Tutorial: Mola Style Reverse Applique

Hello Everyone!
It's my turn to share a tutorial during the awesome tutorial week of the 2014 Q1 Finish Along!

Mola Style Reverse Applique Technique
What is a 'Mola' you ask?

A "Mola" panel (usually in pairs, front and back) makes up part of the traditional dress of the Kuna women of San Blas Panama and means 'shirt' or 'clothing' in their native language. They are hand made using a reverse applique method, which I'll explain in detail below.

It also happens to be the name of this amazing fish, a 'Mola Mola' or 'Sunfish' which has nothing to do with this tutorial other than to help you visually differentiate between the two.

Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) photo courtesy of Daniel Botelho. / National Geographic (click to read)

And these are my fabulous pillows made from traditional Mola panels (normally the front and back of a blouse) that my mother found while thrifting, which sparked my idea to write up a tutorial!

The Kuna women are extremely skilled and have developed a beautiful method of layering several pieces of richly colored fabrics and cutting away a design to stitch down often without the aid of templates or drawings. They use very thin needles, turning under the edges slowly and make almost invisible tiny stitches tacking down the outlines and revealing new colors below. Check it out!

Now, don't be intimidated! It is really easy! I promise!
I've drawn up a simple little project that is loaded with possibilities for making it your own, so I hope you'll join me and make a uniquely you "mola" style reverse applique!
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Materials Needed
* (3) 9 in squares in different solid colors / cotton fabric
* 3 circles to trace in varying sizes (I used 8in/6in/4in)
* thin sewing needles, I use straw needles size 10
* thread to coordinate to your fabric color choices
* fabric marking pencil/chalk
* basting thread (I use inexpensive white thread)

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Step 1
Decide in which order to layer your fabric squares, (traditional molas were usually made with black or red at the top layer) I'm using black as the top, with the green as the base and blue in between.
Once you've determined which square will be the top, trace your circles, one inside the other leaving a generous 1/2 inch between each drawn line.

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Step 2
Using your white thread, baste all three layers together with a running stitch, at least 1/4 in. from either side of each drawn line. Knot these basting stitches on top easier removal later.

(first row of basting stitching)

(all lines basted on either side)

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Step 3

Once all the drawn lines have been basted, use sharp pointed scissors and gently poke into the top layer of fabric only, cutting along your drawn line. I started with the innermost circle first and chose to not pre-cut all my drawn lines at this stage to help preserve the stability of the top layer.

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Step 4

To be able to turn under a rounded edge smoothly, you'll need to make notches about every 1/4 inch. But be careful not to cut all the way to the basting stitches! This will ensure your turned edge remains smooth.

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Step 5

Gently turn under the edge at a starting point using your fingers. 

Knot one end of a coordinating thread and nest it in the fold crease you've made.

Using white thread here for easier view, normally would use black thread

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Step 6

Enter the needle into the next layer in line with where you've come out from, go through all layers and up through the folded under edge. I use the thumb of my left hand (non-sewing hand) to hold the edge folded under. Make your stitches 1/8 in. - 1/4 in. apart to avoid points in your circle edge.

Now continue around the circle slowly and when you get close to the end of your thread, pull your thread to the back, slip the needle under a few threads and knot.

When you've finished with the inner circle edge, start again on the opposite side, repeating the steps of notching the circle, folding under the edge and burying your knotted thread end in the crease.

And when you've finished stitching down all the edges of the cut lines, it'll look like this!

Essentially you'll be repeating those steps I gave you for the next layer, cutting down the center of the revealed layer using caution to not cut through more than a single layer at a time, notch, fold under and stitch down.

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This is a very simple pattern I've used as an example which can be infinitely altered, varying the circle widths, inner rings, edge patterns etc.
You can really use this technique with any design!
You might remember one of my 2014 Finish Along list projects that I've been working on recently is also a reverse applique, Flying Fish.

This tutorial is my technique and by no means the only way of doing reverse applique. There are many amazing quilt artists who use reverse appliques in their quilts with absolutely beautiful results. Please look over my 'Mola Inspiration' board on Pinterest to ignite your creativity!


Follow Manda Millar's board Mola Applique Inspirations on Pinterest.

Thank you Katy from The Littlest Thistle for the opportunity to share!! Remember to link up your Quarter 1 Finishes! Enjoy! *************************** 4-4-14 UPDATE  ******************************** Wow, your comments over @ The Littlest Thistle on my Mola tutorial are simply heartwarming! You guys are great! I'm back to add an AMAZING! blog post about Mola making that was just shared with me by Jo Avery of myBearpaw. She used to make Mola's and has a fantastic story quilt to share!! Please go check it out here! And thanks again Jo for sharing such amazing work!

Pinterest Obsessive

As if I needed another internet distraction on top of the endless reading of quilting blogs, I too have become a Pinterest addict. I suppose there are far worse things to be addicted to, but this is seriously not helping me get anything done.

And now one of my favorite sites for quilt projects (and more!), Moda Bake Shop, is hosting a little giveaway called 'Love it, Pin it, Win it'.

This website is one of the most inspiring, with such beautiful photographs and really well planned "step-by-step" instructions. Anytime I browse the quilt projects I feel like I could easily walk into the studio and start one immediately. Biggest problem, which one?!?!?! There are always so many amazing projects! And! They have TONS of different tutorials for quilts, bags, accessories, clothing, home items and holiday crafts to mention a few.
How could I resist, really.

It's simple. Just visit the Moda Bake Shop site. Pin your favorite 'Recipes', be sure your pin is linked to the recipe itself and not the home page and include these three tags (#modabakeshop #modafabrics #lovepinwin).

So easy. I created a board just for my favorites. Now I have no excuse! I must make these!
http://pinterest.com/mandamillar/modabakeshop-recipe-loves/

The quilt projects I've pinned are all favorites that I'd like to make. I'm not sure I could have picked just one, so I'm glad we can pin as many as we want!
Of course, there are awesome prizes to be had, the winners being chosen randomly from tagged photos.
So come join the fun and add to your "To-Make" list some really amazing projects!

Okay. Really, I must stop. I keep pinning! I have a baby quilt to finish up! Someone pry me from my computer chair.......

A Homemade Block Tutorial

 

The other night, I was flipping through quilt magazines, mulling project ideas and fell in love with a quilt called "Equivalents" based on the traditional "Moon Over Mountain" block. The quilt was made of mostly soft hued batik fabrics and was so gorgeous.

I got the itch to design my own. The finished block above is a smaller, tighter version of what I saw in the magazine. It reminds me of progress, success, and all things going up. So I'm giving it a strange name, "Health Meter", mostly because I was thinking about my health while drawing it out.

So here follows my first attempt at writing a quilt block tutorial. I've made one block off the pattern I drafted, pieced by hand and it didn't turn out so bad. I'm a novice at curved piecing on a machine, we'll try that another day.
 So here we go:

Health Meter Block Tutorial
finished size 8.5 x 5.5

Materials Needed:

Copy of Templates (found here)
Fabric Scraps at least 7in. sq. and smaller
Thin cardboard
Scissors/ Exact-O Knife
Pencil/Fabric marking chalk
Glue Stick
Hand sewing needle
Thread

Cut from Fabric:

1- 3in. x 4in. (for template A)
2- 2in. x 3in. (for templates B)
2- 2.5in. x 3in. (for templates C & Cr)
2- 1.75in x 5in. (for templates D)
2- 4in. x 7in. (for templates E)

Bottom right and going counterclockwise Pieces A-E

A note about fabric selection: You'll notice that i used seven different fabrics for my block, but it's really up to you. This block could be made using 2- 8 different fabrics. So play a bit, don't be scared!

I glued my block copy onto thin cardboard to make sturdy templates because i'd like to make an entire quilt of these blocks and I need them to last multiple tracings.

Cut out the template pieces along the black lines, I used an Exact-O knife to make nice clean and far more accurate cuts.

Once all you've cut apart the template you're ready to trace your templates onto the fabrics.

Keep in mind, since you've cut your templates from the "finished" block, when cutting out your pieces, add a 1/4" seam allowance around each shape. The drawn template line will act as a nice stitching guide line but don't forget to trace it on the "wrong" side of the fabric.

Sometimes lightly finger pressing the seam allowance around the template helps as well.

Once all your block pieces are cut out including a seam allowance, you can begin hand piecing in the order shown on the template. The numbers 1-5 indicate which seams to stitch and in which order.

Staring with C and Cr, right sides together stitch together using a running stitch and making a few back stitches at the beginning and end. 

I try and make my stitches as small as possible to add strength to the seam.

As you finish each seam, finger press them lightly. 

When putting the curved seams together, I lightly creased a center line in each piece to help match up and pin them together correctly. 

                             

Place a pin at the center where the pieces match, then slowly ease the edges to meet and pin loosely.

      

I am by no means a pro at curved piecing yet, but as far as I can tell, it's just a slow, take your time process. I just stitched slowly, making sure seams matched where they needed to.

When the curved seams are finished, it's very important to clip the edges a bit to allow the fabric to settle into its new curving shape.

And since this block is mostly curves, it's really best to take your time and go slow (did i say that already? haha). I did finish hand piecing the whole thing in under two hours.

Basically the seams are done in order,

pieces C and Cr, and both B and D seams are marked 1.

Next the C/Cr unit is attached to piece E marked by 2.

Then piece A is sewn to the other E piece marked by 3.

And that's it for the curved seams!

Now for the final seams of the block. Start with the seams marked by the 4's. Don't forget to match up the seams of the inner circle and hold with a pin.

When you're stitching by hand, you can go slow enough that matching up the seams is simple. For the final seams marked by the 5 on the diagram, I matched the circle seam lines first and then the point. I just started up one side, slowed at the point, and back down the other side. 

I did have a slight bulking of fabric at the point that i clipped very carefully. And as you've noticed, I failed to take a picture of the set in seam. So you'll just have to try it for yourself!

After the block was finished, I did some pressing and squared up the block to the finished size of 8.5in. x 5.5in. and love how it came out! 

I hope you try it out and share! I'll be opening a Flickr group soon for the Mammal Chupie tutorials. Hope you enjoyed this little block. I can't wait to make more! And boy, it's not easy making these tutorials.....I just knew i'd forget to photograph at least one step haha! Oh well. Pretty good for my first one.