I love batiks for needle turn applique. I can sew on tiny things without the fabric unraveling. Admittedly, I usually turn the edges under first, with my fingers, then pin things where and how I need them to be; I only leave the pins in until I'm ready to stitch ... when I remove the pins, the edges stay turned under and I can stitch quickly and easily.

Nothing is cheating in quilting as long as it works and you're happy. I depend a lot on Elmers washable school glue to hold down things until I get to the sewing machine. A little dab will do ya.

There is no cheating in quilting. There are no quilt police! It is your quilt and you can do it your way. That's not to say that we can all use some help from time to time in making our quilting and handwork turn out a little bit better. This from the woman who has not sewn a stitch today and is still on the computer!

On this same note, Pearl of P3 designs uses a corn starch mixture for her applique pressing. It is worth checking out her method on P3designs.com. She is also giving away a BOM that is to absolutely die for! (look under shopping) Wish I had that much quilting ambition. And, no, I'm not associated with Pearl in any way except I love her work.

The "real" batiks are supposedly washed by the manufacturer in very hot water in order to set the dyes. At least this is my understanding. Thus, shrinkage and tighter weaver. The softer ones are batik prints.

Appliqueing with the real stuff is difficult for sure. Just wait until you attempt to hand quilt. Even more so . . . .

I needle turn batiks and love it. I didn't know any better as that was the 1st project I tried. I use YLI silk thread. Works for me. Good luck:)

I like using Batiks for applique. I always wash them before I start and I use silk thread with VERY small stitches.

I also recommend a very fine sharp needle as well as Thread Heaven to treat the thread. It also helps prevent knotting.

I also use a very fine needle to do any work where I want my stitches hidden. It can sometimes be a challenge to get it threaded but worth the effort because the end result is nearly invisible stitches because you can pick up just a thread or two of the fabric with it. I also try to run needle and thread inside along the fold of the applique and bring my needle out right at the fold and then catch the base fabric a little under the fold of the applique piece. This also really helps hide the stitches. Batik I've found really varies in stiffness and the stiffer the fabric the more challenging it is to get it to fold the way you want it to especially on curves and points.

Thank you for all of the helpful hints.