appliqué ˌa-plə-ˈkā noun and verb
noun: a decorative design made of one material sewn over another
verb: sew on as a decoration
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The word appliqué has appeared in 36 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Dec. 5 in “In Ireland, Making Lace for the Love of It” by Sandra Jordan:
To make the veil, Ms. Daly tacked a paper pattern onto a layer of organdy and a layer of net, the veil’s body. To outline flowers and leaves, she used an appliqué technique, holding a cotton thread in place on the patterns and sewing tiny, close stitches across it, through the entire paper-fabric sandwich. She then selected from among the 15 stitches used by Carrickmacross makers to fill in the outlines.
Finally, Ms. Daly carefully cut away the paper pattern and any unwanted organdy, revealing the design on the net.
Knowing her lace, Rebecca also had requested some guipure openwork. That involved cutting the net out of the center of an appliquéd outline and creating a delicate lattice of stitches across the gap so there was, as Ms. Daly said, “nothing in between them but daylight.”
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