Tips For Using Fusible Web - A Tutorial of Sorts

 This is a portion of my Think Christmas Blog Hop - Simple Merry Christmas Quilt Post, but I had such a good response to this info that I decided to make it into its own post so folks could refer back to it without having to slog through the whole Merry Christmas Quilt tutorial.  If you have additional ideas or questions, feel free to let me know. 

A note about fusible web - I really have a love/hate relationship with this stuff.  It makes some things so much easier!  But, I haven't found a brand that I love, so I tend to buy whatever is on sale or whatever is available.  I have found, though, that there are a few tricks to working with this product that keep me from tearing my hair out.  

First, this is one product that you need to PRESS, not iron.  Pick up the iron and place it down, leave it for a few seconds and do it again.  Don't slide the iron over the fabric or you may have a mess.

Second, use a HOT iron with NO STEAM.  My experience is that the steam prevents the fusible web from bonding with the fabric.

Next, go over each area using the pressing technique described above TWICE to make sure you get a good bond and let it cool completely in between.

Let the fabric COOL completely before cutting or trying to tear away the paper.

Sometimes a pin inserted between the fabric and the paper will allow you to separate the paper from the web without messing up the mesh bond.

And, if the inevitable happens and you get a bit of gooey fusible web on your iron, take a sheet of waxed paper and run the hot iron over it a few times, folding the wax paper between each run.  The wax paper will pick up the gooey webby glue and deposit a slick, slidey coating on the bottom of your iron.  (If it's really bad though,  you may need to purchase a product such as IRON OFF to get the mess to go away.)