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this video is actually a continuation of the Easy Toddler Pullover video, tutorial.
and if you'd like to jump back and see the knitting part of this tutorial, i'll give
you a link right here to this tutorial.
in this tutorial, we are going to learn how to add fabric, or in this case felt, appliques
to knitted fabric.
and i'm making this a separate video, because this really applies to anything that you knit.
you can use this technique.
when i add a design to knitting, i usually like to use duplicate stitch.
which is a way of embroidering, using yarn, to embroider a design on to the knitted fabric,
so that it actually looks like knit stitches.
but depending on the level of detail that you want with what you're working on, the
duplicate stitch might not be able to make it look just right.
if you picture each stitch, each knitted stitch, as a pixel, like in a digital photograph or
something.
the bigger the pixel, the less detailed design that you can have.
so to get a really detailed design, you'd need to have a super fine gauge.
and that is um, i decided to use the applique here, the felt pieces on these sweaters for
the puppets of Pancake Manor.
because i could not get this level of detail using duplicate stitch.
this sweater is of the puppet Zach, and i'll give you a link to the Pancake Manor YouTube
channel right here.
it's a channel for kids and awesome parents, is what they say.
this video has a free download with it, and in it i will give you instructions, what you'll
need, and how to do this.
you'll also get the patterns for the puppet faces.
this is the template you'll use to cut out the fabric pieces.
okay, to do this, i have, you want to start with your knitted piece that has already been
washed and blocked.
you want it to be the exact size it's going to be when it's actually going to be worn,
because you don't want any shrinking after you get the fabric applique on there.
you'll need a few things, the first one that you'll need, of course, is the felt that you're
using.
and i have wool felt here that i use.
and i have fuse-able web. and the brand of this is called Steam a Seam lite.
and i like to use this one because it has a sticky side to it, and i'll show you how
that works out here as i use it.
okay, this is new territory for me.
i actually got to take a sewing lesson to learn how to do this and get really good at
this part.
and i had a lot of fun working on these sweaters.
but i usually stick with knitting!
so, we'll see how my cutting skills and my sewing skills go here in this video.
let's go ahead and take a look.
this is the washed and blocked little piece of knitting that i'm going to use for demonstration.
and i'm going to do this little elephant design on here.
and i've already cut out the felt and the fusing, for this piece.
so i have that done.
and then next thing i want to do is the little ear piece.
ear piece! the little ear.
and to do that i'm going to use some pink yarn, i'm just going to use the pattern piece
right here.
if you're wondering where i got this pattern for this little elephant, i have it here.
excuse me.
i found this online at homemade-gifts-made-easy dot com, with hyphens between each one of
those words.
if you do a google search for applique designs, an image search, you will end up with so many
free things to choose from.
and that's where i found this one. i thought it was pretty cute.
so i have cut out a piece of felt that is big enough for this pattern piece.
and i'm going to cut out a piece of this fuse-able web, that is also big enough.
and right now i'm just cutting boxes.
okay.
with this fuse-able web, one side of it is sticky.
i'm going to cut off a little bit of that.
so if you peel the paper away, you have one side that's sticky.
it's not like crazy super sticky, but it's a little sticky, and it's sticky enough that
i can put this felt on there, and it will hold.
and i'll smooth out the back a little bit.
okay.
this side, the non-sticky side of the fuse-able web is activated with steam and heat.
now i have my little pattern piece, i'll put that on there, and ...i'm trying to pick up
a pin off the table!
i have these really little, fine pins i'm going to put this here to hold that in place
while i cut this out.
and you want to cut out the felt and the fuse-able web at the same time so you get a really good
edge.
my pin is a little big for this piece, but i'll just keep scooting it around.
and this corner of the ear is a little rounded.
yeah, i am perfectly confident with all things knitted, this is new territory for me!
okay, and the ear goes like, this.
but first i'm going to secure this piece down, and then i'll secure the second piece down.
and since i'm not exactly on an ironing board, i'm going to put this felt underneath.
position my elephant just right.
and then - i think my iron has cooled down a little bit.
i'm going to spritz a little water on to this, so it's just a little damp.
and then because i'm working with a knitted fabric, i don't want to press down with the
iron.
this iron is pretty heavy.
i'm just going to hover it above, just barely touching it, and i'm pumping out a lot of
steam.
and you know i just cleaned my iron - here is a lesson for all of us.
i just cleaned my iron, and when i did that steam, a little bit of something came out!
luckily, it's coming off.
oh, that would be such a disaster!
okay, i could actually probably pull this off, though, if i wanted to replace that piece.
then you can check it by rolling the edge.
you can see here, i'm stuck down pretty well here with that.
that was easy.
now i can position the ear.
if i was at home right now, i would actually turn off the iron, and really really work
on making sure that nothing else is going to come out to discolor my fabric here.
is that a good spot for the ear?
i'm looking back at the picture.
that's a good spot.
i'm going to do the same thing.
whoops, i forgot to spritz.
okay.
and then without pressing down, i'm blasting steam.
okay.
oh, do you know what i didn't - oh, i did do that.
why isn't this sticking?
see, we're all learning something here.
i think it's because my iron is cooling down.
okay, there it stuck.
it's sticking, it would stick better if my iron wasn't cooling down!
it's also running out of steam.
oh my goodness.
i swear, this works just fine when your iron isn't spitting out brown goo, and is staying
hot!
okay, so here is my design, it is all stuck down.
i know for sure the white part is stuck down.
the next thing i want to do is take a matching color of thread, and a fine needle.
and you want to do the running stitch around each piece.
and that's what i've done on these sweaters here.
and it's not vital to the sweater that you do this.
but it does give it a nice finished look.
and i was also thinking that if you give a kid a sweater with felt pieces on it, they
might pull on it.
and with the running stitch around each edge, it will help the piece stay down so that kids
can't pull it off.
and i am not going to demonstrate the running stitch, because it would be really difficult
to see.
but what it is, is just little dashes.
it makes little dashes.
and i found that my little dashes looked a lot better - because i'm not an expert at
hand sewing or embroidering, but they looked a lot better as long as i just kept them small.
so even if there was a little bit of a difference between one stitch to the next.
if they were both small, you can't tell.
plus if i use the same color of thread for each one, it really doesn't show.
but it does look neat, overall it does look neat.
and i can show you the other sweater here.
this is the Reggie sweater.
and hopefully you can see my tiny stitches there.
okay, well there's my elephant!
this would actually make a really cute quilt block, if you want to do a bunch of these
with different designs on it.
i just thought of that.
alright, so that is how to apply or how to add fabric appliques to your knitted pieces.
and this works for really anything.
thanks to reb and billy very much for the collaboration on the puppet sweaters.
and good luck.
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