kaelynangelfoot

Ah so many decisions!!! This was also my dilemma. I eventually went with machine satin stitching. Still debating making a second quilt with batiks on a dark background or maybe black, gray, white, and red.

kindleaddict63

Knitette - I totally understand buying from the outlets in the USA - until I moved here quilting was beyond my financial reach in the UK. I usually resorted to cross stitch and was more of a reader than a crafter. Even when taking P&P into account it is still worth it to buy from the US.

Macybaby

For those of you that use a blanket stitch or wider zigzag - what do you do to control fraying on the edges?

kindleaddict63

Macy, I considered raw edge myself so this will be interesting to see replies, in the meantime you might like this article http://theboredzombie.com/2014/02/bu...e-testing.html

Oksewnsew

I always trace my patterns onto Lite Heat & Bond, in all the applique I have done, I've never had any problems with fraying. Depends on the look I want on pcs, I usually do the Blind Hem stitch, some I do a small zig zag stitch. If it's a real difficult pc, I will do a stitch I have on my machine that does, well it's hard to 'splain - it takes 2-3 stitches forward, then one back, and so on. You stitch about an 1/8" from the edge - it's a tight stitch and I've never had any problems with the applique coming loose. The Heat & Bond keeps it stuck tight. I've done applique for many years and have never had any problems. Hope this helps answer some questions.

Happy New Year ya'all
Jean

Quiltaddiction

Knitette I hope your fabric arrives. Crossing my fingers for you. I buy a lot of my fabrics from the USA for the same reason. Kaelynanglefoot the worst thing anyone can give me ...is a choice I'll have a practice over the New Year long weekend at all of them and make a decision...maybe

Cogito

That's awful Knitette! Maybe we should just go buy it and ship it to you! I hate to see you have to sit this one out because of MIA fabric. Pfft!

Cogito

Thanks for this link! Very informative and so amusing!

coffeecozy

Thank you kindleaddict. That a article made me feel so much better. I have been working on an applique Christmas quilt that I started a couple of years ago and I had never done applique before. I figured that I could just pick decorative stitches for the edges and have fun. Then I was told that it could only be used as a wall quilt. It kind of dulled my enthusiasum but now I'm thinking it should be fine as I don't intend to dance on it in the driveway at all. :-)

Macybaby

I have a personal strong dislike for any sort of fraying - just a pet peave of mine. I've been doing satin stitch, but do like the look of the blanket stitch if I can eliminate fraying. I was thinking I could use fray check on the edge and then stitch down. I use that on a lot of things that I don't want to fray (like the cut ends of ribbon).

From my years of garment construction - a lot will depend on the fabric, but since quilting normally deals with tighter woven cotton, that takes care of a lot of it.

The fusable web my husband picked up several months ago was very good at holding the cut edge, but this stuff I just picked up isn't near as good at holding the edge tight. He got the other stuff at Walmart, and when I looked there Sunday, what they had was just like I recently bought. Maybe Pellon made a change. . . I'm learning to work with it though, so all should be fine.

I picked up my embroidery thread yesterday, so I can finish up my test block set and get ready to start on the "real" sets.

I think I am going to work on cutting all my pieces ahead of time, so I can put what is left over back into my stash for other projects.