Sewing Appliques on Figure Skate Clothing

In the past week I’ve received a couple of e-mails about appliqués. My first question comes from a gal in Australia who wanted to know how to sew a swirly appliqué to her granddaughter’s leotard.

My response:

I use a product called Heat ‘n’ Bond Lite, which is a giant sheet of fusible web (buy it on the roll when it goes on sale – about $10 USD). One side of the Heat ‘n’ Bond is the fusible web, the other is paper that withstands ironing and allows felt-tipped markers to draw on it. Make sure you purchase the Lite product; heavy bond will gum up your needle and machine and make you want to toss the whole project into the fire.

Fuse a rectangle of Heat ‘n’ Bond to the wrong side of your fabric (use a pretty cool iron on this – synthetic setting, maybe 10 seconds)
Draw the swirl or other design onto the paper backing – the design must be in reverse, so if you’re tracing letters, keep that in mind
Cut out the design
Remove the Heat ‘n’ Bond paper back
Place the design onto the fabric
Iron in the same manner as #1, but use a press cloth to protect the fabric
Cool
Edge stitch with a zig zag stitch (I usually trace the design twice with zig zag stitching. A friend of mine goes so far as to use wooly nylon thread, which is stretchy.)

As far as buying the cool, swirly fabric, I buy mine from SpandexWorld.com. They have lots of swirly Lycra but I will warn you: they require fabric cuts in one-yard increments and require a two-yard minimum order. Some of the colorful, printed Lycra that I’ve received from them has had a ghost image of the print on the wrong side of the fabric. I couldn’t see it from the right side of the fabric, so I kept it, but be sure to inspect your order upon receipt. SpandexWorld.com will send you up to 10 fabric swatches for free (e-mail form on their site), but they find the slowest letter carrier and give the envelope to him. They’re helpful, too, if you ask them to try to match a color to another – maybe find a piece of glistenette that matches some swirly orange fabric.

The reader’s solution:

I have had success with my applique. I cut out my applique pieces, then I used embroidery adhesive spray on the back of these, then I placed them carefully on my fabric. I then ironed a piece of Freezer paper (or light-weight tear-away worked too) on the top of the appliques, pinning the paper through if it threatened to move. I then did my zigzag stitch on the top and through of the paper to attach the appliques to my fabric.

When the zigzag was finished, I brought the end threads to the back and tied them off, then carefully tore away the paper off the front, using a pair of tweezers.

Worked wonderfully well – quite time-consuming – but no distortion of the stretch fabric or the stretch applique and the stitching stood up very well. The whole thing is quite sturdy and I think won’t come apart on the leotards.

I am also going to try using wash-away stablizer on top the appliques (instead of the tear-away paper) as I think wash away stablizer would be less time-consuming.

Reader Kathy M. asked: Doesn’t the applique compromise the stretch of the fabric?

My answer: Yep. The applique with Heat ‘n’ Bond will make the fabric less stretchy. Be sure to use Lycra with a 2-way stretch (both parallel and perpendicular to the selvage edge) for the main garment fabric as well as the appliqué.

Do you have a method for sewing appliqué to stretch fabrics? Please share your experiments, your failures, and your successes in the comments.

Do you have a question for Ice Mom and the Advisory Board? Excellent. Please e-mail it to me so I have something to post on July 2. Is there a post you’d like to see? Excellent. Please e-mail me with your ideas: I welcome your help. Are you in the mood to write something for this blog yourself? Excellent. Please e-mail me. Are you a figure skating expert and you want to appear on Ask the Expert? Excellent. E-mail me and we’ll work out a date. My e-mail is: icemom.diane@gmail.com

Photo credits:
Batman and the sewing machine: scary_mary on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Flower appliqué: imrandygirl on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Concentric circles: crafty_dame on Flickr.com Creative Commons

Silver Blades

My conundrum is how to sew non-stretch items on to the stretch fabric such as a string of rhinestones. I don't want the threads to pull out while skating and have the string becoming detached on the ice.
fgrsk8r

Where do you buy appliques? I would love to add one to a dress but do not know where I would get one.
Thanks
Beth

I am hesitant to use anything requiring heat on Lycra. When doing applique on lycra, I put a couple drops of E6000 (adhesive I use for crystals) on the piece to hold it in place. I then zig-zag around the outer edge of the applique. I don't combine stretch and non-stretch fabrics, so everything continues to stretch.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

From a reader who e-mailed me:

There's a nice example of applique of shiny stuff onto stretch velvet over at Pattern Review and they're not sewn on the edges.

http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readrev...

My one warning on all of non sewn appliques, is don't put them anywhere where there is going to be stress on the fabric. If the main stretch of the fabric is sideways, think of up and down or diagonal patterns, otherwise they will peel. Experience is the best teacher!
Madeline

Thanks so much for posting the Heat N’ Bond applique method, IceMom! I’m just starting to sew my daughter’s practice clothes, and she loves the appliques. I used a 4-way stretch Lycra blend for both the pants and the applique, and Heat N’ Bond worked great as a temporary bond prior to zigzagging.
Madeline

Thanks so much for posting the Heat N' Bond applique method, IceMom! I'm just starting to sew my daughter's practice clothes, and she loves the appliques. I used a 4-way stretch Lycra blend for both the pants and the applique, and Heat N' Bond worked great as a temporary bond prior to zigzagging.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hi, Silver Blades.

Sorry to just be getting back to this comment.

You’re right: non-stretch trim doesn’t work well on stretch fabric. The exception is on skirt hems. I’ve trimmed out a figure skating skirt with a beautiful 4-inch fringe that had a non-stretch selvage edge with no problem at all.

However, I trimmed one of Ice Girl’s dresses across the bodice with beautiful non-stretch sequins and it was a nightmare. Very, very hard to put on the dress. She loved that dress, though.

I know you can buy strings of rhinestones that are stretchy. You might want to try the Lycra Lady http://performancewearfabrics.com/ for help finding them. You’ll have to call Betty, though. She’s terrific. Tell her I sent you.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hi, Silver Blades.

Sorry to just be getting back to this comment.

You're right: non-stretch trim doesn't work well on stretch fabric. The exception is on skirt hems. I've trimmed out a figure skating skirt with a beautiful 4-inch fringe that had a non-stretch selvage edge with no problem at all.

However, I trimmed one of Ice Girl's dresses across the bodice with beautiful non-stretch sequins and it was a nightmare. Very, very hard to put on the dress. She loved that dress, though.

I know you can buy strings of rhinestones that are stretchy. You might want to try the Lycra Lady http://performancewearfabrics.com/ for help finding them. You'll have to call Betty, though. She's terrific. Tell her I sent you.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I’ve never had a problem with Heat N Bond and Lycra because the iron must be on the lowest setting.

How difficult is is to sew through E6000? Does it gum up your needle?
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I've never had a problem with Heat N Bond and Lycra because the iron must be on the lowest setting.

How difficult is is to sew through E6000? Does it gum up your needle?
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I don’t buy appliques, I make them. The store-bought ones will be stiff and not at all stretchy. You’ll need to make your own out of Lycra.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I don't buy appliques, I make them. The store-bought ones will be stiff and not at all stretchy. You'll need to make your own out of Lycra.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Back in the day, we called Lycra two-way stretch because it stretches against and along the grain (two ways). Many people call it a four-way stretch now, but really, it’s the same thing.

Glad the Heat N Bond worked for you! I’ve had great success with it, too.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Back in the day, we called Lycra two-way stretch because it stretches against and along the grain (two ways). Many people call it a four-way stretch now, but really, it's the same thing.

Glad the Heat N Bond worked for you! I've had great success with it, too.