Friday, September 19, 2014

Why I like Wonder-Under Best

My 100 yards of Wonder-Under has arrived. I am ready to fuse, big time! While at my AQS exhibit I was often asked what fusible I used, since there were quilts on display from as early as 1997, still in perfectly fused condition. Many had never thought of Wonder-Under as a quilt notion, and I explained why I liked it the best. Here are my answers:

Why Wonder-Under?
1. it is the widest product of its kind
2. it is the most readily available at fabric stores or Wal-Mart
3. it is the least expensive
4. it works even if it peels off the paper
5. the paper is the best for assembling fused fabrics
6. it rarely bleeds through the surface of most cottons

Why not use Heat n Bond?
1. it is not the same kind of fusible and is thick and waxy
2. stitching shows with each needle hole and sometime this may bring up the bobbin thread
3. the waxiness shows through on the fabric surface
4. it is stiff, even the lite version

Why not use Steam a Seam?
1. it is sticky and leaves glue residue wherever it is moved
2. it is narrower than Wonder-under, which is nearly 18” wide
3. it is much more expensive
4. it gums up the needle when it is quilted.
5. storage is a problem for scraps, as they stick to everything including lint.
 I have a lot of hand dyed fabric waiting to be fused and will spend a few hours each morning working through the stacks, filling in the colors that I have used up in my recent work. Turns out I use a lot of orange and turquoise. Who knew? Next would be green, of which I have everything from light to dark, yellow green, blue green and all in between. Such a useful color.



I roll my fabrics up by similar colors and have a drawer for silks and a drawer for cottons. I re-rolled everything yesterday as sort of an inventory of what is on hand and what needs to be added.

3 comments:

  1. what a great tut on fusing. you are right about the lite heat n bond so i use it for postcards mostly.
    your colors are delicious like sorbetto

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  2. Good information, Melody. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Hi Melody. I remember that you remove the WU paper before rolling your fabrics. Why is that? And why do you roll them? To minimize wrinkling?

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