Wednesday, December 02, 2020

Where Solutions Come From

 

The Petulant Child has continued to procrastinate, but in a late night search through my fusibles drawer, I went one by one from most preferred to least preferred to see if I had enough of any of them to fuse a backing over the felt with all those exposed thread tails. I really thought what was left of this Wonder Under, part of what I inherited from my late friend Judi, was going to be the ticket, i.e. big enough to cover the entire back. I'm not that fond of Wonder Under anymore, having found Steam-a-Seam that has properties I prefer, so this would be a great place to use it up. To my surprise, the big piece left was not only too short but not wide enough, no additional pieces big enough to fill in the gaps. Boy, I did not want to use up the large piece of Steam-a-Seam I'd bought off the roll at the quilt shop, but if I must, I must. However, I had pretty much the same issue with it. Well, you already know my love/hate relationship with Misty Fuse and I was fairly sure what was in the multiple packages would require the laying out of many possibly long but undoubtedly narrow pieces of it across the back. Plus, in spite of a glowing recommendation about how well Misty Fuse worked fusing backing to felt, I'd already had disappointing results with it; because felt is made up of little fibers, I found that Misty Fuse just pulled away from the felt surface, bringing those little fibers with it. But since this is just for me, if I have to use Misty Fuse, I guess I will.
 

 
Yeah, that didn't exactly make me excited to continue right away, so I left it for a few days until I could get used to the idea, and did the occasional stare-down as if looking at it long enough would change things. Staring at a problem rarely leads to a solution, but taking a walk and letting the brain cogitate, often subconsciously, often does. So there I was on said walk, mostly considering if I should stop in at the quilt shop for more fusible, when the lightbulb went on. Geez Louise, I do NOT have to completely cover the back with fusible, just like quilting doesn't cover every bit of a quilt. If I cut that Wonder Under in thirds, it should cover enough. And I think it does.  

3 comments:

The Inside Stori said...

Really good solution Sheila! I actually still prefer Wonder Under for most projects. Misty fuse def. does not work for me either on felt, even Steam A Seam has caused issues. One does have to be careful what type of ‘felt’ one is working on……craft felt will melt/distort with the amount of heat it usually takes to fuse.

The Idaho Beauty said...

Each fusible has its advantages and disadvantages which is probably why there's more than one to choose from, and there are times when Wonder Under fits the bill for me, just not as often as others. Good point about the felt. I mostly use the eco felt and the melting was a concern so I proceeded with caution and used my applique teflon sheet so the iron never touched the felt. Worked fine.

Anonymous said...

Those Teflon sheets are the best! I'm Team Misty Fuse, as we've discussed, but that's just one of many options! Happy you found a do-able solution! Stay well! Jan in WY