On the most recent Futurama Quilt post, Rachel from Quilt or Dare asked a most excellent question:
Are the raw appliqued edges in danger of fraying?
The short answer – yes, a very little bit.
Now, you all know I can’t answer a question that good in five short words! The truth is, I didnt believe it either. Before I got stated with Futurama, I did a fair amount of testing with large appliques. Remember this quilt top? I also did a few tests on smaller swatches. I couldn’t find those swatches for this post, so I made a few more and abused them, a lot.
Abuse List
1. Put it on the floor and danced on it. Took it outside, put the face on the concrete and danced some more.
2. Ran it under hot tap water for several minutes. Pulled on the edges of the stitching. Rubbed the stitched sides together – hard!
3. Dish soap. Oh yeah, that’s right. dish soap. Filled it up to a big sudsy mess. Scrubbed the inside of the sink, around the garbage disposal, and the stove.
4. Wrung out as much water as possible and scrubbed around the stitches with steel wool. Abuse I tell you!
5. Dryer time! Left in an extra 10 minutes for good measure and washed and dried it all over again.
The Straight Stitch
So this one shows the abuse the most, which is what i would expect. Now if you need a ragged look for any of your quilts, you know it just takes a little driveway dance and some steel wool! I will tell you, I expected it to be much worse than it is. In some places it didn’t fray to anywhere near the stitch line. I suppose over time, it would.
The Blanket Stitch
This one held up really well! I did expect to see much more trouble especially considering how hard I pulled on it. I didn’t see any change in it’s fray amount on the wide stitches or the thin stitches. All in all, very nice job of staying together!
All different sorts of zig zags
On this swatch I tried all sort of zig zag sizes and shapes. Know what? THEY HELD UP TOO! In fairness, the larger zig zag had the most fraying, but all in all, I was surprised.
Futurama Quilt Sized Zig Zag
Here’s the true test – the size zig zag that’s being used on the futurama quilt 2.8w x .8l. Drum roll!
This one frayed the most! Why – because I didn’t do a very good job. See how I got off the line? The great new is, it doesn’t matter! I just trimmed off those frayed edges and it is good as new. If I had fallen off the other side of the fabric, I would have real fray problem. Overall, I find that it holds up really well, but does require a bit of diligence to be sure every single edge is well tucked into that zig zag. The simple solution? Bump the width! I see no reason not to go a high at 3.5 if you want a little bit of wiggle room for error.
Now I realized my abuse isn’t equivalent to years and years of a well loved quilt’s life, but it is good enough for me to believe that it will handle several years of use and care without falling apart or fraying more than an incidental amount.
Tell me about your experience with raw edge applique. Do you have any pieces that have really been through wringer? How did they hold up? Any tips for reducing the risk of fray?
Susan, I am always so appreciative of the time and effort others go to and then are willing to share! I am too impatient to test, lol. This was very informative and also amusing!
science!
I had a good laugh at you’re abuse list.
What a good test. Thank you. I haven’t done much applique at all, just a tiny bit. Last year I made a dog quilt and made a goof in the process that I covered with raw edge applique. That was the first time ever I did raw edge and I wonder how long it will hold up. I gave this quilt to my sister in law for her 2 boxers. They share it on their bed in the living room and it takes a lot of abuse. I gave it to her last May and it gets washed at least once a week sometimes more often. The raw edges are still holding up. I didn’t zig zag it either, just straight stitching a few times around.
That’s really good to know! There’s a ton of work going into this futurama quilt. You give me an extra boost of confidence that it will hold up for me.
You know what – it was really fun to bang on that fabric. I’m so used to being careful and kind to it that it was nice to just have at it! I’m so glad and surprised that dealt with my abuse so well! The snow and ice is coming, I bet it I can bang it up out there. hmmmmmmm.
Susan, thank you for this post…it’s almost 6:00 p.m. and I got 3 hours of sleep last night, so my energy was really waning until I read this. Belly laughs are good for the soul AND the body, apparently. I was picturing you dancing on it on the driveway, and just imagining what a hysterical fit of laughter my neighbor would have had if she had seen me do that (she would *not* have been surprised, though, lol). On a serious note, your tests are great. I can’t imagine much more abuse than steel wool and dish detergent and stomping around on the quilt block. Very cool test and results!
Linda Koenig (Linda’s Landscapes)
lol! That’s fantastic Linda! I know those days well and I’m thrilled I could help with yours.
Yep, the neighbors have seen enough from me that I suspect they would think it was weird if I WASN’T outside stomping on fabric or taking pictures of some crazy thing. Just par for the course around here. Good thing us creative types can be weird eh?
Absolutely…there is a certain leeway allowed us, thank goodness!