Thread: Have Your Fusible Applique Quilts Held Up to Wear & Washing?

Hi--I have been stockpiling fusible applique quilt kits, mostly Edyta Sitar's beautiful patterns and Silhouette forms, for a while now.

I would like to start making one or more of her kits but I am concerned about how well the finished bed quilt (as opposed to a wallhanging) holds up to wear and tear and washing. I assume as long as I satin stitch all the Silhouette applique pieces, the applique will hold up, but IMHO it's not the prettiest of applique stitches and I would like to vary the stitching and use blanket and tiny zigzag stitches as well. Laundry Basket Quilts has recently come out with an alternative to the Silhouettes pieces called Snippets, which include a 1/4 inch seam allowance to turn under. I think I would much prefer them to fusible pieces, but they weren't an option when I was buying these kits. It's too expensive for me to consider rebuying applique pieces with a seam allowance and my hands aren't really up to making them from scratch even if I could find enough of the right fabrics.

How satisfied are you with fusible applique methods? How have you used any of those beautiful laser cut shapes of fabric and fusible out there? Some of the pieces are quite intricate and delicate. What do you think? TIA

I don't have a clue, but am interested as I would like to make a couple. I asked a friend and she said she doesn't wash hers very often.

You can use a blanket stitch with invisible thread on the top. Test out the stitch first to make sure you get the right width and length. This will hold up

I have used the buttonhole stitch on my appliques since they do look so much nicer but I give most of my quilts away so I assume that they have held up OK. Make sure you properly read the instruction on the fusible because they vary from one product to another. You want to have good adhesive.

Originally Posted by mshollysd

I made a baltimore album quilt with fusible and buttonholed stitched with it. It has been washed a few times and still looks fantastic. My thoughts is as long as you make sure your edges are attached you should be just fine.

I just do fusible and then run a 2.2 straight stitch about 1/8 off an inch off the edge. I have seen quilts that I made and where washed and they look great. I thought they would fray but they had not.

Had similar concerns but i do needle turn applique, during research i did find this http://theboredzombie.com/2014/02/bu...e-testing.html

Originally Posted by kindleaddict63

Had similar concerns but i do needle turn applique, during research i did find this http://theboredzombie.com/2014/02/bu...e-testing.html

Nice article. Right now I am working on an applique quilt for my grand son and I know his quilt will get a lot of washing. I was thinking about needle turning it but this article plus recently seeing some of my older quilts back after washing and use make me feel good about going ahead and using any of the fusible and stitching methods.

you do not have to do satin stitch, I use just a small zigzag, pretty close but not satin, you will have a little fuzz around the applique but it will not come off and looks perfectly fine.