I tried to get Softfuse somewhere here in the UK last year. At the time it was not available this side of the big pond.

Thanks for all your suggestions and help. Its lovely to have an excuse to be in touch with those of you who come on the forum and share my love of quilting. I am looking forward to getting this quilt top finished, but I am pretty worried about tackling the quilting. I have chosen to have a few of the larger quilts I have done quilted on a long arm with edge to edge quilting , but this one seems to me to cry out for custom quilting.

Hi Muriel -

I've just been using a glue stick to tile the pieces of Stable Stuff. It's a little messy while you're doing it, but you can move things around a bit to get things in the right place before it dries. And it'll wash out of the final quilt. You could just glue little spots like Michelle does with the tape, but I glue all of the edges because I'm a control freak and don't want to deal with edges and corners possible catching on things while I work. (I really need to find the time to get back to this quilt....)

Nancy

Muriel, Here's two ideas to use in place of the Steam A Seam II.

1) This is what I am doing: I use regular cellophane tape, the 'invisible' kind. We have Scotch Brand here, perhaps you do too. It's about 3/4" wide and I tape my tiled Stable Stuff together with it. I place about 1 1/2" lengths of tape in areas where I won't be sewing directly on it. So along the outer overlap area which will be cut away after it's all lined up, and in the inner areas of the pattern but only enough to hold the tiling in place and away from any sew lines. Then after I am done sewing my patches in place, which are on the blank side, I can pull the tape off the marked side easily. It isn't needed anymore because the stitching is holding everything in place. This is working well for me and it is not expensive.

OR

2) I learned this tip from Ricky at his Super Seminar: Cut 1" strips of very thin fusible interfacing yourself from a sheet. Sub cut these to whatever length you need and fuse these to the tiling layers. They can stay in the quilt. However, they will not 'disintegrate' like Stable Stuff will, so don't use too much of them.

HTH!
Michelle

I haven't seen SoftFuse in the shops in UK, but maybe I just haven't looked for it - I was focussing on the 1/4" double sided fusible tape I needed to complete the pattern. It is good though to know of alternative materials.
Muriel

I really like SoftFuse. Really nice to use and makes for soft applique.

I used the new steam a seam 2 lite last night and although the paper is more like freezer paper I had no trouble tracing with it. I love it's no iron adhesive properties

suehenyon wrote: I have been using SoftFuse for a couple of years now, and I like it very much. It is VERY lightweight. You have to handle it carefully so it doesn't pull away from the release paper, but it's worth the effort because appliques keep a nice, soft hand.

I bought a 3-yard roll at Paducah 2 years ago, and still have plenty left despite having done a couple of large applique projects.

suehenyon wrote:
Susan, I haven't tried the SoftFuse as yet, however, I did find a source for MistyFuse (http://www.shopsmartisans.com) and they had a package (20" x 10yds) for $29.99. At first it seemed a little on the pricey side but if you figure out what Steam-a-Seam2 costs for 5 sheets, it breaks down to be about the same if not less. I'm currently working on a large (28 x 36) 2 fabric wall hanging and I like the fact that I only have to piece a small area to make the MistyFuse fit and the parchment paper works great. The feel of the fabric after fusing the two fabrics is really soft, hardly notice that there is any fusible between the two layers. Will post pics after I finish with my buttonhole stitching.

I love the way one conversation on a topic leads to more information. It is such a worthwhile exchange of experience.
Muriel

http://www.shadessoftfuse.com/

SoftFuse is the latest fusible recommended by Sue Nichols. Has anyone tried this? I looked at bulk pricing which initially may seem like a lot, but it is 37" wide, triple the width of the Steam-a-Seam2 that I bought by the roll years ago.

MistyFuse is a fusible web that can be used with parchment paper, the kind that comes in a roll for kitchen use. It is very light and leaves no stiffness.

Sharon bought some of the new steam-a-seam at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival. If I remember right, she reported that she thought the fusible itself was stickier than before and the release paper was thicker. She didn't like the paper change because it was hard to see through for tracing. But this is all from memory.

Nancy

Does anyone know what's happened with Steam-A-Seam? I think Renata reported a problem the company had acquiring the release paper. Will we ever see it again?

Thank you very much Anne. I tried several of my favourite on line shops in the UK already and they were all out of stock. I suspect there was a manufacturing problem with the tape but fortunately Creative Grids have the same tape marked "NEW" and in a different colour packaging so I was able to get it. Another problem solved by The Quilt Show forum.
Muriel