Broderie Perse utilizes elements from a fabric’s design to create a feature in a quilt through applique. In the example above, Patricia Dever repurposed fish for her quilt, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, from the AQS 2017 Fall Paducah Catalogue of Show Quilts. Take a look at the full quilt below:
Here are a list of techniques used in this quilt: Fused Appliqué, Machine Appliqué, Broderie Perse, Collage, Free-Motion Quilting, and Machine Piecing.
When Broderie Perse appliques are overlapped or layered, they become a collage. The effect is stunning. Create a collage by collecting several elements around a theme, color, or shape. Arrange them by layering and overlapping them into a larger design. Often times Broderie Perse collages are used to create scenes, but they can be used to create any element, such as a border of flowers, or an animal, for example.
A near-cousin of Broderie Perse is fussy cutting. Fussy cutting is a piecing method that captures an element from fabric and uses it as a feature in a quilt. Combining fussy cutting and Broderie Perse is a great way to create dynamic collages. One way to incorporate fussy cutting is to piece together the background using fussy cut shapes.
Another technique that gives Broderie Perse unlimited options, is image transfer. When you want a specific design, whether it is from a photo or computer generated graphic, print it onto fabric, cut out the design, and applique it into your quilt. This lets you even create your own artwork to incorporate into your quilt.
Using collage, fussy cutting, and image transfer changes the world of Broderie Perse. Grab some fusible, a background fabric, lots of fun fabrics, and a printer, mix in a little imagination and see what comes out!
Rather disappointed in this too brief article. The title implied that there would be techniques explained and you failed to even explain what broderie perse even is. Would have loved to see techniques explained or even tips on how to do some of them. Must say however that the quilt is fabulous!!
Hi Denise, Love your interest in broderie perse! Be sure to check out the link at the bottom of the article to see the previous article introducing this project. Hope you enjoy next week’s article about creating your broderie perse project! Thanks, Betsey