These are tea towel gifts so I wasn't into washing, or wetting them all. The big pain is picking the left behind stabilizer out of the stitches after tearing it away. Also this is when the stitches break, tearing the stabilizer out. When I satin stitch appliques I have used Sulky Totally Stable. I use regular thread for blanket stitching and satin stitching. Never had a problem before with applique, only the blanket stitching. I have the speed set at slow on my Janome when appliqueing.