RatherB Quilting

OMG! How am I supposed to get this stupid stabilizer out of the stitches of my blanket stitched applique without making my stitches go wonky or pull them out all together??
I used a blanket stitch around my sunbonnet sue's for the calendar swap...I have already pulled out a stitch or two trying to get the stabilizer from the seams....any suggestions?
I'm going to go beat my head on the wall now.... :cry:

ckcowl

what kind of stablizer did you use? and why? the only thing i can think of is take out some stitches...remove the stablizer, and restitch...does it have to come out? next time you are going to blanket stitch, use a wash away, or leave in stablizer would be my recommendation. i do lots of applique and blanket stitching...have never heard of someone using a stablizer before...that is why i asked the first 2 questions...

mpspeedy

I can understand the stabilizer but I would have put it on the back of the base fabric. You could also have used fuseable stabilizer on the applique that would have also kept it from raveling. Good luck.

RatherB Quilting

The stabilizer is behind the entire square. It is the "light-easy tear" kind. I put the stabilizer behind it so the machine doesn't eat my fabric while I applique and so my square stays nice and flat. I use the easy tear kind because I generally don't wash my fabrics and so I don't like the idea of wetting my square to get rid it. This is the first time I have used blanket stitch and am finding that the stabilizer is getting caught up just a bit in the stitches so I can't get it totally out. :( There is only a tiny bit...so I'm hoping it's ok.

(edit: this is the first time I've actually washed my fabrics before use...but I am not used to, nor do I have the wash away stuff....)

cmagee84

So sorry you are having such a problem. I use a tear away stablizer, but use a zig zig stitch. Have not tried it with a blanket stitch. Best of luck. Best part...now you know what not to do next time!!!

ckcowl

maybe if you use tweezers? or is the quilt going to be washed when it is done? if so, the little bits would probably disappear then...i used to at times have that problem behind machine embroidered designs...i used tweezers, but found that washing usually fixed it for me...i spritzed with water on one project and took a wash cloth and (gently) rubbed,,,it worked without distorting an stitches.
if they are on the back and not noticable from the front you really dont' have to worry too much about it as long as it's just little bits it will be ok.

Shiloh

You poor thing. I know what you are facing and I don't know how you can "fix" it if you want all of the stabilizer off. How about just cutting it off around the stitches and leaving the rest on. So the whole sunbonnet is backed with the stabilizer.

amma

This won't help now... but next time try fusing all of your pieces, then starch the dickens out of them, you may find that stabilizer is unnecessary :wink:
Some fusibles don't stick as well to starched fabric)

Deb watkins

If the blocks are not too heavy, and since it is on the back,I wouldn't worry about removing it.

Moonpi

Have you tried pressing it? I know it sounds weird, but some tear-aways change texture when ironed. I used to use tons of tear-away, and preferred the heavier, because I could almost snap it away from the stitches. I wouldn't worry if every bit does not come out, because once it gets washed, you won't be able to tell.

When I get ready to tear it away, sometimes I take the backside of the seam ripper point, and run along the stitch lines. That seems to perforate the interfacing enough to make the job easier. For a blanket stitch, I would run it next to the straight stitch end, then come back and do it at the same level as the legs. tear the big pieces off, and give it a good shake outside. Try it on a small area. and you will see what I am trying to explain.