Let me tell you a story of fusible interfacing gone wrong. Many years ago, in a faraway land, the princess of Beginner Sewist Land failed to read her instructions before she began “Making Pattern Weights”. She drew and drew, traced, and traced the templates on all of her fabrics. She even went so far as to cut them out. NOW SHE READS HER PATTERN! She was supposed to fuse the interfacing before tracing and cutting. It’s much more work to fuse interfacing to each individual piece (BOO HOO). Guess you can figure out the princess was me and it wasn’t that long ago. Even (so called) experienced sewists can learn from those rules I referenced to last week.
“Fusible interfacing is a material used in sewing, quilting, and craft projects. It has a heat-activated adhesive on one side that bonds to the fabric when ironed. Fusible interfacing can have different structures and thicknesses to work well with different fabrics.”
You might be asking yourself why would I need a fusible interfacing? For many years there was not such a thing. As many other inventions, recently this one centrally makes sewing with material that stretches, frays or curls easier. Also, pieces of patterns that need extra weight such as cuffs, and collars on shirts. It can also be used to reinforce buttonholes. Jersey is a typical type of material that by using fusible interfacing will help keep its shape. A must is to match fabric with weight of interfacing. Delicate fabric needs a lighter weighted interfacing. Bags need heavy interfacing to ensure the bags and purses keep their shape.
Next question might be, how do I apply the fusible interfacing. There is a smooth side and a rough side to fusible interfacing. My best advice would be to refer to instructions on the package. The package will identify the adhesive side (side with the raised glue dots). Place this side down on the wrong side of your fabric. Fusible interfacing needs to be ironed on. If you're using a heat-sensitive fabric, like sequins, or something textured, it can damage it. This is when sew-in interfacings will be the best option.
The most common problem that arises is when the fusible interfacing fails to stick. If you make sure to pre-wash the fabric before starting your project, that can help prevent this problem. Or maybe your iron is not hot enough. In that case, you just need to keep the iron on the fabric longer. What temperature do you need? This depends on the thickness of the fusing and your fabric.
Now that you have finished attaching your interfacing. You might have a sticky substance left on your iron. What to do? Easy-Peasy, take a paper towel place on the side of your ironing board then rub your iron across the paper towel. This should take most of the adhesive off. If some is left let your iron completely cool and then use a magic eraser.
Remember, we are concentrating on sprucing up our kitchen this month. A super easy project is to make new dish / tea towels for your décor. We carry many different toweling options. It’s the easiest and fastest way to make new towels. But in case we don’t have the pattern you are interest in here is a basic pattern for Tea Towels. Craft it. Make it’s Make your own DIY Tea towel will be available for download January 23.
Check back next week when this Princess will be waiting for you to join the sewing fun this year.
WAIT! NEW RECIPE ALERT!! A new favorite of my family. It makes the long winter day just a little bit warmer.
Love,
Princess Susan