Applique Methods Compared: Fusible, Needle-Turn, Freezer Paper

Which method to use

Method	Edge	Speed	Best for	Skip it for
Fusible web, raw edge	Raw, stitched over	Fastest	Wall quilts, flag cantons, children's quilts, lots of small shapes	Heirloom bed quilts you want soft and drapey
Needle-turn by hand	Turned	Slowest	Traditional floral blocks, curves, take-along handwork	Very small, very sharp points if you're new to it
Freezer paper	Turned	Medium	Circles, hearts and any shape that has to match its template exactly	Huge numbers of tiny pieces
Back-basting	Turned	Slow, little prep	Complex layouts with many overlapping pieces; no templates to cut	Thick or dark backgrounds you can't see lines through
Machine stitch over turned edges	Turned, machine-finished	Medium	Quilts that will be washed often	Pieces under about ¾ inch

All of the methods start with a template. Our applique template generator prints stars, hearts, leaves, circles, flowers and a bird at any size, with or without the turn-under allowance and reversed for fusible web.

Fusible (raw-edge) applique

Paper-backed fusible web is a sheet of heat-activated glue on release paper. You trace the shape on the paper side, fuse it to the back of your fabric, cut it out, peel the paper and press the shape to the background. Then stitch around the edge so it stays down through washing; glue alone lets go eventually.

Left: the bird traced reversed on the paper side of fusible web, facing left. Right: the fused navy bird with a gold wing, facing right — Trace shapes reversed on the web's paper side. Fused, they face the way you planned.

Trace the shape reversed on the paper side of the web. Leave about ¼ inch between shapes. (Symmetric shapes like stars and hearts don't need reversing.)
Cut the shapes apart roughly, outside the lines. For large shapes, cut out the middle of the web too, leaving a ring about ¼ inch wide inside the line. The shape stays soft in the middle and only the edge is glued.
Fuse each piece to the wrong side of its fabric, following the temperature and time on the web's package. Let it cool.
Cut on the traced line, peel the paper, position the shape and press it in place.
Stitch the edge (see the machine stitches below).

A light, sewable web is the one to buy; heavy “no-sew” webs gum up the needle. HeatnBond Lite is the light kind our American flag quilt pattern uses for its 50 fused stars.

Needle-turn applique

Needle-turn is done by hand. The shape is cut with a ³⁄₁₆-inch allowance, and you fold the allowance under with the tip of the needle a little at a time as you stitch.

A pink heart with its turn-under allowance dashed around it, a straight clip into the inner point at the top and small V notches around the two curves — Clip into inside points and inside curves; notch outside curves if the allowance bunches. Stop a couple of threads short of the finished line.

Mark the finished line on the right side of the fabric with a fine pencil or a removable marker. Cut on the dashed line of the template, ³⁄₁₆ inch outside the mark.
Pin or glue-baste the shape to the background, or hold it with short applique pins.
Thread a fine needle (a size 10 or 11 straw needle is common) with thread that matches the shape, not the background. 50-weight or finer cotton or polyester disappears best.
Start on a straight or gently curved edge, never at a point. Sweep about ½ inch of allowance under with the needle until the marked line just disappears.
Bring the needle up through the background and catch two or three threads at the very fold of the shape. Go back down into the background right beside where it came up, travel about ⅛ inch underneath, and come up again. Stitches 8 to 12 per inch are typical.
At an outside point, stitch right up to the tip, fold the tip allowance under, then sweep the next side under and take a second stitch at the tip. At an inside point, clip into the allowance almost to the line and take two or three closer stitches there.

Freezer paper applique

Freezer paper has a plastic coating on one side that sticks to fabric when you iron it and peels away clean. It gives you a firm edge to turn the allowance over, which makes accurate circles and smooth curves much easier than needle-turn.

Print or trace the template without allowance and cut the freezer paper exactly on the line.
Iron it shiny side down to the wrong side of the fabric. (Because the paper goes on the back, reverse any one-way shape.)
Cut the fabric about ³⁄₁₆ inch outside the paper.
Press the allowance over the paper's edge with the tip of a hot iron, using a little spray starch or a glue stick to hold it. Clip inside curves and points first.
Stitch the shape down by hand or machine, leaving a 1-inch opening. Remove the paper with tweezers, then close the opening. Some quilters stitch it all the way round, slit the background behind the shape and pull the paper out from the back.

For circles there's an even easier version: cut the fabric circle ½ inch bigger than the finished size (the generator's circle with a ¼-inch allowance), run a gathering stitch around the edge, pull it tight around a card or heat-resistant template circle and press.

Back-basting

Back-basting skips templates almost entirely. You trace the whole design onto the back of the background, so the lines show where every piece goes.

Trace the design, reversed, on the wrong side of the background.
From the front, lay a piece of applique fabric over the area it will cover, a generous ¼ inch past the lines all around.
From the back, baste along the traced line with a long running stitch through both layers. The basting stitches now outline the shape on the front.
Trim the applique fabric ³⁄₁₆ inch outside the basting. Remove a few basting stitches at a time and needle-turn the edge under. The holes left by the basting show you exactly where the fold goes.

Work the pieces that sit underneath first, and leave the allowance flat where another piece will cover it.

Machine applique stitches

From left: straight stitch, zigzag, satin, blanket and invisible (blind hem) stitches.

Stitch	Where the needle goes	Starting settings to test	Look
Straight stitch	About ⅛ inch inside the edge	Length 2 to 2.5 mm	Raw edge frays a little and softens with washing
Zigzag	Right swing just off the edge, left swing into the shape	Width 2 to 2.5 mm, length 1 to 1.5 mm	Covers the edge; a casual look
Satin stitch	Same as zigzag, packed tight	Width 2 to 3 mm, length close to 0.3 to 0.5 mm	A solid, bold outline; hides fraying completely
Blanket stitch	Straight part on the background touching the edge, bites into the shape	Width and bite about 2.5 mm	Folk-art look, often in black or a contrast thread
Invisible (blind hem)	Straight stitches on the background beside a turned edge, small bites into the fold	Width about 1 mm, length about 1.5 mm, monofilament or fine matching thread	Looks like hand applique

Those numbers are only a place to start; machines name and measure their stitches differently, so sew a sample on scraps of the same fabrics first. A few things hold for every machine:

Use an open-toe foot so you can see the edge.
Put a tear-away or wash-away stabilizer under the background for satin and blanket stitch, or the background puckers.
Stop with the needle down on the outside of the curve to pivot. On tight curves, pivot every two or three stitches.
At a star point, stitch to the tip, pivot with the needle down on the outside, and go back up the next side.
Pull the top thread to the back and knot it; backstitching shows on applique.

Common problems

Problem	Cause	Fix
Shapes face the wrong way	One-way shape not reversed for fusible web or freezer paper	Trace reversed; the generator's Reverse box does it for you
Fused shape peeling at the edge	Iron too cool, or no stitching	Re-press with the web's recommended heat, then stitch the edge
Stiff, board-like applique	Heavy web, or web under the whole of a big shape	Use a light web and cut away its middle
Pointy bumps on curves	Too much allowance turned at once	Turn ¼ inch at a time; trim the allowance to ⅛ inch on tight curves
Fraying at inside points	Clip went all the way to the line	Stop the clip a thread or two short; take extra stitches there
Background puckers under stitching	No stabilizer, or the thread tension is too tight	Add stabilizer; loosen the top tension a little
Shadow of a dark seam allowance through a light shape	Light fabric over a dark background	Line the shape with a second layer, or cut the background away behind it

After the applique is done, quilting around each shape makes it stand out. Echo quilting is the classic choice; see echo and feather quilting. Then layer the quilt as usual, starting with basting.

Products on this page

Photos and prices come from Amazon and can change.

HeatnBond Lite Iron-On AdhesiveCheck price on Amazon

Applique methods compared