Cowboy Shirt

With this year's Home on the Range BOM, my intent is to show a different way to do something each month.  Last month, I used the fusible web backing from my cowboy boot appliques as stencils to stitch around when machine quilting a block.  This time, I traced the cowboy shirt line drawing on an old sheet of typing paper (remember that thin paper we typed on before the days of computers and ink-guzzling printers?)  I was going to use the drawing I'd printed on inkjet printer paper, but when I spied the typing paper in my sewing shed with my art supplies, I thought it might tear more easily.  I just traced the image rather than walking 100 feet back to my trailer to run the typing paper through my printer.  (Someday, I'm going to get a cheap printer set up in my shed and save myself some time running back and forth.)

After tracing the image, I cut away the excess paper, pinned it to my Tonganoxie 9-Patch block sandwich, then stitched on the lines just like when doing foundation paper piecing.  The only drawback to this method is pulling off the paper when finished - just like paper piecing, it can be a tedious pain!

 Here it is with half the paper removed.  The paper looks much like a tiny white shirt!  I'll have to try this as an applique someday using white batiste or some other sheer fabric.

Paper is now completely removed.  This method went fast for quilting one 7" block.  If doing a lot of blocks, I'd want a paper that was even easier to remove like the disolvable kind.  As a 7" block, the Tonganoxie 9-Patch is so small and busy that I didn't try the shirt as an applique.  The appliques can always be used on another block, though.