Easy Piezy

How to transfer a design without reversing it.

This is very easy with fusible web on the back of your fabric. WonderUnder is on sale on my website this month.

Follow along the pictures below. This is from my book Fabric to Dye For, a little quilt called Daily Walks, a quilt about George, my dog.  You could make this a portrait of your dog instead, just change how the dog looks a little to look like your mutt.

Transferring design to the backside of fused fabric.

1. Apply fusible web to the back of your pre-washed fabric with a hot dry iron.

2. Allow fusible web to cool.

3. Peel off the “release” paper, that is the paper that sits on top of the fusible web.

4. Place the release paper over your design.

5. Use a sharp pencil or extra fine sharpie marker and trace design on top of release paper.

6. Place the marker side of the design against the fused side of the fabric and press with a hot dry iron.

7. Marker will transfer to the back of your fabric.

8. Cut out design and apply it where it belongs.

EASY PIEZY
Happy Quilting.

Fall table runner–Three Pumpkins

I love to decorate for all the holidays and this project will take no time at all to transform your fall table into something special to last for years.
Turn my Three Pumpkins pattern into a table runner!

I have a fabric kit special to go along with this project.

The special kit includes an extra yard of hand dyed fabric for the Three Pumpkins design to sit on to make it into the table runner, with the added bonus of an additional 1/4 yard of fabric dyed to match the background behind the Three Pumpkins to make the fused binding. This would be an easy, fun and beautiful addition to your fall family holiday table.

Basic Fusing III

Putting it all together.
Once I have all my design elements cut out and ready to assemble I will begin to fuse things in place.
Remember we put our background fabric that had fusible all over it on the back of the fabric back on a piece of release paper? Now since it is sitting on the paper I can fuse things to the front of it.
The first thing I do is to put three of the border strips on the edge. I use the pencil line that I first drew as my mark to line up the strips of fused fabric. I only want to add in the two sides and top because I will cover all the stems with the bottom strip when I am done arranging them.

Before I begin to put the design elements in place I can create nice curves on top of a piece of release paper right over my pattern. This way the curves have a memory to them so when I put them on the fabric and fuse them down it is very easy to do.

TIP- As I add in design elements I want to make sure I keep the bottom of my iron clean.
Before I fuse anything in place, I make sure that I like the arrangement and that I have room for everything. So I will place all of the green leaves down and fuse them before I fuse the rest of the vines on the sides.

I will then fuse everything EXCEPT the little details in the center of the big Star Lilies. I will machine quilt everything first and then add those in at the end so that I can very easily quilt around the shape of the Star Lily.
I like to stitch in the ditch right next to not on top of most of my designs like the stems and flowers. I like to do this in 30# rayon thread.
Once I have quilted all the design elements then I quilt the background. In the case of Star Lilies I stippled this with silk thread matching the background color.
After I have done all the back ground then I will do the border.

I did the border with the 30# rayon thread with a straight stitch just wiggling it as I stitched it.
Finally I squared up my quilt and added a sleeve to it and a fused binding.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on basic fusing. Please share it with a friend and think about having me come to your group to teach you even more fun fusing tips.
Remember if you aren’t having fun, don’t do it!!!

Basic Fusing

Recently on this blog I asked for input from you readers. What I heard from several people was I should do more demo’s with more pictures, talk about inspiration and just share more and have lengthier posts.

So here we go, I have turned over a new leaf and will be posting more pictures, demo’s videos and of course pictures of George.

Let’s talk about basic fusing.

I have found out several things over the 30 years that I have been using fusible web. I have had some ups and downs but over all I love the process and the products that I use. I am a faculty member of the Chicago School of Fusing - dean of technology, I help people with their computers, printers, sewing machines, irons, if it is a machine I help them. I really think I could have been a mechanical engineer, well except for the math part.

FUSING BASICS 101

Using WonderUnder #805 here are some of my top tips -

***1. Pre wash all your fabrics. Commercial, store bought fabrics that is, have at least starch on them if not more stuff, so you need to wash them before you put them in your stash. If you want fusible to stick to ithe fabric WASH it to get all the chemicals and things off the fabric. The fusible will stick to it and then to the other fabric you fuse it to so much better if the fabrics are clear of all chemicals. VERY IMPORTANT tip.***

2. OR just use my hand dyed fabrics they come PRE washed. The thing that I do is RAW edge fusing. Which means that I don’t do anything to finish the edges like satin stitch.  When using commercial fabrics a little white line shows on the cut edge of the fabric, but with hand dyed fabrics or batiks there is no white line because the colors go all the way through to the back of the fabric, they are not just printed on top they are dyed through and through. This is just one of the reasons I like to use my hand dyed fabrics, the other reason of course is that I ADORE saturated color and my hand dyed gradations are saturated with gorgeous color and color combinations, can you tell?

3.Steam your fabrics to remove all the wrinkles and then turn the steam OFF. You will not use steam again until the end of your project.

4. Use a hot dry iron to apply the fusible web to the back side of the fabric. I keep my iron on HOT and leave it there.

Some body always asks me in class or at a lecture why their fusible didn’t stick to their fabric.

The two main reasons are 1.They are not pre washing the fabric and 2. they are not using a hot enough iron. Fusible web is an adhesive that gets sticky when you heat it up and it has to heat up to HOT to get sticky and stick to the back of the fabric.

5. Let the fusible solidify and cool down before you remove the paper. I also cut my fused fabric without the paper on it. You’ll see in the demo, next time on Star Lilies. The reason I do this is to get a clean crisp edge when I cut out my designs. With the paper removed the edges stay clean and crisp, in fact people often say to me “Is this turned applique?” and I answer them very politely NO.

6. You can use parchment paper, the stuff you bake on, remember baking, instead of release paper. Release paper is the paper that comes off of the fused fabric, or what the fusible sits on before you apply it to your fabric. I only use WonderUnder #805 it is my favorite and preferred fusible and it comes with release paper. I use the release paper in many ways while I am working with fused fabrics.

I’m going to share with you next time one of my fused patterns -“Star Lilies” and the inspiration for making it.

By the way Sewmuchtodo won the step gradation from Thankful Thursday. Send me your address and I’ll put it in the mail to you this week. YEA!!!