Hi all -

I'm working on some costumes for Alice in Wonderland. I'm making the card costumes which consist of a piece of muslin folded over (to create more thickness and blocky-ness) and a head hole cut into the top. For the cards, I'm using fusible web to fuse the spades on for their card number, and put a heart with a crown on the back. The fabric is satin (NOT my choice).

I've fused the hearts onto the muslin. I've been trying to sew around the edges of the hearts, but it's ripping apart the fabric. Since I only need the costumes to last until Oct 4, I'm thinking that I might skip sewing the edges to save the look of the costume.

What are your thoughts on that idea? Should I sew around all the edges? Or just leave them and pray they last for 4 weeks (after threatening the actors with death and/or dismemberment if they abuse the costume)?

I'm all for threatening! but then I work in a middle school. LOL
Rose Hall

What type of stitch are you using to sew around the hearts and spades?

I'm using a straight stitch. When I went close to the edge, it was fraying the fabric, so I moved further in (prob about 1/8") and since it's satin, it shows. It does an almost miniature fringe look that looks cool, but not for this.

I know I'm supposed to use a blanket stitch, with the majority of it off the fused piece, but I tried once and it just made an awful mess, so I go with a straight stitch. I did a smaller stitch length to control it better.

You might try to use a wide zig-zag stitch. But if the fusible web has been ironed down tight enough, it should last quite a while.

As a newbie, I have such limited knowledge, so I may have misunderstood your question.

Last week I was trying to applique and used the satin stitch with a tear-away stabilizer and found that to be very helpful. Maybe that would work for you . . .

I'll try the wide zig-zag stitch. I'm concerned that no matter how far away I get the stitch from the edge, the satin will still act weird. I've done my straight stitch method on cotton fabric with fusible and it worked beautifully. As long as I'm not right at the edge, no fraying, no issues, perfect. It's just this dang satan... errr, satin, mistype there :D

I've definitely ironed it well, so I'm thinking I might tell them to treat it nicely and repair if needed, rather than get so annoyed with the fraying satin....

I would just skip the stitching if I didn't care about the longevity of the costume. Don't stress out on throw away stuff.

A blanket stitch won't pucker as much as a satin stitch might. sew the straight line right next to the applique, and the little stitch that goes to the side, goes into the applique. I use this stitch all of the time and never have fraying problems, and this stitch goes rather quickly, too.

What type of fabric are you using?

I have used cottons, muslin, satin, denim, polyblends, scraps of fabrics of unkinown origins....
The main thing is NOT to sew on the very edge of the applique, that is where it wants to fray. Sew right next to it and then the stitch that goes over will hold down the appliqued edge and keep it from fraying.

You could give this a try on some scraps and see if it will work for you.

Thanks amma :)

Have you used fabric glue. Most modern satin is polyster and doesn't take well to the heat needed for fusing. There are lots of fabric glues out there. Good Luck

Next time say you will stencil the design on the costume, not sew it on. :lol:

You may be on to something there!!! Lots of fabric paint out on the market now!!! :wink: :D :D

I would have started differently but since you have gotten this far I would run a bead of glue around the edge of the fabric and let it dry before doing the zigzag around each piece. If you run into this next time I would do the reverse appliqué method for the shapes.

Lastnight I had a dream about the play Alice In Wonderland and all the costumes were terrific! LOL Don't worry!
could you just hand stitch a blanket stitch around those unruly parts?

I too had to make capes once for volleyball w/satin, shiny and glitter fabrics...I too ran into the same problem...I used wonder under...and, left it as is....they are still together:)If you just don't feel good about leaving the edge as is...and sewing is not an option...try just a thin bit of matching acylic paint in a tube on the very edge...:)Wonder Under is my choice of fusing! I just used some pellon....it was a baaaad idea! I don't know if it was old or what...but, once pattern was ironed on to the back of of fabric....I could not seperate the paper off the backing to apply elsewhere....it was terrible!! just an fyi...Skeat (Or could try tear away stabilizer...which might be a bit much w/that fabric)

I will definitely keep that in mind if it starts to fray!

What I did was iron it (a few times...) and leave it sans stitching. We're also under a time constraint (show opens on Thursday) and the costumer dropped this in my lap last week (don't know if I mentioned I made 7 of them). I told the actors to play nicely with the costume and I'm just going to check them to make sure they're not fraying/doing anything I don't want. If they do, I think the acrylic paint would be perfect.

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions!

Oh, and I will post pictures as soon as my camera's charged :mrgreen: