Disaster or Not?

Regarding last week's post about freezer paper I got the following comment from Penny about her method of designing borders:
"I have also used a long pieces of freezer paper cut a little larger than needed then pencil marked for the exact size of borders needed for my Baltimore Album quilt. I then planned, designed and drew what I would applique on the border to match & complete quilt. After completing I then traced out the applique design to make freezer paper pattern pieces to use with the fabric I selected for border!" Thanks Penny.  Great idea!

Do you ever get so deep into creative mode that you begin to toss things around?  Nothing big, but the spool of thread misses the table and you have crawl under to find it.  The fabric scraps that are too big to throw away end up in heap on the bed or the floor.  You just don't take the time to maintain order.  I have a handy, little, hobby iron:

My handy, dandy, little iron

Now, I am a reasonably orderly person, but when I get into a project I can become a disaster, as happened a few days ago.  Take a look at the photo below.  I don't even have to explain my horror when I looked down and saw this.

Disaster strikes!

I love this little iron.  It has a handle I can grab ahold of, a sharply pointed tip, and it stays nice and hot.  It has a wonderful little stand that holds it well when it is hot as long as I set it down right, which I didn't.  I thought I did, but obviously wasn't paying close enough attention.  I sighed, saddened that the iron was ruined just when I really needed it.  The cutting mat is ancient, no great loss, but still plenty usable, and I have another.  I lived with my sadness for a day or two and then headed for the Internet, my go-to problem solver.  I found several sites that addressed the problem.  I read them and thought about them for a few days before I "bit the bullet" and tried it.  Here is the amazing result:

It looks like new!

The fix is very simple and only took about 10 minutes; and this is my TIP for the day.  First I heated the iron to the "warm" setting, which was just enough to melt the adhered plastic.  Then I grabbed my only plastic spatula and scraped the plastic off the iron.  Finally I unplugged and held the iron in ice water for a few minutes after which time I should have been able to pull off any residual plastic.  This last part didn't work so I heated the iron again, went over it with the spatula again, and finally wiped it with a thick pad of paper towel until I could no longer feel or see any lumps or bumps.  It was thick enough to prevent my burning my fingers.

My last step was to use Iron-off to clean the surface of the little iron.  I don't know if that is necessary, but I figured it can't hurt...and it didn't.  This stuff is a wonder and has cleaned away the gunk on lots of my irons.  Read the directions on the tube - very simple.

I am such a happy camper now!

Stitch some happy stitches this week and keep your hot iron off the plastic cutting mat.

Appliqué to Background

Appliqué can be applied several ways.  It can be sewed on by hand (needle turned), and within that category there are tricks using freezer paper, starch or glue.  The fabric can be fused or glued to the background and the edges sewn down with the machine.  Satin stitch done with a tight zigzag is common and looks lovely when done well.  There are many special stitches on machines today that can be used. 

TIP:  Experiment with the fancy stitches on your machine.  They work best with stabilizer under the fabric.

My favorite method is to use a fusible material, iron the appliqué to the background, and sew it down with a machine blanket stitch.  I trace all my appliqué pieces onto Soft Fuse IN REVERSE.  It stays soft.  It has paper on only one side, and that paper stays on until you want to take it off.  It is easy to pull off when you are ready.

First the designs are drawn IN REVERSE on the paper side of the fusible material.   If you are using fusible with two paper sides, read the directions for which side to use.

TIP:  I often squeeze all the designs that will be made from the same fabric together about ¼-½ inch apart so there is little waste, and iron the whole bunch to one piece of fabric without cutting the fusible apart first.  You don’t have to worry about grain on the appliqué.

TIP:  Did you get that?  The designs must be drawn on the paper of the fusible IN REVERSE of how you want them on the quilt.  A new habit to develop! 

Now I sit down with an audio book in the player and carefully cut out all the pieces.  Watching TV is OK too.  I like to get all of the cutting done first to get it out of the way.  What I really want to do is sew and I don’t care to stop in between to cut.

TIP:  I find it helpful to put all the cut appliqué for one background shape into an envelope, label it and put it, the original tracing paper drawings, and the background piece into a folder...one folder for each background shape and its appliqués.  Everything is labeled of course.  It is nice to be able to find it all together when I am ready to work on that part.

Finally, I tear the paper off, lay the appliqué in its predetermined spot and iron it to the background according to the directions of the fusible material.

TIP:  Is it hard to get the paper off before ironing to the fabric?  Use a pin to lightly score the paper in the center of the appliqué piece.  The paper will pop up and is easily grabbed.

TIP:  Use a heat resistant ironing sheet over the appliqué.  It will protect your iron from any AWOL fusible goo.

MAJOR BIG TIP:  reverse (design) + wrong (side fabric) = RIGHT.  Two negatives make a positive! In this case two wrongs make right.  

Why am I do adamant about reversing the design on fusible?  I made a whole quilt backwards one time.  That's why!