what are your favorite materials and techniques? I started out with Harriet Hargrave's freezer paper method and YLI nylon monofilament thread, but over the years I have experimented a lot.
For example, I started out with kitchen freezer paper. I developed a technique whereby I would trace once on a piece of freezer paper, then layer that on top of 5 additional pieces of blank freezer paper, iron around the edges to secure, then cut out along the traced line. This way I got 6 freezer paper patterns for only one tracing and one cutting.
Now I have an Accuquilt Go! and much prefer cutting applique shapes with dies whenever I can. While cutting freezer paper with the Go!, I decided to finally spring for some Jenkins freezer paper. Oh, my! I immediately loved that it came pre-cut and laid flat, meaning I didn't have to perform any prep for it on the Go! Decided that the extra cost for Jenkins was worth it to me, given my age and the savings in time and effort it made for me.
Then I discovered Beth Ferrier's Wash-Away Applique sheets. Now that's all I want to use. However, the price is becoming prohibitive. Looking back in my Amazon history, I see that I purchased a package of 25 sheets for $10.85 back in 2011. In November of 2016, the same package was $14.65. Yesterday when I looked, the same package was $19.28 on Amazon. I found it for $17.24 on the createforless website, but it's still pricey for what I have in mind -- a quilt with tons of applique on it. I would need so many packages, it would push the price of the quilt up quite a bit. So now I am thinking of experimenting to see if I can come up with my own fusible wash-away interfacing -- maybe by fusing MistyFuse to the back of a plain wash-away. I really don't want that extra work, but at some point a craft material is not worth its price.
Anyway, that's been my journey on freezer paper. I have had another, less productive journey, on glue. I did not like the glue sticks I tried, and discovered that Elmer's white school paste worked perfectly for me -- very fast for me to spread with a finger, was immediately tacky, yet allowed me to adjust the edges. I loved that stuff. And then they discontinued it. I have a stockpile, but it has dried out even with vacuum-sealing in my foodsaver, so it generally requires re-constituting with water. Now I am back to trying out different glue sticks, mostly for smaller items. I do like these glue dots a lot for larger pieces, such as the Go! butterfly pieces:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007VBXC38/
They are pricey, but worth it to me for larger pieces because they make them go so fast. However, the glue dots don't work as well for small pieces, hence the search for a glue stick.
I have run on long enough. What I am really wondering is what other freezer-paper-type machine applique quilters like. What have you found useful? I will detail the pros and cons of what I have tried if you will share the pros and cons of things you have tried.