Wishes Wool Applique Project - QUESTIONS

[Candace D.]

Helen, thank you. That is what I finally decided to do.

[Helen W.]

WHAT IF....You wanted to do this pattern, Wishes, but have severe arthritis in your hands. You probably thought
wool appliqué was out. I ran into a you tube channel Betty Jo Tatum who does wool applique by machine. Yes, she
breaks all the rules that I have learned so far on this new adventure of wool applique, but her applique does look good.
Also for those of you with a lack of time for the leisure of hand stitching, you might benefit from using her machine
applique on the adhering the pieces down. On at the wool applique of Sue Spargo, it appears she covers all the wool
edges with decorative hand embroidery stitches so you would cover up the machine stitching. HelenW

[Susan W.]

I am using a cotton background with the wool appliqué and almost finished stitching the appliqué pieces down to cotton background.
Should I use a stabilizer when I start the decorative embroidery stitches? Is there batting already attached to top that I would embroider through or should embroidery stitches just go through cotton background?
Thank you!!!

[Helen W.]

Hi Susan W. I just put my stabilizer on my project this morning. Used black Pellon light weight
fusible. Wish I had done it like Alice F. and put it on the pieces before stitching the background
together but did not. Started pressing a few inches from back and then checked the front and had
ripples on the cotton background. Carefully pulled apart and then pressed from front with a cotton
pressing sheet on top. That worked fine. I would not add batting until after the decorative stitching.
It would cause a lot of drag on the thread and pull the batting hairs to the top of the piece. HelenW

[Alice F.]

Hi Alex, I'm also using cotton. Did you add batting to your piece? If yes, did you add and quilt after the embroidery or before?

Is Quilters Select Fabric Prep no longer made? I was wanting to try it for silk; I'm using a few pieces of silk in my applique.

[Helen W.]

Hi, I am not Alex, but I would add batting after decorative stitching is done. The thread would be very hard to pull thru the batting, would ravel and pull batting hairs to the top. Just my opinion. HelenW

[Alex A.]

Helen is right - batting is last - if at all

[Sandy F.]

What is the best marker to use for transferring design onto wool? I tried sticky embroidery transfer paper and did not like it. Hard to needle and to remove. I’m using a Bohn extra fine pencil but I have to go over lines multiple times.

[Sandy F.]

I have an air erase purple pen that might work on lighter fabrics and I’ll check out the one Sue Spargo recommends. Thanks for you recommendations.

[Helen W.]

What is the best marker to use for transferring design onto wool? I tried sticky embroidery transfer paper and did not like it. Hard to needle and to remove. I’m using a Bohn extra fine pencil but I have to go over lines multiple times.

Hi Sandy F. Sue Spargo recommends the 3 in 1 marking pencil. It is a pink fat pencil that has white, pink and reg. lead in it
I use it a lot. I also use Frixion and SewLine white chalk. I sometime use purple air erase, if I plan to get it stitched in one
session. It goes away fairly quickly if you plan to wait a few days it will be gone. I could not find mine just now, probably under
a stack of fabric or something. HelenW

When I have watched Sue Spargo marking with the 3 in 1, she often just puts a dot where she will
start the stitch. Like 8 dots where I put the lines.

[Helen W.]

Sandy F. I would love to see a picture of your couching. My guess that either would work. When
I have seen couching on other projects it is designed to just hold the thread down so it does not get
hooked because it is loose. Your idea of using a color that makes it a design addition is great.
Probably would work either way and same wt. or heavier or lighter would work too, whatever looks best to you. HelenW

[Connie H.]

Good morning Alex! On the live yesterday when discussing the couching stitch for the yellow flower, you indicated that you used 2 different shades of white/cream. Were both threads an 8 wt thread? Or did you use a thread that was a bit heavier for the thread being attached with couching? Hope this question makes sense.

[Sandy F.]

I was wondering the same thing. I first did white on white using same weight and I could not see the couching stitch. After Alex suggested using 2 different shades I used gray and white in same weight and I like it. Just my opinion.

[Sandy F.]

Helen, I used a grey variegated thread with white. The area is so small I thought using the same weight thread worked best.

[Connie H.]

Thank you Sandy! The photo is very helpful.

[sewskeel]

My tools to make circles

[sewskeel]

How did you apply the backing and what fabric did you use? Did you use batting?
Is the quilting stitches you referred to necessary to hold the piece in place (no sagging)? What thread did you use for this quilting stitch?

I’m thinking about trying to appliqué my piece to wool felt using invisible thread. Then doing stem stitching around edge so the backing will have only a frame on it. Was thinking felt would add a little stiffness to it. What do you think?