When doing appliques (especially the blanket stitch and vintage style) Heat N Bond Lite will be your best friend! HNBL (make sure it's the purple package) irons onto the back of your applique fabrics and keeps it from fraying, makes for an easier cut, keeps fabrics adhered to your garment, and keeps appliques looking like new through wash and wear! I have three boys and do not do an applique for them WITHOUT HNBL on fabrics. Shop Heat N Bond Lite here!
Follow this picture and step by step tutorial for learning how to use HNBL!
STEP 1: iron the textured side of the HNBL to the fabric you're using for an applique. I apply it to large sections of fabric at a time as a time saver. No steam and medium heat. So, you're iron will actually touch the paper side and the textured side touches the fabric.
Step 2: Let the heated HNBL cool a bit then peel off the white paper, You should now have fabric with adhered HNBL to it. Please note: Either side of this gingham fabric can be used to applique with so it doesn't matter which side the HNBL is ironed to. However, if you are using a fabric that has a clear front and back, the HNBL would be ironed to the BACK of the fabric. Think of it like a piece of tape that is sticking the fabric to the shirt.
Step 3: Prep and hoop (or float) your garment like normal. HNBL is NOT stabilizer. You still need stabilizer. So, after your garment is stabilized and hooped/floated applique your shirt as usual going through all the steps as you normally would.
Step 4: After finishing your applique, the fabric with HNBL is ready to be bonded to the knit of your garment (hence the name Heat N bond. you heat it to the applique fabric then bond it to the shirt!) So, take y our finished garment back to your ironing station and on medium heat, no steam (check your iron settings!) iron over your applique to bond it to the shirt. The HNBL instructions on the package are good too!! Note: if you're iron is too hot or left in one place for too long it CAN melt stitches so just be careful not to set it over one place for too long. To avoid this you can also bond the fabric to the knit after you have cut the fabric and before the topstitch. which is what you'd want to do when using HNBL with a satin stitch applique anyways.
I hope this tutorial was helpful! And again, HNBL will make all the difference in the world to the appearance of your appliques if done correctly. This precious superhero paper dolls design is available in the shop!
