Friday, January 27, 2012

simple silhouette applique for the baby girls

Sometimes the simplest touches have a big effect. I love to applique (that's no secret) and sometimes my favorite things to applique are simple silhouette shapes. If you choose the right fabrics and use great colors, they can really POP.
For my friend's baby girl, I made a receiving blanket with 1 yard of hot pink flannel on one side and 1 yard of bright aqua flannel on the reverse.
To add a pop or color, I appliqued a butterfly on both sides in the reverse colors.
I used the butterfly shape found in my Photoshop Elements program and enlarged it to fit a 8 1/2"X11 sheet of paper.
Keeping with the butterfly theme, I appliqued tiny butterflies on to a onesie using shapes from the Martha Stewart template link found at the bottom of this post.
I used it once before on a shirt for my daughter here.
Since baby girls seem to be popping up all over, I made another blanket for a friend's baby girl using a bunny shape I found on the Internet(just Google "bunny silhouette" and make sure the images are royalty free).
I appliqued a white bunny in felt to the hot pink side of the blanket and a pink and white dot bunny to the pink and white polka dot fabric. Both pieces of fabric are 1 yard each of flannel.
I made a matching bib with flannel using the pattern from here from juicy bits blog.
Another friend's baby girl was born last week, so I appliqued a different bunny silhouette using a vintage pillow case as the bunny fabric on to a onesie.
Since the white bunny on the white onesie wasn't showing up (surprise!)I stitched around it in hot pink thread. I did highlight the nose with a pink satin stitch and add an eye with a french knot.

Here are a few ideas for silhouette images:
*The shapes feature in the Photoshop Elements Program
*Martha Stewart templates- bird, and butterfly
*Hummingbird Applique at Juicy Bits Blog
*Any free SVG images on the Internet - they are for Cricut machines and are usually simple silhouette graphics
*Rabbit Silhouette here on free clip art blog
*Check out any free clip art on the Internet for shapes

3 comments:

chris said...

My favorite is the white bunny with the nose and eyes. The contrasting thread and little face details made all the difference.

Mrs. Rogers said...

I love using applique too!!!! I especially like your rabbits!

Amy @ Amy Giggles Designs said...

Hi! I just found your blog from The Polkadot Chair and I'm your newest follower! Love it! I am a new blogger and also from Louisville! I am inspired by all your creations!
-Amy
amygigglesdesigns.blogspot.com