Soft Fuse™ fusible interlining and stitch and turn appliqué offers the soft, dimensional look of traditional appliqué but in considerably less time. The traced appliqué pattern piece is layered on fabric and fusible interlining, machine stitched, turned right side out, and then hand or machine sewn onto the background fabric. The fusible interlining used with a non-stick pressing sheet allows the appliqué design to be assembled as a unit and then placed on background fabric, garment, etc. Lace, trims, and beaded fringe, can be fused to the underside of the appliqué (the fusible interlining side) completing the unit prior to placement on your project.

The following are products that I use with this technique.

Notions

• Soft Fuse™ fusible interlining - available in ivory and black
• Tracing paper
• Sharpie extra fine black permanent marker
• Sulky® KK2000™ temporary spray adhesive - this spray is non-flammable, odorless & ozone friendly
• The Appliqué Pressing Sheet™ by Bear Thread Designs
• A pair of hemostats for turning and shaping
• Roxanne™ Glue-Baste-It
• Roxanne™ Appliqué Needles - 10 or 11 sharp

Preparing Pattern Pieces Using Fusible Interlining

Pattern pieces are not reversed for fusible interlining appliqué. You will want to add 1/16" - 1/8" around your pattern to allow for turning. My patterns already have this allowance and are ready to be traced. Some pattern pieces have to be sewn all the way around the piece - slit and turned inside out. Some pattern pieces will be covered by another appliqué piece and can have a no-stitch area that will be left opened for turning. I mark these no-stitching areas with a beginning and ending slash mark with a set of quotation marks in between the two slashes. You will start your stitching at the first slash line and stop at the last slash line - leaving the area with quotation marks open for turning.

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1. I prefer to trace my pattern pieces onto tracing paper, rather than directly onto the fusible interlining. This allows easy tracing, an accurate stitching line, and also acts as a stabilizer for machine stitching. A permanent black marker works best for tracing the design; stitching on a pencil line will embed your fabric with graphite. Trace the outline of each separate pattern piece onto tracing paper and mark all no-stitching areas.

2. Trim off excess tracing paper around each pattern piece, leaving at least an inch for easy tear away later.

3. Sandwich layers: place fabric right side up (RS) and layer the fusible interlining, fusible side down (rougher side) on top of RS of fabric. Lightly spray the backside of the traced design with a temporary adhesive, such as Sulky® KK2000™, before laying it on the fusible interlining. This will keep your interlining and traced pattern piece together. 
©Tip: to protect sewing area from adhesive spray, place traced pattern piece, wrong side up, in a shallow cardboard box, spray lightly. Box is reusable; the tackiness from the spray will keep tracing paper flat.

Place traced pattern piece, adhesive side down, on top of the fusible interlining. You now have 3 layers: fabric, fusible interlining and traced pattern piece. Pin to keep layers together.

4. Shorten machine stitch length to 1 1/2. Sew around design, stitching directly on the traced line but leaving the no-stitching area open.

5. Pattern pieces without the no-stitch areas:  tear away the tracing paper. Cut a small slit in the center of the fusible interfacing. Insert hemostat turning tool into slit and grab a corner of the fabric to pull through opening. Repeat with another corner until design is turned RS out. To shape design, go through the opening and use the hemostats to push fabric and corners into the design. Be gentle - it doesn't take much to poke through.

6. Pattern pieces with a no-stitch area: before you tear away the tracing paper cut across the line that you did not sew on, cutting between the 2 slashes where the quotation marks are. This allows you to use the line as a pattern for cutting before you tear away the tracing paper. Don't cut on any stitched lines. After cutting on the no-stitch line, tear away the tracing paper pattern. Trim around each pattern piece - 1/16" - 1/8" from stitching line. Make short clips from raw edge to stitching line along all inside curves and into points, be careful not to cut into your stitches. Trim corners close to reduce bulk. Use the hemostat to pull the fabric RS out and shape.

7. Place appliqué piece, fusible side down, onto the non-stick pressing sheet and press into shape (the non-stick coating prevents the fusible from adhering to the pressing sheet). Use hemostat as needed to help with shaping the appliqué piece. Prepare all pattern pieces. At this point you can fuse trims or beaded fringe to your individual pattern pieces.

8. The pressing sheet is transparent which allows the design to be seen for placement. Place pattern placement guide under pressing sheet, pin top corners to keep from shifting. Refer to pattern for appliqué placement and assembly instructions. Align appliqué, fusible side down, with outline on placement guide. Press and lift the iron to fuse appliqué in place - do not slide. 

9. Continue placing each piece and fusing in place until you have layered the entire design. With some designs, there will be sections of the design that are layered on top of larger pieces - so if you were to place the larger piece first, you would block the outline view of the other pieces on top. To work around this, first fuse the smaller front pieces as a unit, let cool and peel off unit. Place and fuse the larger back pieces - then fuse small front unit onto back unit. Let fabric cool completely before peeling off the entire design as a completed unit.

10. Fuse completed appliqué units onto your background fabric. Blind stitch by hand or machine around all pattern pieces, matching your thread to your appliqué piece. When sewing on the appliqués by machine, I use the blind hem stitch and decrease both width and length, which will help to hide the stitches in the appliqué.

©2002 Elle Colquitt