One of the things that absolutely drives me nuts when applique-ing is the constant fraying of my background fabric edges.  You know those long threads of the weave that come loose and grow in length and number exponentially with the constant handling of the fabric?  There is always one or more of these fraying threads that unknowingly get stitched in with the applique on the back resulting in many a curse under my breath.   For me to keep cutting them away as I work only adds to more and more coming loose and eventually leads to an impossibly frayed edge.  This could be a real problem if you are working with “just enough” fabric that you can’t find anymore.

Sometimes I work with very large background pieces such as borders, medallion background etc., and this is where it really annoyed me.  So, as always, I look at what some of the tools the art quilters use, but I use them differently with more traditional quilt techniques to streamline the sewing process. 

Such is the case with the Olfa Pinking Blade for the rotary cutter.  It is marketed toward the art quilters and crafters but……..For those of you who learned to sew many years ago, remember how we would keep those huge 5/8″ seam allowances from raveling out?  After stitching the seam we would pink the edges with pinking shears and voila!, no raveled out seams after being washed.  Do you ever notice how hand workers are almost ignored by the quilt industry?  A bit ironic if you think about it.   Anyway……………….

The Olfa Pinking 45mm Blade

The Olfa Pinking blade accomplishes this pinking step of old  for me in prepping my background pieces for applique.  I don’t have to stitch around the edges (that time thing again–like I even bothered) and I can work on it forever without all of those fabric threads working themselves free to antagonize me during the process.    It is also easier to square up in the end too. 

These are teaching samples which have been handled a lot over the year(s) and yet, they still have clean edges

 I no longer have to deal with edges that fray out miserably anymore and I have eliminated another cause of angst from the applique process.  Ask me if that makes me happy. 

©2009 Sandra Leichner all rights reserved