are you using felt for your appliques???
if so, no turn under is used. the felt does not fray and is used without any turn under allowance added. needle turn applique is done with regular quilting cottons; the beauty of using wool felt is so you do not have to turn anything under. i use freezer paper templates with wool/felt, cut the pieces exact and stitch down either using a blanket stitch-decorative stitch or a regular straight stitch just depending on the finished look i want.

I will try to describe, without pictures, how to do small pieces.
My camera is out of service, or I would post pics.

When I do needleturn, I make a pattern for the piece out of freezerpaper and press it to the RIGHT side of the fabric, draw around the pattern with your marking pencil, then remove the freezer paper. So, you have the piece marked on your fabric and now you are ready to cut it out.

Normally, with a larger piece, you would cut the piece out with a 1/8 inch seam allowance. But with a tiny piece, if you did that, you would not be able to handle the piece, pin it in place, etc. So what you will do is cut it out with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Using the 1/2 inch seam allowance pin the piece in place on your block. Pin on one side of the piece only, like the bottom or the top. Now, trim the other side, including around the curves and corners, to 1/8 inch seam allowance and applique that portion to the block turning under just past the mark, so it is not seen.

When you have one side down, remove the pin, trim the rest of the seam allowance to 1/8 inch. You can also go under the part that you have stitched down and trim it back very close to the stitching. Finish appliqueing the piece.

This takes a little practice, but once you have done it, you will be able to use the technique often in your needleturn travels.

I've got a project started (only 9 months of sitting on the shelf) that have deer with antlers....the antlers intimidate me, too!!! I found that making the 1/4" seam allowance smaller than normal helped....and using very tiny stitches, too.

thanks JCQuilts! That explanation makes good sense even without pictures! I am not the original poster, but have had a tough time with the smaller pieces (such that many times I just edit them off LOL).

Thanks for sharing!

Same over here, thank you very much! A great idea to needleturn one side with a 1/4" seamallowance and trim after finishing. I really have the ambition to do it with cotton fabric.
Granny

I haven't done many small pieces of needleturn yet. But on a few and I certainly recommend for deer antlers using ultrasuede (true not one that can fray on the edges). You just cut the shape you want and then applique - no turning under and you can make sharp points since it doesn't fray. I am in a small applique group and they have been using ultrasuede for years. Hope this helps. If you have any questions on this send me a pm.

You are very welcome. I love needleturn applique and love to teach it. Let me know if you have other stumbling blocks.

thanks for that makes alot of sense will have to try it out - I do alot of applique so will be very useful usually avooid anything with tiny pieces