applique catastrophe...need help...really messed up here
 

I'm making a bridal quilt for my granddaughter and am using the fusible-applique technique. I live in a very rural area so walmart is my only shop for such things. All they had was the Heat-and-Bond lite.

Well...everything was going alright and I was at the bond-it-to-the-background stage, when I discovered that I hadn't put the fusible on the back of one applique.

So I haul out the fusible and cut out the pattern and attach it to the applique (which was rather large). When I picked it up I discovered that I hadn't moved the roll of fusible away from me far enough. I had ironed it to my ironing pad AND to my background piece that I'd been working on. WAAAAAHHHHH!!!

The ironing pad I can live with...but my beautiful background block (20 " square) with all the other appliques on it already has the big piece of plastic-looking stuff stuck on the tail of it.

I'm hoping that some of you have done this before and can tell me how to get it off. I've tried peeling it off...scratching it off with my fingernail...scraping with the edge of the scissors...no go.

HELP!!!

Please don't tell me there is no solution. :( 20 inches and all that work down the drain...how can I live...just kidding on that part...but you know what I mean. <sign>

<sign>Put your iron on its highest steam setting and hold it over the area. Don't actually touch, just steam it from above. Steam it for about 20 seconds and then use a Popsicle stick to peel the Heat and Bond off. Hope this helps! And I am looking forward to seeing other replies :)
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I'm going out on a limb here, but I was wondering if you could heat it up with the iron by ironing it hot with an applique pressing sheet ontop of the "glue", and then scraping it off after it was hot and softened...I have no experience with this problem, mind you, just using my thinking cap...if the steaming from above doesn't work...

the above suggestions may be the trick---if a little still adheres it will wash away when (if) you launder the quilt when it is all done. i would be afraid to wash it before completing the quilt- but the fusable will wash away.

It sounds like you're telling me that the plastic part dissolves when washed???

If so, if the re-heat doesn't work, do you think that I could just rinse that part (it's on the background and not on any applique) with water and not the whole block? do you think that would work...that would keep me from making the whole top, with that still in there, and then washing it.

Can you cover that area with applique?

I've never known Heat 'n Bond lite to wash away. I would heat it with the iron held above it and start scraping again. I've had that work with small areas using my fingernail.

If it's a large area, I doubt that you will be able to get enough of the Heat 'n Bond off. I would just re-do the block.

lay a brown paper bag on top of it and press/heat it with the iron - pull up the paper while it's still warm and some of the fusible should stick to it. Move to clean portion of the paper bag and do it again . Keep doing this as long as you need to. Only use the clean/unprinted side of the paper. Haven't used this specifically with Heat n Bond but have used trick with other fusibles and it worked. You might try this on a scrap of fabric first to make sure it will work without staining the fabric...tho I;ve never had any problem in that area. I use this same technique to pick up fusible that's on my ironing board my mistake.

Maybe you could purposely iron some of the same stuff (heat n bond) on a scrap piece of the same background and then start experimenting with the "sample" instead of the "real thing" to see what might work. Just and idea. Good luck.