applique stick

[terry c.]

Carolyn Konig mentioned using an "Applique Stick" in her applique process. Can you provide me with a USA resource to purchase one.

Thank you.

Terry

[Jo H.]

I could not find any stores in the U.S. that carried them.

[Norma H.]

I bought this tool in Holland last year. It's called Apliquick and here is a website, the original, I think
http://apliquick.com/?p=1632

This is from the UK: http://www.thefatquarters.co.uk/apliquick-products.irc

[Susan B.]

That looks bizarrely expensive. Wouldn't two cuticle sticks work as well? Is that 25 Pounds? As in $41.00?

[Susan B.]

If she's using them to turn edges over (using a glue stick to hold them down), I use a sharply pointed wooden stiletto (http://www.woodbyc.com/Y1_aSEWING_ES...LS_WOODbyC.htm). You could make one that would work fine, by sharpening a chopstick in a pencil sharpener!

[Susan B.]

I use wooden BBQ kabob sticks. Large package / very inexpensive. Can be broken to what ever size is comfortable for you.

[E.M. T.]

These look like very nice steel tools....more than just the common pointy stick ! Like lots of other stuff....what
ever works for you !! Loc Bloks... regular rulers???? :lol: :lol:

[Jo H.]

I use two Alex Anderson 4 in 1 sticks and it works great. I posted a short video of me using them on Facebook.

[Jo H.]

I saw these demonstrated last year at GNQS. One end is a flat two pronged fork for holding down the paper/fabric. The advantage of this is that with two points of contact, instead of just one with a cocktail stick it is not able to spin around as you work. The other one is a small cylinder (about 3/16" -1/4" diameter) that is cut off at a 20-3- degree angle and is used as the 'ironing' head for smoothing the fabric over the gluey paper. Both of the opposite ends are plain points. The appeared to be made of good quality steel. The demonstrator was show us how to make tiny dots - 1/4"(?) using the Japanese loosely woven fabric and they were near perfect. The advantage of using 2 long fine tools for the tiny details was obvious, as sometimes our fingers are too large & clumsy.

Since I am not into applique I didn't consider buying them, (besides which, I am married to an engineer - if I really want some I will ask him :wink: ) I did think them a bit steep in price, but as I said they are of a high grade looking steel, and the technique demonstrated for using them was very interesting .

[Jo H.]

They do sound really nice. My only worry about me personally using them is that I think I would have a difficult time holding them because of my arthritis in my hands. My stupid fingers lock up in me when I am hand sewing for any length of time. I might be able to cover them with something springy that would help me with holding onto them.

Back to working on my Christmas quilt.

[Norma H.]

Rosemary, thank you for explaining the use of them so clearly. I was very tired yesterday and gave up trying to explain. The quality is superb, but I have been doing a lot of other things, so I have not worked much with them yet. Will get to it some day :lol:

[Karryl H.]

One of my quilting friends went to a workshop of Carolyn's and learnt the method using these sticks. She showed us all when she returned. It was much like Beth Farriers method that uses cuticle sticks. I didn't want to pay out the $40 for the apliquick tools but when using my friends tools and then a wooden cuticle stick there was no comparison. I bought the apliquick tools and have been glue basting with them since. They make it so easy to turn the small pieces as you glue and I am now able to glue baste small circles so quickly much faster than using my Karen Kay Buckley perfect circles to make small circles.
Though given the cost I would only recomend them if you do a lot of applique and like to glue/starch mid to small sized pieces. They have made me fall in love with 'needle turn applique' all over again.
I have been using the wash away applique paper as a backing to glue the fabric to and it turns on the edge beautifully.
I take a little more time to turn the edges than Carolyn did and find I get a very smooth edge and do not need to lick the fabric.

Karryl

[Susan B.]

What a great review, Karryl.

I have to say, after 2013 BOM and some other projects, I'm inclined to learn a new applique technique other than raw-edge fused.

I found this on Youtube, in Spanish, but it doesn't matter. It's a great demonstration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02n3IZ5uu4I

Another by Lynette Anderson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O9BbdDf4Jc

I'm curious about the rubber mat that Lynette uses. What is an alternative?

Does starch work the same as the glue stick that both demonstrators use? Are you following this, Margo????

Another question I have for appliquers is, how many layers do you get with turned edge before a design with many shapes starts to look like a mountain?

[Susan B.]

With the starch method (if it's what I've tried) you must iron the starched fabric edges over your template. This dries the starch and holds the edge in place. The problems I've had with starch are that it's easy to press unwanted pleats into your curves, and it's difficult to press tiny pieces, even if you use a little Clover iron.

Glue sticks are tacky enough to hold the fabric edges in place without ironing. And the beauty of the wash-away stabilizers is that you can glue directly to your template and not need to remove the template later.

I've made small (about 3/8") circles using the stabilizer/glue stick and a stiletto for turning the edges -- it works great! No experience with Lynette's sticks, but it might be helpful to have the second, forked stick to hold little pieces.

I don't know why Lynette switches to basting glue to hold the prepared appliques to the fabric -- I just use a little dab from the glue stick. It all washes out later -- after sewing, I soak my block in warm water for a couple hours (as recommended by Sharon Schamber) to dissolve the glue. Rinse, air dry, and press face down on a towel.

Be sure you use a WASHABLE, not a permanent, glue stick. And, BTW, you can use Elmer's Washable School Glue in place of expensive basting glue...

Looks like you could use a computer mouse pad or something similar as a rubber mat. I'm not sure about the mountain-building...someone should do an experiment!

[E.M. T.]

Thanks, Sue...those were great ! That mat is interesting !