Piecing An Applique Unit

There are times when appliqueing, that it is more conducive to piece the unit instead of appliqueing each individual part to the background.  Such was the case for my barn on my cancer quilt.  A few posts back I constructed the barn quilt and now the barn itself is completed, complete with barn quilt.  I thought I would go over the steps I took to build my barn.

I first sewed the fabric chosen for the top of the barn around my barn quilt. I then traced the unit onto freezer paper and pressed it onto my fabric unit, taking special care that the barn quilt was in its correct position under the freezer paper.

I placed this onto my cutting board and trimmed to a 1/4" on all sides, usually I would use a smaller seam allowance for applique but since I would be piecing I wanted the accuracy.

Laying this aside, I proceeded to create the roof. by pressing my freezer paper shapes to the my fabric.  My fabric was printed with different scales of pattern, so I selected the areas that was best suited for my project.  They were then trimmed and ready to be sewn.

The freezer paper allows me to line up where I need to sew and creates more accuracy.

With the top of the barn completed I was ready to construct the bottom half, so I searched my studio for tools to not only give me the accurate 7/8" for the "lumber" but to also allow me to see the grain on each piece.  Much to my dismay nothing was working successfully.  I needed a fussy cut template.

I got a piece of template plastic cut it 7/8" wide then drew a 1/4" on each side and cut out the middle.  Now I could see just how each plank would look.

After I traced and cut my "lumber" I played with the positioning so I could get it like I wanted it to look. I sewed each piece together, and once the unit was constructed, ironed it's freezer paper template to it and trimmed.

After I did reverse applique on the windows and prepared the hay for the barn, I sewed the pieces together and was ready to sew the top and bottom of my barn together.

The freezer paper provided a guideline for pinning the pieces to be sewn

I'm starting to get excited now, the only thing left is to prepare the edges for applique.

I am still uncertain as to whether or not I am going to applique the units by hand or machine but did realize with so many pieced seams that needle turn would be very difficult so either way I choose I decided to glue the very tips pf the edges.  Making sure to keep the glue away from the fold if I choose to hand applique.

After placing the glue I rolled the edges back to my freezer paper, clipping at corners and trimming bulky seams when necessary.

With the process complete I can FINALLY remove the freezer paper.

I still have to hand embroider between the planks of the bottom of the barn and along the roof edge to give it more dimension.  I had thought there would be more definition between the board because of the seams but not the case.  A lesson learned.  Oh, the reason for the two colors of boards is the ones on the right are closer to the sun.
Hope you enjoy your day, and don't be afraid to challenge yourself......... it can be fun!