, jeans, pouch, bag, etc) to slightly heat it. Peel the paper backing from your appliqué shapes, then place them on top of your base, exactly where you want them, and iron as directed on the interfacing packaging.

Hand stitch around the edges of the designs (optional)

I highly recommend doing this, because it’s an extra way to secure the appliqués in place. I also really like the visual effect of the hand stitches.

Once you’ve completed these steps, your project is ready to wear/use.

Crafting Tips

• This is a great way to add new life to an old piece of clothing, and the appliqué shapes can actually be used to patch holes!
• If you’re looking for a great base to use and don’t have one around the house, try a thrift store or yard sale.
• It’s ok to mix and match, using designs from different fabrics.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Fabric Projects

If you enjoyed this tutorial, check out these other projects you can make with fabric!

If you try any of these ideas, I’d love to see how your projects turn out! Make sure you are part of the Amy Latta & Friends Facebook Group, so that you can join our weekly Show and Tell thread and share your photos with us. Hope to see you there.