Hello With Love – Reverse Applique Tutorial

This tutorial was originally released in the digital sewing magazine One Thimble, Issue 10. You can find loads of other articles and patterns there, but for now, I’m able to share my contribution with you here. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this one counts as a seasonal craft!

My kids always come home with artwork with their handprints on them, often made into animals or other shapes. I love seeing them, and I try to keep most of them, but I wanted to find a more permanent way than just paper and paint to capture that moment in time. I decided to use their handprints on a pillowcase, which will be treasured in our home for many years to come. Rather than a regular appliqué, I chose a reverse appliqué, for that extra special touch. The extra work is so worth it.
Tutorial for pillowcase:
You’ll need:

• ½ yard fabric for pillowcase
• assorted scraps (for handprints and heart)
• ¼” fusible webbing (Wonder Tape)
• ½ yard lightweight-medium interfacing (I used Pellon Shapeflex 101)
• other basic sewing tools and sewing machine

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I have 2 kids, so my project has 2 handprints. Really though, you can have as many or as little as you like, but you may need a bigger pillow if you add more than 4 handprints.

You can trace the handprints onto regular paper if you like, or simply take a photocopy and cut the copy out! Make sure when tracing or photocopying, that the hand is splayed enough that the fingers are not touching each other.

Pick some scraps big enough to overlap each handprint by about 2” – maybe have each child pick their own scrap to help personalize it even more!

Start by cutting out the main fabric for the pillowcase. My pillow form is approximately 15”H x 16”W and I used the formula of H+2 x 2W+5 to get the size of my fabric, so in my case, I cut 17”H x 37”W. For this tutorial, these are the numbers I’ll use, but if your project size is different, you’ll need to adjust accordingly.

Once you’ve cut the fabric, lay it out and, on the wrong side of the fabric, mark a line parallel to the short sides, 9” from the left, and another line 25” from the left edge – you should have a 16” section now, slightly off centre. Fold the outer edges in (wrong sides together) to overlap over the middle section and press in place along the lines you marked.

Now cut out the handprints from the paper and lay them in the centre section to help decide on your desired layout. I cut out a heart as well, and moved it around at this point too, as a visual aid for the finished project. Once you decide on your layout, trace one handprint where you’d like it onto the wrong side of the middle section of the pillowcase.

Now draw a line about ½” inside the outline of the print, but only for the palm of the hand (it may help to use a different coloured pen for this step). Draw lines in the centre of each finger, meeting each line to the centre. These lines will be referred to as the seam allowance.

At the ends of each finger, draw small diagonal lines, meeting at the centre line (seam allowance).

Draw small notches at each curve.

Add small pieces of Wonder Tape all around the outline of the hand, as close to the outline mark as possible.

Now we’re going to start cutting out the centre seam allowance. It’s important to note: DO NOT CUT the main outline of the handprint, only notches up to the outline. Starting with the palm of the hand, cut out the seam allowance.

For the remaining seam allowance, we’re only making slits for the fingers, and small clips for the curves. If you haven’t already, remove the backing from the Wonder Tape and start folding the seam allowance up and over, wrong sides together, securing in place with the Wonder Tape. Take your time here; you may need to make a few extra notches as you go.  Where the fingers meet the palm, cut a triangle-shaped notch to reduce bulk in seam allowance. You may need to use Wonder Tape on top of one finger’s seam allowance to lay down the seam allowance from the finger next to it (this is why I mentioned earlier to make sure the fingers are splayed). You may also find it helpful to fold up the bottom point (the space between the fingers at the palm). Fray-Check might help here too if you had to cut many notches at one small area.

Once all the seam allowances are folded out of the way, add another couple pieces of Wonder Tape around the outline of the hand, and lay your scrap over the opening, so the right side shows through the opening. Turn over and inspect; make any adjustments at this point if necessary.

Cut a piece of fusible interfacing that is about 2” larger than the scrap you just placed, and place over scrap at back of project (wrong side) so that fusible side is against wrong side of scrap and main fabric. Fuse to secure scrap in place over outline.

Repeat with remaining handprint(s) and heart.

The final part of the appliqué is to stitch all around the shapes we’ve formed. I used my regular foot and a slightly longer stitch length, at 1/8” from the edge of the shape. I used a thread to match my main fabric, but a contrasting thread would also be a nice look. For this step, take your time and go around each curve carefully. Leave your needle in the down position and lift your foot to help pivot and reposition around sharper corners (like the fingertips). ​

Once the stitching around is done, all that’s left is sewing the pillowcase.

Fold in each short edge by a scant ½”, press in place and fold in again, hiding raw edges inside the fold to create a “hem” on each short end, then stitch in place.

Now fold the shorter edges (the hems) in to the centre again along the lines you marked previously at 9” and 25” so one hem is overlapping the other and right sides of the pillowcase are out and you’ll have raw edges along the top and bottom of the case. Make sure the hems are laying nice and flat.

We’ll be doing French seams, so you want to make sure your edges match up. If you need to square the top and bottom, do that now.

Sew each raw edge (top and bottom) with a generous ¼” seam allowance. Clip corners and turn inside out. Make sure all corners and seams are pointed out and flat. Sew top and bottom seam with a scant ½” seam allowance to encase the previous line of stitching and hide the raw edges.

Now turn right side out and admire your new pillowcase!

I hope you enjoyed this idea and I’d love to see if you use it; if you do, please share with me! This would make a great gift for grandparents but works as functional art in the home too.