Graduation scroll - a new 12 inch block
Celebrating all the effort and achievement of students everywhere, I’m happy to share a new 12 inch applique block for the Quilt Block Mania bloghop with the theme “Graduation”
My block is (happily) nice and simple using mock hand applique for the scroll and fusible or raw edge applique for the letters.
Graduation scroll 12 inch applique block
The scroll looks three dimensional if you use the colours carefully. The front of the scroll is the lightest colour with the bottom edge curling up with a bit of shadow. Ombre fabrics would be great here because you could make the curve more obvious by using the darker fabric at the lower edge shading to lighter.
The top piece of the scroll is similar, but it curls twice. So the first curl is the back of the scroll and should be the same as the bottom edge so it looks like you are seeing the back of the certificate. The last little bit should be the front of the scroll again, but just make it a shade darker than the back as it is in shadow.
Mock hand applique is a tiny hem stitch that is very nearly invisible. Use a fine thread and match the thread to the piece you are applique piece
I used freezer paper applique to make this. So I traced my design (reversed) onto freezer paper, then cut the pieces and ironed them onto my fabric. I turned the edges and used a glue stick to hold the seam allowances down. Then I sewed the internal seams using a tiny hemstitch (mock hand applique). Once I had the scroll as a unit, I sewed around the outside edge onto the background fabric also using mock hand applique.
The next step is to cut away the background , and either soak the piece or spray it with water to loosen the glue. This makes it easy to remove the freezer paper.
raw edge or fusible applique is best done on fabric which doesn’t fray much such as batiks. Use a small buttonhole stitch around each edge
I cut the seal as a circle and used my pinking shears to get a serrated edge. This looked great but was hard to blanket stitch effectively, so next time I might just go for a plain circle. I used some fabric with gold on it which looked really cool. I think red would look great too especially a mottled pattern to look like a wax seal.
For the letters, I traced the letters (reversed) onto fusible web and then cut around each letter. I used a really dark purple batik because batiks have a high thread count and don’t fray much so they are great for raw edge or fusible applique.
back of work showing mock hand applique stitch and blanket stitch
After peeling off the paper and arranging the letters to be in line with the top of the scroll, I ironed them down and blanket stitched around them with a small blanket stitch. All done.
You can write whatever you like by picking your favourite font and printing out what you want to say nice and big. Then use a lightbox to trace the reverse image onto the paper side of fusible webbing. So you could write the year, or the person’s name, or the degree awarded, or a personal message,
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