MeadowMist

I'm appliqueing for the first time and am already stuck on the second step of the directions. It says place pattern pieces upside down (on the fusible webbing) so that the ink side is facing the paperbacked fusible webbing and trace them onto the paper side of the fusible webbing. Then do a rough cut outside the lines. My question - which side is the paper side of the fusible webbing?

Tartan

Usually one side is smooth and papery and the other side has texture or webs of the fusible.

MeadowMist

Thank you Tartan. I can see that one side is smoother than the other. It's the other side that gets fused to the fabric, right?

ckcowl

Draw on the paper, fuse the rough side to wrong side of fabric, cut out on your lines, peel off the paper, fuse to your background or what ever the appliqué is being fused to.

Prism99

Yes. The smooth side is the paper.

MeadowMist

Oh wow! I'm learning a lot here. After I fuse the webbing to the fabric I remove the paper? I've been practicing (good thing I guess) and I haven't been removing the paper. I've been appliqueing the paper and fabric both to the background fabric. oops!!

MeadowMist

Wait a minute . . . . I just tried peeling the paper off and it does not peel. Am I missing a piece of the puzzle?

Prism99

It helps to have the paper warm when removing it. Try warming up the applique again with the iron (does not need to get super hot!) and then remove the paper while it is still warm.

My sister did the same thing with her applique -- appliqued both the fusible and the paper to her quilt. When I machine quilted her top, I just left the paper in and now, after a few washes, no one would ever know she did it that way. It is better, however, to remove the paper!

MeadowMist

I just watched an applique video on youtube so now I get what is supposed to be happening, I guess I should have done that before I even started!

But what is supposed to happening is definitely not happening over here. There is no way I can peel the paper off in one nice easy piece. At best it comes off in tiny tiny pieces, but the majority does not come off at all. The few spots in which I have been able to peel something off do not fuse to new fabric when I try doing that. Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong? Are there different kinds of fusible interfacing - oh, I think I figured it out!!! is there a difference between fusible interfacing and fusible webbing? I must have bought the wrong stuff. Now what? I can't start over. I have the appliques stuck to the fabric and my next step was to cut out the pieces and then stitch them on. Dang, feel like I wasted the last 8 hours.

Prism99

What brand of fusible did you buy? Someone else posted recently about having the paper come off in tiny pieces when she first started. I will see if I can find that thread.

Edit: I found the reference, but it was to Printed Treasures:
Need help with Printed Treasures
and the followup:
Printed Treasures Wonderful Customer Service

Although it's possible you have some bad fusible (or old fusible), more commonly this problem comes from user error. When I have had difficulties removing the paper, reheating the fusible with an iron has always softened the fusible and made the paper removal easier. However, I suspect that if a too-hot iron is used and/or the fusible is heated for too long at high temperature, this also may make the paper hard to remove.

As was mentioned in one of the above threads, you can soften the paper with water and then rub it off. Or you might want to just leave the paper in and trust that it is going to disintegrate eventually in the wash. With my sister's quilt, the applique with the paper in was rustly and made noise, and was a little stiff, before I quilted through it. After quilting and washing it was much better, and after a couple of washings the paper could no longer be detected even though I knew where it was.