Raw edge fusing

Jackie asked:Okay, when you put fabric on your background, do you do hand appliqué, because I can't see any bare threads hanging out as you might in fusing.

Dear Jackie,

98% of my work is all RAW edged fused. The rest is machine appliquéd or machine pieced. ALL of my small work is raw edged fused using wonder under #805 pellon fusible. It is my preferred fusible. I believe there are several reasons why there are no visible bare threads hanging on my art pieces.

1. I use only my own hand dyed fabrics or batiks, therefore there are no white edges showing on my work.
2. I use only fabric that has been washed multiple times to remove all starches or sizing from the fabric. By doing this my fusible sticks very well to the fabric. This is KEY.
3. I only cut out my designs after the “release paper” has been removed. This eliminates the need to pull the paper off the cut design which would cause the edge to fray.
4. I almost always do outline stitch in the ditch around my design elements. Although when I am using a decorative blade to cut out my design element I usually can not do stitch in the ditch. And in the case of the grass or weeds in “Prairie Grass” I cut all the long grass pieces on the bias again eliminating fraying on the edges.