quilting over fusible applique

[qwltnldy]

I have a quilt here that has fairly heavy fusible applique flowers and vases. Does anyone have any ideas about how to handle that? I am planning to McTavish in the background, but I'm not sure how any quilting in the applique will work, AND there is too much space to leave unquilted.

Robin

[mrmquilt]

Hi Robin, I am sorry to say I don't have any advice. I did an

Arty type quilt with 3 to 5 layers of fusible applique on top of

each other. It was nothing but trouble. Everytime I hit extra layers

of fusible I would break needles and the tension would get messed

up until I got off all the layers of fusible. So far I haven't been given

another one like it and I would probably turn down layers and layers

of fusible. 1 or 2 layers doesn't seem to be a problem but any more

was a mess.

I would love to hear how this is handles also. Good question.

Michele

[SandraC]

I usually stay away from quilting on it...but if this is the quilt I think it is there's probably a whole lot of it, am I right? I do tell the customer that I can quilt on the fusible but the holes from the needle won't fill in...they usually tell me to go around the fusible.

[chickenscratch]

The butterfly quilt I am doing right now has fusible on it. I McTavished around the butterflies and I'm adding wing details on the applique. Not a lot of stitching, just enough to add design and take out some of the puffiness. My son is bringing his camera tonight so I will take a picture tomorrow so you can see.

A couple of hints. Use a 3.5, rather than a 4.0 needle. Use So Fine or another fine thread. Go slow. Don't mess up, the holes will not go away if you rip out stitches. Hope this helps.

[qwltnldy]

Sorry it took so long for me to post back. I was on vacation, then had to do a HUGE custom quilt that took every bit of 60 hours in the last 2 weeks. Glad to say customer was delighted. Now, on to the next crisis...

The pattern for this quilt is "Roseville Pottery" and yes, there is a boatload of applique and TINY pieces, too.

I am planning to outline the larger flowers/leaves/pots with monofilament (bottom line in bobbin). Have never used mono in longarm before and am very scared. Since chickenscratch said I can't mess up, now I"m paranoid.

Maybe large shape in the vases (or maybe a one line echo) and McTavish in background with matching So Fine thread.

I have 3.5 needles, so will definitely use them. I promise to remember to post picture this time. Keep your fingers crossed!

Robin Kinley

Vista, CA

[JLM]

Try doing a sample first, before you commit to the customer. I just finished one of these raw edge applique quilts and it was not much fun. It is hard to sew right on the edge, if you get too close to the edge it frays, and if it's too far from the edge it looks bad. Small pieces can take more time to sew around than larger ones. The pieces are stiff and don't have the nice dimensionality of a regular quilt. Lastly, don't forget to charge enough, these are very time consuming.

Janet Mohler

Colorado Springs

[xtraquilts]

I've quilted through LOTS of fusible appplique! Several quilts from Quilts by the Bay-those by McKenna Ryan(?) for their store samples and from other customers as well as my own. Depending on which fusible the customer used, most cause no trouble at all. I use a 3.0 needle and either matching thread, even metallics. Sometimes the thicker fusible causes skipped stitches, though.

Go slower than normal-you're right about the holes not coming out-especially if you've made a mistake.

I have another similar question for you all-have you ever quilted through photo transfers? I have a t-shirt and transfer quilt on right now and am hestitant about stitching over the photos. They are quite large, though 8" x 10" some of them, and will look puffy without any quilting at all. I was thinking of using clear nylon and either going around the faces or outlining the general picture or else???

My customer said I could stitch there or not, whatever.

Any ideas?

[CherylUribe]

I would add detail by quilting on the flowers and vases.

[qwltnldy]

When you say "on" the flowers, you mean "on" not "around"? detail would look nice.

I don't have any smaller needles than 3.5, do you think that will be OK?

I can order smaller ones, I guess.

[qwltnldy]

Ok, started this monster last night, did some ditching with mono thread, did a small amount of detail in one flower and it looks HORRIBLE. (The detail, that is, the ditching is fine, as long as it doesn't go over the fusible) SO, I am switching to So Fine for flower detail. Chickenscratch was right. Figure I need a thicker thread to fill in the holes made by the 3.5 needle I'm using. I"m thinking about leaving the small amount I did and just continuing with the SoFine. Mainly because I really dont want to do it over. Is this cheating? Does anyone think this will matter? I really want to know. What would you do, Cheril?

[chickenscratch]

Post a close up picture of what you've done so far. Maybe we could help more if we could see the problem.

[epprog]

If you now switch to a thinner thred you will notice the difference. Maybe pick out another flower or two and use a similar weight thread on those to and then use the So Fine on the rest. I recently did a customer quilt and the backing she bought at the local store she wasn't sure about. It had dense stamping that was almost plasticy and you guessed it, wherever I ripped it shows holes that stay. I also have quite a few McKenna Ryan quilts that I personally have made that I need to get quilted, purchased some 3.0 for them but I had so many customer quilts here I can't find the time to do me own stuff! Hopefully I will have some time this winter and then I can figure out how to post a picture.

Let us know how you make out and am looking forward to a picture.

Cher