Making stems and vines and even lettering is easy if you use bias tape. It can add so much to a quilt to add a bit of simple applique, and bias tape is the SIMPLEST of all applique. Here are a few examples of quilts with a bit of bias applique: Trellis Around the Town See the lettering on this quilt? I made 3/8" bias tape and formed it into the letters. Let me show you how it's done. I use bias tape makers from Clover Notions. They come in many sizes. Berry Patch, Cherry Lemonade DishTowels, and Cottage Bloom First, cut your strips on the bias of your fabric. That is...45 degrees from the grainlines. In this example I am using a 3/8" bias tape maker, so I will cut my strips 7/8" wide. No matter what size bias tape maker you use, double it and add a scant 1/8" to get the cut size. That extra 1/8" gives just a little more fabric to make the folds. Now spray your strips with starch. This is very important because your folds will stay crisply turned. Do this before you pass the strip through the bias tape maker because if you do it after, the moisture will undo the folds. Feed the bias strip into the bias tape maker with the wrong side up. If you press the end of the strip before you do this, it will dry the starch and make it stiff and easy to feed through. Turn it over to the back side. There is a little slot on the bias tape maker you where you can see your fabric. Use a pin or awl to slide the fabric down to advance it all the way through and out the other side of the bias tape maker. Now turn it back over with the wrong side of the strip facing up on the ironing surface. Pin the end of the strip to the ironing surface to anchor it. Pull the bias tape maker to the left as you follow it with your iron. Keep the fabric strip centered as it feeds through so it will fold the fabric edges over as you press. That's all there is to it! Now you have a strip of fabric made into bias tape. You can shape it with your steam iron to make the curves and loops you need for your design. For example, to make the letters for the Berry Patch quilt I showed you before, first make a copy of the letter guide. Place the guide on your ironing surface press the bias tape right on the page following the outlines on the paper. Once the letters are formed, take them to your quilt top and baste them in place using Jillily Studio Appli-Glue. Then you can stitch them in place either by machine or by hand. I usually stitch by hand, but all this lettering was done by machine! Here is another example of using a shaping guide. This is for the gate on my Secret Garden quilt. I used narrower bias tape here--1/4" wide to make the parts of the gate. I am using red bias here just to show you, but on the actual quilt I used a black print. Be sure to glue baste everything in place to make it easy to stitch! Secret Garden Now you can see that making bias tape using your own fabrics can be very simple and add so much to your quilt. I hope you find that this tutorial can make your quilting easier. Oh, by the way, I was on American Patchwork and Quilting Radio today with Pat Sloan. We had a nice chat. If you want to listen, go to this link: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/radio/index.html Were you listening in today? I hope so. Jill