Shadow Applique Heart

With Christmas approaching, I'm going to try and start posting more small projects that would make great gifts and don't take too long to make.  This shadow applique heart would make a great dressing table coaster for someone special. It’s really easy to make and I’m sure that you could make yours more flat than mine is.


Shadow applique is just normal applique with a layer of organza, net or some other fabric that is totally see through laid on top. It gives a lovely sheen to the fabric.

Begin with the applique shape of your choice. I have chosen a simple heart. Back it with fusible interfacing and press to the background fabric – a 9.1/2” white square in this case. The right hand photo shows the organza layer on top: you can see how it tones down the fabric and gives a lovely sheen.

Place the backing fabric right side down and lay the batting on top. Lay the heart on top of this and then the layer of organza. Baste the edge of the square and baste the heart.

Using a small running stitch, quilt around the edge of the heart. I’ve shown front and back here. I then added a further echo line of stitching ¼” outside the first line of stitching.

Using a plate or something similar draw a circle as large as possible on the square and cut along the line. Pin as the basting will now have been cut off. I know that this seems an odd way of doing it, but I wanted to be sure of how far out the heart and quilting went before I cut the circle.

Bind as for any quilt, but don’t forget to use binding cut on the bias. Because the binding is on top of the organza layer, it shows up as a richer colour than the heart itself, giving a lovely contrast.





This was made as a gift for a girl – somewhere for her to put her jewellery when she took it off – but it could just as easily be made with another shape (holly leaves for example) to make a lovely Christmas gift.  You can't beat handmade gifts for really showing that you care.

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Hope to see you again soon.