mtkoldra

I am working on a "piano quilt', which will have a large piano appliquéd in the center. I did not use fusible interfacing under the whole piece, just few in few points, enough to stabilize it in place. The black fabric is batik and as you can see it is fraying a lot. Not sure what to do, should I try to trim the fraying or maybe my stitches are not dense enough. Any advice or points from You, more experienced quilters? thank you

Tartan

Batiks don’t fray as much as regular cotton but I would try trimming the frays. I usually do a buttonhole stitch along the edge of appliqués.

NZquilter

I would try either a button hole stitch or a heavy satin stitch.

ragamuffin

I done a quilt for my daughter's kitchen for her first house. Now that she washed it the edges are fraying. I plan to
do a zigzag stitch with clear nylon to stop the fraying. It was hand quilted 20 years ago. I hope to save it.

JustAbitCrazy

I would trim the frayed threads and go over the appliques again with a tighter zigzag.

Onebyone

I learned my lesson! This is why I always sew a backing on the applique piece, turn, then sew in place. I would trim the edges, heavily starch and press. Then sew a dense stitch so every edge is covered.

Geri B

Would fray check work? On large raw edge I "window" the wonder under to ease the stiffness.

Ariannaquilts

Would this have happened had you used fusible Web under the applique? I have never appliquéd batik fabric so I don't know, I know that I just made a wall hanging completely using applique and none frayed I think because I did use the fusible?

nativetexan

fray check gets stiff so wouldn't be good on the whole applique. I use it on the thread on buttons of my blouses. the thread is usually the first thing to go and buttons afterward.

ArtsyOne

From what I can see, you used a zig-zag and the fabric is fraying from between the stitches. If possible, I'd go back over it with a satin stitch. Or - if you're really ambitious and it really bothers you, I'd remove the applique and convert it to needle-turn or the dryer-sheet method.