How to Quilt Herky Jerky Appliqué

There are lots of different ways to machine applique. And one of my absolute favorite ways is doing what's called the herky jerky. I didn't come up with a name but it's really, really apropos and is using a straight stitch. So it's not a zigzag stitch. It's a straight stitch, your free motion photos on your feed dogs are dropped and I am gonna go ahead. And this is a herky jerky right here and I'm gonna go ahead and herky jerky around these leaves which I just top stitched in place. And if you don't topstitch them in place, that's fine but they do need to be ironed on if you're not gonna topstitch them. So using an iron-on adhesive underneath is a good idea. So I'm gonna show you how easy it is to do this stitch and how cool it looks. It really adds some great energy and some wonderful what's called surface tension to your design. So instead of just a plain straight edge you have all of this wonderful energy around. So again, free motion, free motion or a darning foot on your machine, feed dogs down and we're going to be actually herkeying and jerkeying this quilt back and forth in these very, very small little motions and basically making a free form zigzag. So we're just gonna move back and forth, back and forth across that raw edge. Some long lines, some shorter lines. Almost looks like an EKG reading. And when I get to the tip, I'm gonna change the direction and go side to side. And when I get to the opposite side, I'll go back up and down again. When I get to this indentation, I'm gonna go side to side and then back to up and down again. And then knot off and we're done. And look at how fabulous that leaf looks. So now we took a very plain leaf and dressed it up with a herky jerky and made it utterly fabulous. Give it a try, it's a lot of fun.