fabrichore

Hello all, I want to applique on kitchen towels, but the back of the towel will have only stiching, can I use a dryer sheet to put on back side of towel and do I need to cut away or could I leave on.

shequilts

I'd certainly cut it away. Kitchen towels see a lot of laundry time, and you'd just end up with a "frill" on the backside.
Karen

MadQuilter

Why don't you get some tear-away stabilizer? It will help you do a good job and then you can rip it off.

fabrichore

I am attempting to not spend money and I read on a how to guide that I could use the dryer sheet and then cut away or leave on...so that is why I was questioning on wether to leave on, (couldn't hurt and it would smell nice) LOL

Prism99

What I do for applique is heavily starch the background for stability; then I don't need to use a stabilizer underneath. Haven't tried it on towels, but I think it would be worth a try (and inexpensive).

Here's my method. Mix a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water. "Paint" the solution on with a large wall-painting brush until the fabric is saturated. Toss in dryer. Iron with steam.

Other types of starch could be substituted as long as it makes for a very heavy starching.

Candace

Any time you have to "cut away" stabilizer on the back of a towel you risk cutting the loops or material. Be very careful. That's why I'd use a tear away.

grann of 6

I agree with this statement. Also, dryer sheets lose their stability after a while. I am afraid you will have a mess. I would suggest trying your method out on a scrap of similar fabric first. I do a lot of towel embroidering and always use tear away. And if you are using terry towels you should have wash away stabilizer on top to keep the stitches from sinking into the terry. My suggestion with machine embroidery is never to try to shortcut unless you don't care how the finished product looks in the end.

fabrichore

Thank you all, I am using flour sack towels, I don't know if that makes a difference then terry, I will see about getting some tear away stabilzer though, I definitely do not want a mess...

Another question if you don't mind, when I was attempting to machine applique I used the zig zag stitch and when I cam e to a corner (teddy bear applique) it started to get messy so I stopped and tore out before going further, so then I started hand stitching and it does not look good to me, because I used a web fusing and did not cut out pattern before on fusing so it would only fuse the edges, it is stiff, but too bad can work with, but I would really like to do the zig zag stitch but not sure what I am doing wrong when lifting foot and turning and stitching...any suggestions on what the best way is too do machine or hand....new at appliqueing, well actually still new period...

grann of 6

When zigzagging around an applique, make sure your zigzag is fairly close together and not too wide, then when getting to a corner, stop with needle down, and pivot, then resume stitching; you should get a nice result that way. also when using fusible web, draw your design on the paper backing, cut it out about 1/4" outside your lines, then fuse it to your applique fabric, let cool for a couple minutes, then cut it out on the line, remove the paper backing and fuse to your project. Any other questions feel free to PM me.

fabrichore

thank you Grann... :lol: