Wash-Away Appliqué Roll (C&T Publishing)
I was very excited to receive a Wash-Away Appliqué roll of stabilizer to try out with my fusible designs. As most of you know, I love fusible appliqué!! To me, there’s nothing faster or cuter than designing shapes and being able to adhere them to a quilt surface with the touch of an iron. I was delighted to see that there’s a product out there that is fusible AND washes away!
The Wash-Away Appliqué roll comes in a 14” x 10 yard roll…there’s plenty on that roll to last a good while! The idea is to create shapes by printing on the appliqué paper (using an inkjet printer) or by tracing. You can trim, position and fuse the design on the fabric right where you want to sew through it. It is used in place of freezer paper. It washes out leaving a nice, crisp edge to the appliqué. You can then finish the edges with any type of stitching you prefer (satin stitch, blanket stitch, etc.).
The Wash-Away Appliqué stabilizer is soft and papery. It’s transparent enough that you can trace with it and the ink washes out with the stabilizer. It is also biodegradable. Other uses for it (besides needle turn and machine appliqué) include: foundation piecing (no need to remove paper), English paper piecing (no need to baste), Stitch and Flip designs, Crazy Quilt designs, string piecing, stabilizing thread work/bobbin work and making buttonholes.
So, are you wondering how I used it? I had to really think for a minute before I began when I realized that this was not double sided fusible! I am used to using a double sided product for my fusible appliqué shapes. Turned out, this was not a problem at all! I fused the Wash-Away Appliqué paper to the wrong side of my fabric and then used my Sizzix die cut machine to cut out pie and cherry shapes from the fabric. The appliqué shapes had a nice sturdy feel to them from the stabilizer. Fusing was easy with a hot, dry iron. It only took a second or two for the stabilizer to fuse to the fabric.
Next, I pinned my appliqué shapes to the little pot holders I made. You could also use a glue stick to hold the appliqués in place while you sew. I used a blanket stitch and straight stitch to finish the edges of the appliqués and adhere them to the pot holders at the same time.
Now it was time to wash away the stabilizer! I put the pot holders in the washing machine with a small amount of laundry soap. I washed them in cold water and then read the directions and saw that I should have washed them in warm water. Once I dried the potholders, I could feel that just about all of the Wash-Away had, in fact, washed away! I think if I had washed with warm water, all of it would have come out during that wash. I can barely feel the little bit that still may be in there. It’s definitely not stiff like the way a non washable fusible product feels to the hand. The best part is that the appliqué shapes have a clean, crisp edge to them! Stitching around the shapes was a breeze.
Here are my new potholders!
It’s worth noting that Wash-Away Appliqué can be cut with scissors or a rotary cutter. The directions mention that you can cut up to six layers at a time.
Wash-Away Appliqué Roll can be found online at C&T Publishing…
http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2787
It retails for $24.95.
I am looking forward to trying this with my English Paper Piecing and on more of my appliqué quilts.
I think this has a lot of potential for people who love the look of appliqué and want a crisp edge but don’t want the stiffness that comes with other products.
2 responses to “Wash-Away Applique Roll Review”
Very interesting. I’ve heard about this. Thanks for the review!
Great review Sandy! Thank you so much… have to admit I was SO curious to see how you would use this product and I am seriously impressed! Yay!