Help me do some tricky applique?

February 17, 2008 5:41 PM

Please help me appliqué with some difficult fabrics to work with!

This is what I want to do: appliqué a heart about 5 inches wide, cut out of apparel-weight vinyl, onto a bigger piece of long pile/shaggy fun fur. Yep, you heard me.

I'm going to attempt it no matter what, but do the tailors and seamstresses of Mefi have any tips on how to get the best results? I would like to use my sewing machine. Should I attempt to use fusible interfacing as well? What stitch is most appropriate here?

Btw, I have never appliquéd anything before in my life... =(

Thanks for your help!!!

posted by infinityjinx to home & garden (5 comments total)

I'm not an expert but I do try weird stuff sometimes. I'm just thinking you might want to trim the fur where the appliqué will be.
posted by loiseau at 5:49 PM on February 17

Do you need the stitches to be hidden?

If not, I would topstich a zigzag, a close zigzag if your machine can handle it, and if you want a more refined result, the hearts to the fur in a matching thread with a needle that is suitable for vinyl. I can look the needle size up for you in a sec. I wouldn't try to use anything fusible. The iron could melt the fur. Use a tad of spray adhesive to tack the hearts down in place of pins. Or use bullnose clips or paper clips in place of pins.

Spray silicone is also useful if you do not own a Teflon presser foot. A Teflon presser foot will glide over the vinyl and is almost a necessity. If you don't have a Teflon presser foot, spray a bit of spray silicone onto a rag and wipe the vinyl with it as you sew in order for things to go smoothly. Instead of the spray silicone you can also place a piece of tissue paper in between the presser foot and vinyl, but you will have to extract little pieces of tissue paper from your stitches.

Go very, very slowly so you want mess up your timing or break your needle.

I recently worked with fun fur this past Halloween. Forget the machine, hot glue those hearts down! Test first to see if you like the results. I know, you want to use the machine. I think it could be done either way. Fun fur isn't that thick and the vinyl shouldn't be that difficult. Good luck and go slow!
posted by LoriFLA at 6:03 PM on February 17

so you won't
posted by LoriFLA at 6:04 PM on February 17

Trimming the fur under the appliqué is a very good idea.

The main problem with trying to use a fusible of some kind is that fusing it will probably melt your vinyl, and probably the synthetic fur too. You could test-iron a patch, but my money is on melting.

The biggest help is probably going to be hand-basting the appliqué in place. This will leave holes in the vinyl but if you follow the line where your machine stitches are going to be it shouldn't be a big deal.

Also, rather than starting at one point and stitching all around the heart in one go, sew it all in the same direction to avoid buckling. I would start at the center inverted point at the top of the heart, go down one side to the bottom point, and then start back at the center top point, so you're always going "down" the heart rather than "down" one side and "up" the other.

My instinct says a tight zig-zag stitch that covers the edge of the vinyl is going to work better and look better than a straight stitch, but that depends on the look you want.

Work slowly but be confident. If you have extra materials on hand, especially the vinyl, if you screw up one it's no worry.

On preview, LoriFLA's suggestion of spray-on adhesive might be easier than basting.
posted by doift at 6:10 PM on February 17

You may want to do this in stages. First, sew down a jersey material heart in a contrast color. Sew that one down with a zig-zag and then trim the fabric right down to the zig-zag. Make sure that heart is a little bigger than your vinyl heart. Then, glue the vinyl heart down nicely centered in the jersey heart. You can use tacky glue or hot glue or rubber cement should work, too. Wouldn't recommend spray adhesive, it will catch on the fur. I wouldn't trim the fur b/c it will give it a very nice puffy effect with the fur under the jersey. Another trick: to keep the fur from sticking in your machine foot, put some paper down (a strip) over it and sew through the paper. You can tear out the paper when you are done. Ruins your needle point but oh well.
posted by Eringatang at 8:03 PM on February 17