aeble

I've bit the bullet and my daughters' mermaid quilt is under way. It's my first time raw edge appliquing on something that will be washed (and fairly often at that).

Do you wonderful ladies (and gentlemen) have any suggestions for me? I've used Heat N Bond Lite for the fusable, and now I have to wrap my head around what stitch to use and what thread. I have a horizon 7700, so there is no shortage of stitch options.

Barb_MO

I like the buttonhole stitch.

lynnie

I do either the buttonhole (heirloom) or a close zig zag. I'll use whatever thread I have in the color I want. sometimes I match, sometimes I outline in black. once you get good, you could go either way. show us what you do. good luck and have fun

Tartan

It depends on what fabric you used for the applique. If you used batiks, they fray less so a lighter stitch would be fine like a buttonhole stitch. If it is regular quilting cotton, they are going to fray more. A buttonhole stitch is not going to hold a fabric that is going to fray a lot and us washed often. I think I would use a decorative stitch that is mostly on the applique fabric, like a feather stitch?

thimblebug6000

I usually use a satin stitch on my raw edge appliqué and I also use Heat'n Bond lite. I don't like the look of loose threads that happen when I use the buttonhole stitch.

Bree123

You could always do a satin stitch or other denser decorative stitch, but then you probably should also get some tear-away stabilizer to adhere to the back of your background fabric.

Doggramma

I use my free motion quilting foot and zip around the edges about 1/8-1/16th from the edge. I change thread to match the applique piece. Sometimes I need to go back around!

luvspaper

I've used FMQ with multiple passes.....It actually goes very very fast....and I've found it holds up well.... I tend to like to use a color one shade darker to kind of show an "outline"

Schmiel

I use blanket stitch

Rennie

Lynnie, care to post any close up pictures of some of your work? I want to do more, but the few pieces I have done I am not happy with - and I don't think I am doing them right. I would love to see some of what others have done so I can figure out where I am going wrong.

Rennie