Originally Posted by Marcia
Hi Wendy
When you are making your applique pieces you need to draw them on the fusible, cut out AROUND the outside of the shape, iron it onto the fabric, then cut ON the line of the applique. This way the sticky is all the way to the edge of the shape. This cuts down on fraying.
My daughter was having a fraying problem with applique and I found out she was cutting the shape out of the fusible and then ironing it onto the fabric and cutting the fabric.
I hope this helps too.
I love doing machine applique. When I first started out, I was making the same mistake as Marcia's daughter. Regarding buttonhole vs satin stitch: I rarely use sating stitch, Most of the time I use a combo of Buttonhole st and small zig zag. I prefer the look of buttonhole st, but I will use the small zig zag on the smaller applique pieces where it might be tricky to go around in the buttonhole. I've even used some of my decorative stitches around the edge ...... leaves and flowers look very nice when secured down with a decoratice stitch. Have fun with it!