Blanket Stitch Buddies How To

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Consider doing a double sided appliqué for projects such as blankets and towels. Use the same thread in the bobbin as on top and place additional fabric under the hoop at the same time as you do the top side, with right side down. Trim fabric on bottom at the same time as the top.
	Load the design into your machine.
Hoop the appropriate size hoop for the design with fabric and stabilizer. If your project is going to be up against baby's tender skin, this is a good place for wash-away stabilizer. Otherwise, a light-weight tear-away stabilizer will work well.
	Embroider fabric placement line. Use the same color you will use for the blanket cover stitching.
Prepare Fabric as shown below. If you are using fabric that does not fray, you can skip this step.
	I recommend using a product called HeatnBond which is fused to the back of your fabric. This prevents the appliqué fabric from fraying and only takes seconds to apply. When the design is finished, you iron the right side of the design and it then also fuses the appliqué to the fabric in your project. I purchased HeatnBond at Walmart in the fabric department, notions section. Full application directions are also included on the HeatnBond package.
	Cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover the fabric placement line. Cut a piece of HeatnBond slightly smaller than the fabric piece.
	Lay the fabric on your ironing board wrong side up. Lay the HeatnBond piece on top of the wrong side of the fabric piece. Make sure the rough, web side of the HeatnBond is facing down against the wrong side of the fabric and the smooth, paper side is facing up.
	Press the HeatnBond with a dry iron to bond it to the fabric. This takes only 2 to 3 seconds. Let fabric cool.
	Peel the HeatnBond back from the fabric.
	Place the prepared fabric to cover the fabric placement line. To hold the fabric in place, lightly spray the back side of the fabric with Sulky® KK2000 embroidery spray adhesive. Sulky® is a registered trademark of Sulky of America
	Stitch the tack down line.
Remove the hoop from the machine. Do not unhoop the fabric. Trim around the tack down line right next to the stitching. Follow the tips below and you'll find trimming takes only a couple of minutes, even for designs with little nooks and crannies.
Here are some hints for trimming your fabric very close to the stitching. 1. The most important thing I can suggest is having very good embroidery scissors. You'll want scissors that have curved blades, thin tips and very sharp blades. Those blade tips will get into the nooks and crannies easily. 2. Gently pull the fabric upwards as you trim. Keeping tension on the fabric allows your scissors to move easily along the trim line. Trim so the blades are pushed up against the trim line. 3. Slip the tip of the blade into areas that are tight or curved. For those tight places, do tiny cuts, as small as necessary, 1/8" or less. If your scissors are sharp, this goes very quickly. 4.You can also slip the scissor blade under a tight area like a curve or point and simply cut in just to the stitching as shown in the picture below. This allows you to pull the piece up, again giving you tension for trimming close in these areas. 5. Move your hoop around to cut in whatever direction works best for you. On curves or points, trim from opposite directions. 6. Once you've trimmed, if some areas still need a closer trim, pick up the hoop with your non-scissor hand and place your fingers under the area that needs closer trimming. You can actually press down against your fingers positioned under the hoop as you trim which helps to get that last bit of fabric off. 7. Some designs have two pieces of different fabric butted up against each other. Hint 6 works really well for getting in between the fabrics.
	Shown here is trimmed design.
	Finish embroidering the design following the thread sequencing instructions included with the designs. Remove the hoop from the machine and fabric from hoop. Remove stabilizer from the back. Now press the top side of the design. HeatnBond has now fused the fabrics together.