Thursday, January 17, 2008

Fusble Rickrack

As many of you already know, I'm a rickrack fiend! I absolutely LOVE the way rickrack and feedsacks look together. They were made for each other!

As I work on my new McCall's quilt, which of course has rickrack on it, I wanted to pass on to you an idea I had. The one thing I don't like about working with rickrack is pinning it. It just never seems to end up where you want it. So I tried fusing and it works beautifully!

I cut a 1/4" piece of lightweight fusible web x the length I need and iron it to the rickrack. Be sure to use a teflon sheet since some will come through between the peaks. Then peel off the paper and place it wherever you want it to go. Because of the lightweight fusible, it's still very flexible and will bend where you want it to. When it's placed, iron it on as usual following the manufacturer's instructions. It's fabulous!

If you are using a very long piece of rickrack, cut the fusible in 4" lengths and place them about every 4" or so. This will still be plenty of fusible to hold it in place. I normally tack the inner and outer points by hand to hold them forever, but you might want to do it by machine.

Speaking of fusible, I have fallen in love with a Japanese product called Vilene. It's expensive, but worth it. It's so light that when you iron the rickrack on, the area around the rickrack just melts into the fabric.

That's it for today! Happy fusing!!

Blessings---

1 comment:

Nanette Merrill said...

Great! I'm making a rick rack quilt right now. I'll try that. Good mention on the product, too. I never know which one to buy. Thanks again Glenna!