fatquarters

I just finished some applique and used tear away stabalizer. any tricks to get rid of it? if I miss some bits will they ball up inside my project after washing? The appliques are on muslin, so it is a light colored fabric

Pat M.

Tweezers are good to have. I use the fine point ones. I also use a smaller stitch, 2.0 instead of 2.5; did you know there is a wash-away stabilizer?

auntpiggylpn

Tweezers are a good thing to have! Also, you can wet the stabilizer along the embroidery lines using a Qtip or small paint brush. This will help soften it so it doesn't distort as much when pulling it off.

ckcowl

using a shorter than normal stitch length makes removal easier- place a finger over the end of the stitches & tear the paper away- small bits will disolve- disappear when the quilt is laundered- you can run a finger nail over the seams & remove most of the bits left- but as long as you are not leaving behind large pieces of paper it will go away. i generally use 16-18 stitches to the inch when using a tear away- and secure the ends of the stitching -with a reverse stitch or (fix stitch) so tearing the paper away doesn't pull out any stitches.