Transforming orphan blocks into wearable art

Have you ever found yourself looking through your WIPs and UFOs and realized that you have a bunch of orphan blocks and not really a good idea for using them? It can't be just me :-)

This blog post is a guest post by the talented Kimya of Kon Korazon Designs. She has been transforming hoodies, sweaters, denim jackets, and all manner of other clothing with quilted designs, using reverse applique. In this blog post, she's going to show us how to use one of those orphan blocks to upcycle a sweatshirt that wasn't being worn anymore into a stylish and fun piece of clothing.

So if you have enough mug rugs, totes, and couch cushions - which is what I usually turn my orphan blocks into - give reverse applique a try for your next project. And the best thing is, you don't need any special equipment like a serger etc.

Kimya is the Maker‑in‑Chief at Kon Korazon Designs, where quilting, multilingual education, and sustainable creativity meet. As a pattern designer and textile artist, she weaves personal stories and custom design elements into her work, champions conscious making through imaginative reuse, and teaches the grounding art of slow stitching. Her work invites makers of all backgrounds and skill levels to play, explore, and reconnect through fabric, thread, and community.

Take it away, Kimya!

Transforming quilt blocks into wearable pieces of art

You did it!! You bought the pattern, you made a test block and you made the quilt [woohoo!!]. Now what? You have extra fabric, extra pieces, and possibly extra blocks!

In the quilting world we refer to single blocks – be they testers, left overs, or just one-off’s from a sew along – as ‘orphan blocks’. We often have grand plans to make more for another quilt, or gather them for swaps and new projects; but generally they sit in a pile, in all their glory, but mismatched in size, colour and design.

So what can you do with these lovely works of art so they can be enjoyed as much as the quilt itself?

In the past, I always tried to use extra blocks in my backing (that’s a whole other post in of itself!), as a label, or to create a coordinating pillow/table topper/etc.

Enter my latest love for reverse applique!! I have discovered the fun of using these blocks to upcycle hoodies and jean jackets that would have otherwise ended up hidden in the back of my closet (or worse, in a landfill!!).

So how exactly does a square piece of fabric merge itself into a piece of clothing without looking like you DIYed it with a glue gun?!

Follow along to find out….

How to transform a sweater

1. Materials needed

Orphan Block(s)
I used a sample block from the Scrappy Love quilt pattern and trimmed off a bit of the partial border from two sides to create a full border around the block. This gave me a bit more space to work with to quilt out the heart shape.

Batting the size of your block (or frankenbatting from scraps)
Fusible Interfacing or extra piece of fabric the size of your block (optional)
I used a piece of fabric larger than my block to create an outer border so that I could quilt the heart and create a second border around the heart.

Sweatshirt/Hoodie or other clothing item (pre-washed)
Polyester or cotton thread and matching bobbin thread
Fabric marking tool (chalk, pencil, or washable marker)
Straight stitch machine or hand-sewing needle
Sharp embroidery or appliqué scissors
Pins, clips

2. Preparation

A. I like to pre-quilt my block to a piece of batting and fabric with all layers facing me (see hint); this provides a little weight to the block, but can also serve as a guide when stitching the block to the sweatshirt. It also encases all your block seams providing a smoother feel on the inside of the sweatshirt.

Hint: Pay attention to your fabric direction here; unlike a traditional quilt sandwich where the batting sits in between the wrong sides of the fabric layers, you want everything facing right side up so that the right side of the fabric peeks through your cut-outs.

If you don’t want to pre-quilt the block, you can skip straight to part 2B here.

B. Turn your sweatshirt inside out and determine the placement area on the front/side/back of the sweater. You can place it on the sleeve as well if you have smaller blocks, but these can be harder to finagle under the machine needle – so save this for your next sweatshirt (yes, you will want to make more!)

Carefully pin the block in place, placing it with the wrong side of the sweatshirt facing the right side of the block. Make sure that the block is flat against the sweatshirt – and that you are not pinning it to other layers of the sweatshirt

Hint: you can place a piece of cardboard inside the sweatshirt or use your hand to guide the underside of the pins

3. Marking

If you have not pre-quilted the block, you can now mark your sewing lines on the back side of the block using your preferred marking tool.
Ensure the lines are smooth and continuous; these lines will serve as the stitching guide.

4. Stitching

If hand-sewing, you may wish to use a hoop to keep your fabric taught and prevent shifting.
If your sewing machine has a free-arm, remove the tray or extension table to access this so that you can slide the extra bits of your sweatshirt under the arm and away from the sewing area.
Stitch directly on the marked outline using a straight stitch.
Recommended stitch length: 2.0-2.5 mm.
Maintain even speed and tension to avoid distortion. REMEMBER there are pins, so be careful not to sew over these!
Backstitch or tie off threads at the start and end.

Hint: Since you are working with the sweatshirt inside out, remember that your bobbin thread is what will be on the front of the garment.

Hint: If you want to work with the right side of the garment, you can also draw your sewing lines/design on tear-away interfacing and sandwich the sweatshirt between the interfacing (on the outside) and the quilt block (on the inside). This is a great method if you are using a patchwork block without an explicit design that you are following, or just some extra fabric.

5. Cutting the “Window” to the Block

Turn the garment right-side out.
Using small, sharp scissors (or your seam ripper tip), CAREFULLY create an initial snip inside the stitched area.
Continue to (carefully) trim away only the top layer (that’s the sweatshirt), staying approximately 2–3 mm inside the stitch line.
Avoid cutting the block fabric underneath.

6. Edge Refinement

Inspect the cut edge for uniformity.
Maintain a consistent margin for a clean finish.
For a distressed effect, gently stretch or roughen the cut edge.

Hint: if it looks like the fabric might fray easily past your stitch line, you can sew a second stitch line at 1.5-2.0mm

Since this is a kids hoodie, and likely to need lots of washes, I used a white thread for my stitch lines at 2.5mm and then added a secondary stitch line at 1.5mm in black on either side of the white one. My white bobbin thread pulls through a little bit, but once the design is cut out and the edges fray this was unnoticeable.

7. Finishing

Press the appliqué from the wrong side using low to medium heat.
Check for loose stitches or shifting layers; reinforce if needed with smaller stitch (1.5-2.0mm)
Trim excess block fabric on the inside, leaving at least a 1–1.5 cm allowance.
If you did not quilt your piece or add a piece of fabric, you can iron fusible interfacing to the backside of the block now; this will enclose all the loose threads, seams and stitch lines to provide added reinforcement and smoother feel against the body.

Want to download this tutorial in a printable format? Hop on over to Kimya's website at konkorazondesigns.ca and sign up for her newsletter, and you'll be sent the "Love Your Orphan Blocks" PDF straight to your inbox so you can print it out and keep it handy in the sewing room. No need to scroll with the foot on the pedal ;-)

Other examples of reverse applique upcycling

Here are a couple more sweatshirts that I upcycled using the same reverse applique method. The pumpkin uses a scrappy quilt block as the background, with the pumpkin shape stitched over it free-hand.

The heart on this sweatshirt is the small version of Rays of Love, which is a foundation paper pieced quilt block that works very well for this method, too. I even added a few extra hearts to the sleeves using the fabrics from the heart block.

What do you think, will you give this a try?