Another appliqué question - edges not quite sealed?

[Sherry B.]

I have taken classes from two Masters of Fusing, Melinda Bula and Frieda Anderson. Frieda stressed not using Wonder Under, but used Steam a Seam II. She applies fusible to the entire back of a piece of fabric and then with very sharp scissors or a rotary cutter, cuts the shapes she needs. so each piece is fused right to the edge. And yes, she uses the pin method and pulls the entire piece of in one swoop, sets that piece of pre- fused fabric aside and cuts individual shapes as she goes. Then uses a hot dry iron with a press cloth, letting the pieces cool completely before she moves them. she pulls from the top of this piece of fabric, downward...not from the center. Both Frieda and Melinda make fusible fabric collages, not appliqué work, but I don't think they are wanting whiskers to distract from their work, either. there are usually a lot of pieces in their quilts so this is a fast method to get them all cut at one time.

I am not at this stage on my BOM...but after seeing this question and thoughts on appliqué, I just hoped to be able to help by giving you girls this information. I am not sure how they have you cutting these appliqué pieces, so hope this is a help and not just repetitive info for you. If so....kindly disregard. My feelings won't be hurt! LOL!! Teresa

[Andree B.]

I have taken classes from two Masters of Fusing, Melinda Bula and Frieda Anderson. Frieda stressed not using Wonder Under, but used Steam a Seam II. She applies fusible to the entire back of a piece of fabric and then with very sharp scissors or a rotary cutter, cuts the shapes she needs. so each piece is fused right to the edge. And yes, she uses the pin method and pulls the entire piece of in one swoop, sets that piece of pre- fused fabric aside and cuts individual shapes as she goes. Then uses a hot dry iron with a press cloth, letting the pieces cool completely before she moves them. she pulls from the top of this piece of fabric, downward...not from the center. Both Frieda and Melinda make fusible fabric collages, not appliqué work, but I don't think they are wanting whiskers to distract from their work, either. there are usually a lot of pieces in their quilts so this is a fast method to get them all cut at one time.

I am not at this stage on my BOM...but after seeing this question and thoughts on appliqué, I just hoped to be able to help by giving you girls this information. I am not sure how they have you cutting these appliqué pieces, so hope this is a help and not just repetitive info for you. If so....kindly disregard. My feelings won't be hurt! LOL!! Teresa

Thanks for this information. My whiskers happened when I removed the back paper (I just re-did all the steps). So, it must be that the "glue" still holds on to the paper, and my iron was either too hot, either not enough, or I have not left it long enough (although I counted 12 seconds). I will try again with different pièces. I used SoftFuse. I will try again with steam-a-seam, as this never happened with this brand.

Andrée