franc36

In the last three years, I have done a great deal of fusible appliqué. I use a machine blanket stitch and match the color thread to the piece being appliquéd. This does involve frequent thread changes; but I love the finished look. From a distance, you do not see the thread. I don't remember ever using invisible thread for the appliqué; but unless the quilt in for an infant. I use invisible thread for quilting around the appliqué. I do use a tear-away stabilizer when I do the blanket stitch. The appliqué pieces, I have used that come laser cut with the fusible, have been rather stiff. I would not enjoy hand stitching them down. If I ironed on a sheer fusible, hand sewing would be fine.

ManiacQuilter2

I do my applique also using a blanket stitch. Find a thread for each piece of fabric and you will see that the buttonhole stitch by machine doesn't show.

I would contact Craftsy because NO WHERE in the description said that the applique was to be done with fusible webbing. That is a lot of money to be spent on a kit. Maybe they can send you enough of the fabric so that you can needle turn the flowers.

joe'smom

I'm happy to say that the price of the kit when I bought it during the sale was quite a bit lower than the price now shown. They do list the laser cut appliques as part of the kit, so I'm wondering if 'laser cut' implies a fusible backing. Has anyone here ever bought laser cut pieces for applique that were not backed with fusible web?

AZ Jane

What do the instructions call for? I would follow the instructions until I know how the are going to work. As it is applique, you can remove and re-do if you don't like it. May I also vote for machine applique, this time.

joe'smom

The pattern instructions don't mention the appliques at all, except to say that the laser-cut applique kit is an optional purchase separately from the quilt kit. Apparently it was Craftsy's choice to include the laser-cut appliques (plus directions for fusing) with the quilt kit.

I am not good with machine quilting curves, and the thought of navigating around all those tiny curves on a machine is too daunting for me (plus, I do not have a blanket stitch on my 30+ yr. old machine), so I don't consider machine stitching an option. I will definitely try hand stitching the fusible to see if it's doable.

Bree123

It's hard to tell from the photo, but if I had to guess, I'd guess they used mono in a blanket stitch & that the white stitch line is actually the quilting line. Of course, there are some people that do quilting & attach applique all in one step so it's possible that's what they did, but I would really recommend against that if you don't want it to fray a lot. I, too, have an older machine (40 years old) and only have 3 stitch options so I do my applique by hand. So far, it seems to hold up quite well in the wash. I used 1/10" stitches with 1/10" between each stitch.

KLO

Not to belabor the point and not knowing that there were close-ups of the flowers, it is my impression that this was done the way I mentioned earlier that is discussed on McKenna Ryan's website. The pieces are fused and then sewn with a straight stitch just in inside the edge of each piece either before sandwiching or after. Then quilted normally, however you want. You can see in one of the close-ups that the echo quilting using white or cream thread actually ended up on top of at least one of the petals and the thread inside the petal looks like it is more than likely monofilament and definitely not the cream. (I could be wrong and have been in the past.) In the end, it is your quilt and you get to make it the way you can and want to do it. If the fusible has been ironed to the fabric pieces, you won't be able to take it off easily if at all. If you can get it off then you could still use the pieces for needle turn and they would just be a bit smaller than intended. If fusing is not your cup of tea (and you try handsewing and it doesn't work out), you could always try to sell the petal kit and opt for buying and cutting your own pieces with seam allowances for needle turning. I hope you can work this out to your satisfaction because it is a beautiful quilt.

Weezy Rider

I'm not sure I like the method, but one LQS would cut a pattern if you bought it on the Accuquilt with fusible backing.

What they also did was use very fine netting and lay it over the quilt or wallhanging, and machine quilt over that.

If you use any stitch besides a straight stitch, it does keep fabric from ravelling. Zig-Zag, blanket, pin, any overedge.

I heirloom sew, and have used the pin stitch to finish sleeve hems. Many washings and no ravelling. The pin stitch can be done by hand.

nanna-up-north

I'm a hand applique person as well. I'd never done any fusible until this summer when I made a R-b-R. There was no way I was going to try and needle turn all those tiny thin pieces. I didn't want to take the time. But I had major problems with the fusible. I satin stitched the edges because I wanted to be able to wash the quilt without fraying. The major issue I had was that the sticky from the fusible made my needle on my machine gummy and then the thread would break. Oh MY!! It was very frustrating. I pressed it a second time and that helped. But I had to use a cotton ball and keep wiping my needle down with rubbing alcohol and then, machine oil.

Someone told me that different fusible webbing will 'feel' different.... so I've tried a couple of different ones now. I like the heat and bond featherweight the best. .... least amount of problems with the needle getting gummy. I think I'd call the company you got the kit from to find out what kind of fusible they used.

I would NOT try to hand stitch through that stuff. If I were in your situation, I would call and see if they would send fabric to replace the fusible and do my normal needle turn. I know there are a lot of people that love fusible but I like needle turn the best. To me, it is more elegant..... fusible looks messy to me.

Okay, there's my opinion. I hope I didn't offend anyone. I just like needle turn the best. Although, I will do the fusible for next year's R-b-R. But, I'll buy the heat and bond featherweight instead of the other stuff.

Genden

I don't know what kind of fusible was used in the kit. I have been a dedicated needle turn appliquer. I was totally opposed to machine applique on principle. I had seen a lot of it I didn't like. Two years ago I finished a bed sized quilt that was total needle turn applique. It took me an entire year to complete and sometimes I was spending as much as eight hours in a day on it. I still will do needle turn for a little bit of applique, but never for a large amount. I bought a new sewing machine with a nice blanket stitch. I found a fusible called Soft Fuse that is so fine it is hard to tell the piece has been fused and I use silk finish Mettler thread to perfectly match each piece, Aurifil if it matches better. I have completed three quilts that are completely applique and one with an applique border. I use a very small and close blanket stitch. People who look at my quilts have to give them a very close inspection to determine if they are hand or machine appliqued. Again, I don't know what fusible was used. If it is fine and soft and doesn't gum up your needle, I think you might be happy with machine appluque.