puzzled
 

So I am about to star a darlinh quilt with lots of applique, the instruction suggest I use a stabalizer on the back of the backround fabric, I have never done that, don't know what it is and am wondering if it will be fine if I just use my heat and bond and blanket stitch around. Any suggestions?

Would it be to keep the thread colors from showing thru to the like you would use in embroidery work?

I use paper honestly. If I'm doing a satin stitch I use two layers. It's cheap and works

I've done several quilts with a lot of applique on them. I prefer to machine stitch, raw edge, by using Pellon 805 Wonder-Under which is paper backed fusible. I trace my designs on the wonder under, iron it to my applique fabric, cut it out, iron it to my block (or other area), blanket stitch around it all... they turn out great, wear well, etc.

Certainly try a couple of different methods (make mug rugs with your examples) to find the one that works the best for you!

I have done at least 30 applique quilts using a fusible, and I hand stitch around them with Buttonhole stitch using Floss. They still look beautiful after several washings.

Do the stabilizers work OK if the fabrics are not prewashed? I'm just not a prewasher. :-)

Tartan is SO CORRECT. And yes, you don't have to buy anything, just use some cheap paper on the bottom that will be easy to tear.

What I do, instead of using paper or a stabilizer, is *heavily* starch the background fabric before cutting. I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo laundry starch and water, paint this solution onto the yardage with a large wall painting brush, wait a couple of minutes to make sure the starch has had time to penetrate the fiber, toss in the dryer, then iron with steam. After that I cut the background squares for the applique, always cutting about an inch bigger than the pattern states in case there is any shifting (although I haven't had any using starch, even when the edges are satin stitched; it's just my safety policy). Starch stabilizes the background fabric so the bias doesn't stretch as you are sewing around the appliques.

As others have mentioned, doing machine applique without the background stabilized almost always results in some distortion of the finished square, tunneling, etc.

Edit: The starch method works equally well on washed and unwashed fabrics.

I have used spray basting on back of applique in a pinch. Worked fine but I was doing larger pieces not really small ones. Have also used glue sticks on tightly woven fabrics. It holds just enough to blanket stitch down. Have not satin stitched any with these methods though.