Prism99

Wow! Lots of new info here for me.

lots2do, I hadn't heard of Ricky Tim's Stable Stuff so I looked it up. Sounds a lot like Beth Ferrier's sheets but without the fusible. I think it would work for me if I iron on Misty Fuse to one side. I've got lots of Misty Fuse, so I think I might try this. Even with the cost of Misty Fuse, I think it would save money.

mindless, I had not tried Alene's Tacky Glue. It's so inexpensive, I'm going to give it a try.

quiltingshorttimer, was there a specific glue stick recommended in the Judy Niemeyer class? Also, if you are looking for the least prep work, Beth Ferrier's Washaway Applique Sheets are the way to go. Really worth it unless you have a ton of applique in a project (which is where I tend to go).

madamekelley, thanks for the tutorial! You mention several things I haven't tried. I think your method might work for me for when I have multiple layers of applique to deal with.

Sometimes I think I spend too much time experimenting and not enough time actually doing. However, I'm curious. Will post results as I try different things.

Prism99

franella, I haven't tried all of the stabilizers you mention. If the description says the stabilizer will dissolve into soft fibers after washing, I believe them. Both the Sharon Schamber (purpledaisies) foundation I tried (this was years ago, so not sure if she has changed it since them) and the Beth Ferrier Wash-a-way Applique Sheets work this way. The Ferrier sheets start out thicker and much stiffer than the SS stabilizer, and I noticed that after washing the Ferrier applique has just a little loft that I really like for applique; it helps hide the machine stitches.

I think the way these stabilizer are manufactured is that they use a pretty stable water-soluble glue to hold the fibers in place. The glue has to be stable enough not to dissolve instantly in water so the stabilizer "fabric" can stand up to handling, steam ironing, being glued to other things, etc. However, the glue is able to dissolve with exposure to the water and tumbling in a washing machine, allowing the fibers to resume being just loose fibers. Polyester fibers are relatively light in weight, so the loose fibers don't add much in the way of bulk or weight. The Ferrier sheets add a little more bulk than the SS sheets, probably because there are more poly fibers in the Ferrier sheets to start with.

Do you have a picture of the quilt you want to make? I am having a hard time visualizing a quilt with hexies that small.

I guess my first question is, why do you want to use a stabilizer for a hand pieced hexie quilt? My second question is, what type of hand stitching do you want to do? If you plan to whip stitch, I'm wondering why you want to use stabilizer instead of paper. Personally, I don't like whip stitching, probably because I'm terrible at it. When I made a hexie quilt, I hand pieced using a running stitch. This method did not require paper or stabilizer, was very easy to do, and I got pretty fast at it. This is how Jinny Beyer made her hexagon quilt that propelled her to fame and a career. Years ago she made a video that showed how she used the running stitch, and it was eye-opening for me.

Since we are getting way off the topic of turned-edge machine applique, I think you should start a new thread about hand piecing a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. That way you will get lots of different commentary, and I would be very interested to hear how others have done it.

I am still curious about why you want to use a washaway stabilizer in a hexie quilt. A queen sized quilt with the size hexagons you are talking about is going to have a *lot* of fabric in the seam allowances, making the quilt relatively heavy with fabric weight. Adding stabilizer will add to the weight. Some people prefer weight in a quilt, but I try to avoid it (weakling here). Although polyester fibers don't add a lot of weight to appliques, they will add some when they are basically covering all of a queen size quilt.

Also, have you tried different methods of sewing a grandmother's hexagon block to see what you actually like? It thought I would like whip stitching until I actually tried it.

lots2do

I know we are straying from your topic, but I've seen a new product that takes the place of the paper hexies that is an iron on leave in type of interfacing cut in hexie shapes. This might be what franella is thinking of.

Prism99

I haven't watched the whole thing, but this tutorial about hand piecing with a running stitch is similar to what I did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoEtkfO-fkg
It's a little more finicky than I was. For example, unless you're doing an eight-pointed star, I think it's fine to knot the thread. Also, I was able to load an inch at a time onto the needle before pulling through. And when Jinny Beyer demonstrated, it was amazing how fast she could load a needle with stitches!

I can see how an iron-on interfacing would appear to be helpful for hexagons, but in almost all cases I can think of, it would add work with little benefit. Today, I would cut out the fabric hexagons using my die cutter. If I were to use pre-cut iron-on hexagons made out of interfacing, I would then have to individually iron an interfacing hexagon to each fabric hexagon. I assume this is to mark the seam allowances? This is more tedious than what I did years ago, which was to use an Ardco metal hexagon template that had the center cut out. I would place the template on the fabric hexagon and use a pencil to mark just the corners. There is no need to mark the sewing lines. Running stitch hand piecing is very forgiving, and it's easy to eyeball the seam allowance from corner to corner (especially on small hexagons, but mine weren't all that small). Later on, if there is any major goof, it's easy to snip a thread and re-sew, although I don't remember ever having to do that. Seems to me marking like this is easier, faster, and less expensive than trying to iron on interfacing. Also it's less nerve-wracking when sewing; no need to exactly line up interfacing edges. I'm also thinking that the fabric will be harder to load onto the needle if there is interfacing stiffening it up. I would think using an interfacing might be more helpful for machine piecing a GFG than hand piecing.

I loved hand sewing with a running stitch. My problem these days is my hands cannot take the repetitive motion for very long. For anyone contemplating a grandmother's flower garden, I do strongly recommend experimenting to find out what really is going to work best for you. For example, I would definitely recommend trying out the interfacing method on a block or two before committing to it for an entire quilt.

Prism99

franella, I ran across this website that explains water soluble stabilizers. It might help:
http://www.generations-quilt-pattern...tabilizer.html

There is a difference between "dissolvable" stabilizer and "soluble" stabilizer. For my purposes, "soluble" works the best because it has an edge I can turn against.

I also found reviews of Rinsaway on JoAnn's website:
http://www.joann.com/rinsaway-water-...d/1069723.html

Edit: I should add that you cannot rely on the terminology used in the article, as I see many water "dissolvable" stabilizers advertised as water "soluble". However, the article does provide some brand names of the latter, which is very helpful for me.