Thursday, August 8, 2013

Machine Appliqué lesson learned!

I have been having fun with some little baby blanket appliqué!
But...When I put them in the wash....well...it didn't do so well!

I must have not been careful enough with the interfacing, or maybe used to light a weight of iron on fusible?? Not sure what the problem was, but I was pretty disappointed :(

Now what?
Well, I was not about to rip it all apart!! That was for sure. I really liked the look of the blanket stitch but it just pulled through the fabric in places....and that was after just one washing !!
So I used a zigzag stitch to reinforce the appliqué.

It looks fine on the front, but you can see the stitching on the back..

Normally this would be inside the quilt, under the backing. But I guess the baby wont really notice !
These were really meant as practice quilts anyway, so lesson learned. It is still pretty cute !


I think that I will use a zigzag stitch instead of the blanket stitch from now on, especially for baby quilts that will get put through the wash frequently. Like I said...lesson learned!

7 comments:

  1. Who would have guessed? Something to be careful about...for all of us.

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  2. I've wondered about that - I didn't think that fusible held up to washing all that well. I've made a couple applique quilts, but haven't washed them yet. I think I'll hold out as long as I can! And in the future, I'll zig zag too, if it's a quilt that will be washed.

    I'm glad you could save that quilt. It is super cute! And, the baby won't mind the zig zag on the back, I'm sure!

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  3. Great reminder about that applique! The zig zag is the best to cover and hold the edges on raw edge, but we all love that buttonhole stitch. I'm glad you decided to save the day on this.

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  4. Great save and you're right the baby won't worry about the stitching on the back of the quilt. Two good choices if you want to blanket stitch are batiks - they don't fray much because of their tight weave; and felted wool is wonderful as it doesn't fray and it adds some dimension and tactile features to the quilt. Your owl quilt is adorable!

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  5. That is too cute. Love the owl!

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  6. cute quilt and great way to save it.

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  7. How disappointing. For both of us. I have "blanket stitch" on my list of "must haves" if I ever get to buy a new machine. I'm so looking forward to using that stitch for applique projects. But now ... hmmmm ... best to do some test pieces, right?

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