Ironing padded applique block???
 

Hello everyone,

After hand-sewing 72 "berries" down, I have finished my first block of a new quilt. The berries are padded inside and everything else has padding attached to the back of the block.

My problem is that all of the sewing and hand manipulation has really caused wrinkles on the block. I tried to iron it with my small travel iron and the iron was still too big to get around the berries.

My questions: 1) Does the block really need to be ironed before quilting? 2) Will the quilting remove or lessen the wrinkles? 3) Should I have put the block in a hoop before I hand-sewed all the berries on? 3) Should I try using the very small Clover mini-iron?

I would be grateful for suggestions on what to do now on this block, and/or how to minimize the wrinkling on the next block.

Thanks!

If you have a nice fluffy towel you could place your appliqué face down on, maybe place a damp cloth over your padded backing and see if pressing from the back might help the front, and shouldn’t flatten the berries, try one first? Your padded backing might be too thick for the heat to get through though.

I agree with this post.

Just have to say this....OH WOW!! It will be beautiful when finished.

I don't have a good answer but I will second the "wow!" Your block is gorgeous!

Definitely press from back. Maybe stiffen next block with Best Press or something. or use the lightest available fusible interfacing.

Oh, this is exactly why I love this board and all the wonderful people who share their knowledge and experience here! I would never have thought to iron it from the back side! For a quilter, I seem to be incapable of figuring things out on my own, but I enjoy the process anyway. For all of you with a mom, or sister, or aunt that is a sewist of any kind that taught you early, be sure to give them a big hug! It is just not possible for a class or tutorial or seminar to teach you everything that someone looking over your shoulder fondly can do.

What you said makes perfect sense! I am looking forward to putting into practice next week. Thanks so much!

Another clever person, thanks for the reinforcement!

Thank you for the kind compliments!

I will! I thought at first the interfacing might stiffen the fabric too much when sewing the berries down, but I tried it on a small scrap with a berry and couldn't tell much of a difference in difficulty (fortunately!)

I have already attached fusible featherweight interfacing to the next block, before I could forget. Thanks for your help!

What a beautiful block.

This is just one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. I don’t think I could ever be capable of such a feat. This is beautiful.

Beautiful block.

One can buy a wool pressing mat that is about 1/2"inch thick- might work.

Did you use the vicki Welsh method to prepare your fabrics before cutting them? it would be heartbreak8ng to have any of those fabrics bleed or put out excess dye when/ if the item is ever washed.

I have had fabrics of every color from different manufacturers have dye issues. I also learned that a quick wash was not adequate to remove some excess dyes.

I am not an advocate of trying to "set" the dye of a commercially dyed fabric. The color is fast or it isn't.

I gently wash finished quilts in cool to warm water. I knowingly Subject fabric to hot water only once before cutting it.

The reason for this monolog - i took a hand applique class and bought moda fabrics in similar colors that you have in your block.. the yellow was the one that had the excess dye in it.

BEAUTIFUL work ! ! !