Fussy Cutting

As I wrote before, I have a large stash of fabrics to choose from, but all quilters should consider the fabrics available when planning the details. Don't just consider the colors, consider the patterns on the fabric as well. This works for pieced quilts as well as for applique but I do far more applique than piecing. Above are two examples of fussy cutting on the quilt border from my Dresden Plate quilt. The snail shell is an obvious choice given that the batik had that nice spiral. The flying bug next to the snail is less obvious but still fussy cut to align all those little circles.

Less obvious is the fussy cutting on this dragonfly and the fussy cutting on one of the flower petals. The dragon fly body  is two different fabrics, one with dots and one with fan shapes while the leaf vein on the petal adds some depth to that detail. If you look closely to the wings you will see the embroidered accents I added when all the applique was complete.

 

In this detail the fussy cutting is even more subtle but just as pleasing in the final product. The swirls on the fabric mimic feathers on the bird wings.

Two other examples of fussy cutting in the current pictures are from the details of the Bird of Paradise quilt. In the first one below, the head feathers are fussy cut to place the stylized flower motif at the top of each feather. The original quilt artist made a similar cutting decision.

The second example from that quilt represents the choice I made to change some of the fabric choices made for the original top. In several instances the top uses a very plain figured fabric, a major break from the other design decisions she made. Since I didn't like the plain figured fabric much, I made my own choices on the buzzards, fussy cutting the tail feathers and then amplifying the fussy cutting with quilting stitches in a chevron.

  

Fussy cutting can be taken to an extreme, sometimes distracting from viewing the whole, but when done with caution it can add to the delight you and your audience take in your quilts. 

If any of you have any questions about applique or fabric choices or embroidery, leave  a comment. I do try to answer when people are nice enough to make comments.