Reverse applique quilt tutorial

Hello friends!

Because I often receive messages from quilters asking, “These quilts are amazing, but what exactly is the reverse appliqué technique?” I decided to share with you a

Reverse Appliqué Quilt Tutorial

I created my first small piece in July 2017, and the more I use and design, the more I love this fabulous technique.

This is my biggest and dearest reverse appliqué quilt (its story here)

Let’s summarize the technique in just a few words, so you can see right away why I call it fabulous. There are a few key reasons:

1. You cut out ONE design and end up with pieces for TWO quilt tops. How about receiving a whole set of appliqué pieces as a gift? You don’t pay anything for it; you don’t work; you don’t spend time (sometimes hours or days!). No matter how complicated the design is, you CUT ONCE, ENJOY TWICE!
2. You don’t have to mark the design on fabric. How about making two fusible web appliqué quilts without marking a single line? Pretty cool, right?
3. Because you don’t mark on the fabric, you don’t have to wash the quilts to remove marking lines. That’s another big win!

Let’s start this reverse appliqué quilt tutorial!

First, you transfer the design to fusible web. This is much easier than transferring to fabric, because fusible web is transparent. Then you fuse fusible web to the back of a fabric.

Then with a hobby knife, you cut out the design. I LOVE this step… It’s relaxing.

Be sure to keep the cutout pieces safe — you’ll be using them later!

Here is the fabric with the entire design cut out.

View from the back.

You remove the paper backing of the fusible web; keep it intact- you will use it later.

By the way, my favorite fusible web brand is HeatNBond- it’s so easy to remove the paper backing from fabric.

Then you fuse a “background” under your cutout fabric.
This technique is called REVERSE APPLIQUE, and this is only half of the wonder of this technique.
Now for the second part…

Place the paper backing on another fabric.

In the “holes” of the paper you place the pieces you cut out in the previous steps.

Design on fabric, with minimal effort and no marking!

Then you remove the paper and fuse the pieces to the background fabric. A second top in no time!

Just imagine what you can do with different fabric combinations.

Different colors, different textures…

I made a double-sided tote with my cutout hearts.

Once the panels are quilted, it takes less than 30 minutes to assemble the bag.

There are so many gradation fabrics on the market and they work great with this design.

I made a table runner and used the block design twice, but you could make pillows or wall hangings.

I don’t have enough words to say how FUN this experience is.
Below, there is a gallery of some of my reverse appliqué quilts.

If you find this technique interesting, I have many patterns in my shop – click here to choose your favorite.

Happy quilting!