Introduction: No-Sew Fabric Applique Raised Wall Art Inspired by Inca Sun God

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About: I am a crafty dabbler. I love to create things with a sense of whimsy and humour.

Hello Sunshine!!!! This Instructable is my first attempt at no-sew fabric applique. I decided I wanted something bold and based on the sun. I got a bit inspired by Incan Sun God art and this is the result.

What I really liked about making this project:

  • it was really quick to do!
  • It used up fabric scraps from previous sewing projects and recycled some cardboard pieces I had been stashing
  • because it was all put together on bases of cardboard, I was able to take the design from being flat to being raised a bit like a bas relief sculpture.
  • I can see lots of ways to extend the project in the future

I will share with you the patterns, all the techniques and tips I picked up while making this project, and also share some of my mistakes so you don’t have to make them.

Finished project size is 30cm square.

So now let’s dive on into the sewing free fabric zone….

Supplies

I will give you approximations for many of the materials I used, because I didn’t have to buy anything. It was all stuff I had at home.

  • Iron-on Fusible webbing, about 1 metre
  • a selection of cotton quilting fabrics. I used:
  • a 30cm square of dark brown blender for the background
  • about 50cm * 30cm of 2 shades of brown for the background highlights
  • 4 shades of darker orange tone prints for the outer sun rays (about 30cm square in total)
  • 4 shades of yellow tone prints for the inner sun rays (about 30cm square in total)
  • pale beige blender, gold blender, and a gold highlight for the face (about 20cm square of each)
  • small scraps of dark red
  • Thin but sturdy cardboard sheets. I used 3 * 30cm sheets that came supporting calendars. You could buy a reasonable weight card stock. If you used cereal box cardboard, you may glue a couple of sheets together to get a bit more rigidity. Box board would be great but hard work to cut.
  • 2B pencil
  • ruler
  • Nice sharp small scissors for fussy cutting, but not your good dressmaking scissors
  • Scalpel or box cutter
  • Rotary cutter and ruler (optional but nice to have)
  • iron and ironing board
  • fabric marking chalk (optional)
  • Sanding block (optional)
  • light-box (optional) or just a well lit window will do
  • PVA glue
  • pattern sheets (print out at normal size)

Step 1: Assemble Your Materials and Cut Out the Cardboard

Print out all the pattern sheets. The pattern pieces have all been flipped for you by me so when you trace any pieces onto the paper side of the fusible webbing, they will already be the correct way. One of the pictures shows my "artist concept" so you can see what I am aiming for.


I have a couple of pattern sheets (pages 5 and 6) that you will need to sticky tape together for the sun ray outline. Cut out the sun ray double sheet and the face circle pattern (use pattern sheet 4 and cut out around the circle) and transfer these onto your cardboard using a pencil.


Use scissors that okay for cutting cardboard, or my favourite, a scalpel to cut out the sun face circle and the sun rays shapes.


For the backing sheet of cardboard, I worked to a 30cm square which ironically is exactly the size the scrap bits of card I had can in!


You will now have 3 cardboard pieces: a 30 cm square to build the background onto, a middle section of the 8 sun rays, and an inner face circle.


I decided randomly to start with the middle rays section for the next part.

Attachments

Step 2: Sun Rays and How to Draw, Cut and Fix Down the Applique Shapes

The sun rays are made from an outer larger fabric layer and then a smaller inner fabric layer. I decided to go with 4 shades of fabric for each layer group and decided on a darker orange toned group of cotton fabrics for the outer rays.


For the inner rays I went with 4 shades of lighter yellow toned fabrics.


All the shapes I have used in this project are completed by the same method. I start by tracing each shape from the pattern sheets onto the paper side of the fusible webbing. There are 8 outer rays and 8 inner rays, pattern pieces R & S.

I trace each in pencil. You can see straight through the fusible webbing to the print-out but if you want a brighter way to trace, you can use a light box or well lit window.


Next I did something I thought was really smart (so this is a tip!!!). On each shape I drew a small 1-2cm line in from the edge in one side of each shape. Why did I do this? So that when I roughly cut out each shape from the fusible webbing, I can also make a little snip into the edge at that point in the webbing. This is super handy because after you iron down the webbing, it really helps lift the paper off easily!


After drawing up all the shapes on the paper side of the fusible webbing, roughly cut around each out of the paper (not on the lines yet).


Using your iron (on a dry hot setting), and the back (ugly) side of the fabric, iron all of the shapes you want in that fabric print. Be sure to think about positioning if you have patterns you want to run a certain way after the piece is cut out. I like to hold the iron on each piece for a measured count of 10 to ensure the webbing is stuck.


After the pieces are ironed down and slightly cooled, cut out all of your shapes on the pencil lines. Don’t clip that mark again. Instead use that little mark on the paper to start pealing off the paper from the back of the fabric. Here’s a second tip that I didn’t realise until I was just about finished. Cut just OUTSIDE (like 1-2mm) of the fabrics shape. This will give you a tiny edge on each piece. This is handy because I didn’t realise any overhangs could be neatly ironed AROUND the cardboard edge to make nice edges on the shapes. I wish I had realised earlier. I instead tried to trim neatly with scissors to fit the edges. I think this is a bit harder. But that said, be neat with your cutting out. Accuracy is important!


After cutting out and peeling paper off all the outer ray fabric pieces, position each outer ray fabric shape on the points of the sun with the right side (nice side) of fabric facing up. I have made each piece a bit bigger in the pattern so it overlaps the middle just so it is a bit easier to get the rays neat.


I made the same colours of each of the 4 fabrics be opposite each other around the edge. Now iron these shapes onto the cardboard until it sticks (about 10 seconds). Use a dry hot iron. Don’t panic if the cardboard curls a little as you work. After you finish pressing, you can turn the cardboard over to the back and press the rear and the cardboard will flatten out again.


I made the inner rays the same way, but I made an error in my original version of the pattern sheets and ended up tracing out the shapes the wrong way once (DOH!). I tell you so you don’t do what I did.


After ironing down the inner rays, you now should have the sun ray cardboard section finished.

Step 3: Sun Face

The sun face pieces are all done using the same trace, cut, iron and stick method as the sun rays, so I decided to do a bulk production line of prepping all the fusible webbing pieces:


  • Face background circle in light beige fabric (G) cut 1
  • Forehead in yellow print (D) cut 1
  • nostrils in pale yellow print (E) cut 1
  • cheeks in different yellow print (F) cut 1
  • outer eyes in brown (B) cut 2
  • inner eyes in black print (A) cut 2
  • eyelids in burnt orange (C) cut 2
  • lower lip in red (H) cut 1
  • upper lip in deeper red (I) cut 1


As a tip for the cheek piece cutting out around the eye holes, I recommend using a scalpel to cut out each eye hole so the edges were as neat as I could make them.


Now I have a giant pile of pieces, and I am ready to position and iron all the pieces for the face into position.


I needed to do these in a specific order:

  • The outer eyes and the cheek section (this looks a bit like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mask). The outer eye bottom edge is slightly under the cheeks sections.
  • The forehead and nostrils. Note the nostrils are UNDER the forehead piece, but it’s easier to position both together and fix down at the same time.
  • Inner eye, eyelid and bottom lip. Not that the inner eye is under the eyelid a little (see photos). I also have a photo because I played with 2 colours for the inner eye. I ended up going with the darker version because it stood out more. Sometimes the fabric choice can’t be made until you see the pieces in place.
  • Upper lip, which overlaps the lower lip

After fixing down all these sections, I worked out some flames on the face would be nice. I used some of the same fabric choices as on the rays.


Follow the same trace, cut and fix down method for the:


  • inner and outer forehead flames (Q, P) cut 1 each
  • inner and outer cheek flames (N, O, M, L) cut 1 each
  • inner and outer chin flames (K,J) cut 1 each


After fixing down all the pieces gently iron the very edge of the circle on a diagonal so the fabric pieces wrap over slightly.


You have now finished the face circle.

Step 4: Forming the Background

The background is made of 3 layers:

  • A dark brown base layer square of fabric
  • Outer thicker rays in black print fabric
  • Inner thinner rays in dark brown fabric


Follow the same trace, cut and fix down method. It is worth trying to get the rays nice and straight. I used my rotary cutter for this but you can use a scalpel or just be neat with scissors.


To help positioning the pieces, I marked the centre of the background with a chalk pencil.


I worked in the following order:

  • base layer. I cut a 30 cm square of fusible webbing for the background
  • Then the outer rays (V) cut 4 and (T) cut 4 of the LONGER version
  • Then the inner rays (U) cut 4 and (T) cut 4 of the SHORTER version


I have been generous with the shapes so you can overlap them easily.

Step 5: Putting It All Together

You should now have 3 finished pieces of your sun god wall art. So fast without the sewing!!


To put the layers together I popped a generous amount of PVA on the back of the rays and the circle shapes, layered all three layers together, and then made a sun sandwich. To make sure the pieces stuck well, I covered the whole thing with a couple of big heavy books until dry.


And now….. all done!


You could easily adapt this pattern to become a sewn applique block (hand embroider the edges or machine catch down the edges). Just swap out the cardboard and add a square of iron on interfacing on the very back.


I gotta say the no sew raised applique method was really fast. I am going to put my finished piece in a gold coloured shadow box frame to protect it. You could also try something like Heat N Bond Liquid Vinyl to coat the picture to make it last.


This technique worked so well, I'm going to think about some more no sew applique ideas I can make up!