Applique - A very happy discovery!

Isn't this a sweet mushroom? This mushroom is the result of a happy discovery I recently made.

 

I've been wanting to cut some of my patterns out of fabric and use them as an applique on another piece of fabric.  But I wondered how to attach the fabric to fabric without stitching or having to finish any of the cut and raw edges.  I did a little online research and I saw several references to a paper backed fusible.  Although I have used fusible interfacing and fusible web, I really liked that with the paper backed fusible, you can trace a pattern onto the paper backing, cut out the shape, peel the paper backing off and fuse the shape to another piece of  fabric :)  I bought some at the fabric store:

I also bought this red and white polka dot fabric - I thought the red and white would be perfect for a mushroom top.  I decided to use one of the mushrooms from the Ladybug pattern packet:

I first cut out a small piece of the fusible web. The directions said to put the rough side of the fusible web onto the wrong side of the fabric:

Then I ironed it onto the wrong side of the fabric.  I used a dry iron on the cotton or hot setting, according to the instructions.  It worked really well and is firmly fused to the fabric:

Next, I cut the mushroom top off of my pattern:

I put it face down onto the fusible web and used a regular pencil to

trace the mushroom top onto the fusible web:

Then I cut the traced muhroom top out of the fused fabric:

I did the exact same steps with the mushroom stem on some white fabric.  Here are both the cut pieces right side up:

Since the stem has to be under the mushroom top, I put it onto the fabric first.  I peeled the paper backing off:

positioned it into place and then peeled the paper backing off the mushroom top:

and set it on top of the stem:

Then, I ironed them both down onto the fabric.  The directions said to use a cooler "wool setting" on the iron and to use a damp press cloth.  I did that and this is the result:

And now for some grass around the base of the mushroom:

This fused fabric is fairly easy to stitch through, {I used a smaller eye embroidery needle} so I stitched some of the grass right over the mushroom stem.

 
I am really happy with the result and I think I will go on to embellish this a little more, maybe with some more grass, a few flowers and a ladybug.  I am really pleased that these patterns can so easily be used as applique shapes too!