"Play me a Song" African Print Appliqué Fabric Art Pillow

Materials:

three 4" strips of 3 coordinating print fabrics
small bag of scrap fabrics
12" wide khaki fabric (medium/heavy weight)
8-1/2" x 11" white paper
permanent marker
scissors
glue stick
straight pins
ruler
rotary cutter
cutting mat with measurements
threaded sewing machine
polyester stuffing
needle and thread
bright lamp

Steps:

1. Measure and cut two 12-inch squares of medium/heavy weight khaki fabric using a rotary cutter and cutting mat.

3. Place the strips right sides up on the 12-inch khaki square, overlapping each other about a 1/4 inch (figure A).

4. Secure the pieces of fabric to the background fabric with a glue stick. Run the glue down the center back of each strip. Avoid applying glue too close to the edge where the fabric will be sewn.

6. Draw a design of a lady wearing a long flowing dress and playing a saxophone. The drawing can be freehand or traced from a book. Cut out the pieces of the design including the three parts of the dress, the saxophone, hair and face, shoulder and arm (figure C).

7. Place the cut out paper pattern pieces on scraps of fabrics, selecting appropriate designs to suit the patterns. Cut out the fabric pieces following the paper patterns.

• African print fabric for the dress pieces
• Flesh tone fabric for the face, shoulder and arm
• Dark brown fabric for the hair
• Gold print fabric for the saxophone