Cathy M

I personally think that Heat n Bond was created by the devil himself to capture and keep people in he**... I have used steam a seam 2 lite and had great luck in applique projects.

vicki reno

The problem may be a combination of wrong size needle for your project as well as the thread. If you are not using machine embroidery thread and have access to some, try that. If the needle gets gummed up, try wiping it down witha small alocohol swab--those little things that come in first aid kits. You may have to try switching out the neddles--use several maybe and then wipe all of them down at once. That would be faster than constantly pulling out the same needle to give it a wipe down. I switched to a product called fine fuse. It is more trouble because it has no paper backing and you will need a teflon pressing sheet so it doesn't stick to the iron. Iron it to the wrong side of a piece of fabric a little bigger than the size you want and then cut it down to size. It is then ready to fuse to the background piece and then stitch into place. It is lighter in weight than the other stuff and doesn't gum up the needle. I do mostly applique so I try to always have a few packs on hand. It is not cheap. about $3.00 for a pkg 23" wide by maybe 36" long, but if it eliminates the aggravation--well worth it to me.

Quilting Aggi

I like using the Sulky Tear Away Stabilizer... no glue to gum up the needle and easy to use and great results. I also make sure my thread is in the vertical position not horiztonal as it gives me better results. When its in the horiztonal position ,the thread tends to twist and will eventually break. I also use the Schmetz embroidery needles.

Hope that helps
Andrea

Madelyn

I guess I would be considered an "old fogey"! I still prefer to applique and embroider by hand. Somehow, doing it on the machine just isn't personal enough for me. Besides, I don't have all that trouble with the needles and fusing, etc. Just me and the fabric and my needle, and my recliner! ;)

Madelyn

Quilting Aggi

Madelyn
I much prefer hand quilting to machine any day too, but sometimes I like to take out the machine and play with some of my fancy threads!

Shadow Dancer

Did you use "Heat n Bond" Lite? There are two kinds, Ultra and Lite, the Ultra is not for machine sewing, and will gum the needle up, or worse break the needle. I have a whole whack of the Ultra, ordered some and they sent me the wrong type, so it's sitting rolled up under my ironing table because they were going out of business and I couldn't send it back.

The Lite is what you use for applique you want to stitch. It's the purple label, not the red. :) I use the Lite all the time and have stippled my applique, top stitched it, did blanket stitch around it and never had a problem. :)