An 'Easy Cheesy' applique tutorial

Today I feel like I need to explain my inspiration because it's too funny. My 6-year-old Gabe is quite a character. A few

days ago I was asking him if he needed help with his homework and he said, "don't worry mom, it's easy cheesy!"

I don't know if it was his smile or the his slight lisp but it just cracked me up. So I was going around the house the

rest of the day saying, "don't worry, it's easy cheesy". I was trying to find inspiration for a tutorial to do here and I thought,

why don't I find something that looks tricky but really isn't and make an easy cheesy tutorial? Here it is:

Here are your materials to make a cupcake:

background fabric

4 different colors of scraps and matching thread

steam and seam interfacing

tear away stabalizer

Iron

First you need to cut your background fabric into the shape you want. Mine was for a birthday crown (more

on that later). So first I cut out the crown piece. After you cut your background fabric you need to decide where

you want your applique and how big you want it. Make sure you take into account the seam allowances! Then

draw it on a piece of paper. When it looks good to you cut out the individual pieces, the cup, the icing, the

candle and the flame. Use these pieces as a template to cut out your scrap fabric. When you have your fabric

pieces cut out lay them on top of the steam and seam, bumpy side up, and use them as a template to cut it out. You should now

have a piece of steam and seam that matches each piece of your applique.

Lay the wrong side of your fabric on the bumpy side of the steam and seam and iron it on using the directions on the package. Then peel the backing off of like so:

Then you arrange them on your background fabric. Make sure they are exactly as you want them, then iron them on.

Now get the tear away stabilizer and cut out a piece big enough to cover the whole cupcake. Peel the backing off the stabilizer and stick it to the BACK of the fabric like so:

Now comes the fun part...sewing! First decide which part you're going to sew first and thread the machine with the matching color. Then set your sewing machine to the zig zag stitch. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting a scrap of fabric, putting some stabilizer on the back, and experimenting with the length and width of your stitch. You want your zig zags to be fairly close together. Now take a deep breath and start stitching!

When you need to turn corners put the needle down, the presser foot up, and turn the whole cupcake.

Outline each piece of the cupcake with the matching thread and when you finish make sure you backstitch. Tear off the stabilizer and you're done! Now that wasn't so hard was it?

Stay tuned because Friday I am going to be blog swapping with Lynette from Get Your Craft On and I will be sharing how to make the rest of the crown. I can't wait to see what she has to show you here!