So I learned an important lesson this week. I bet you all can guess what that is…ALWAYS read the directions when using new products. It will really save you a lot of time and frustration in the end. It’s never a good idea to assume a new product is exactly the same as what you normally use.
I’ve been looking for something to replace steam a seam fusible while The Warm Company revamps the product. This has been a nightmare for me because I love steam a seam. I recently found Pellon’s product EZ Steam and thought I’d give it a try. I figured my Modern Quilt Guild Michael Miller Fabric Challenge piece would be the perfect time to break out the EZ Steam.
Everything was going great. I drew my design, traced my pieces onto the EZ Steam, fused them all to the back of my fabric with my iron, and cut out all the pieces. All 63 pieces. I was moving right along making great progress. I decided to try and peel the paper off to see how easy it would be. I could not get the paper off. I saw the directions laying on the table and thought, “Hmmm, maybe I should look at those. Maybe there’s a trick to get the paper off.” The directions were even dummy proof. They had cute little pictures to help me out. Too bad I didn’t look at them before I started.
There’s a trick alright. I wasn’t supposed to iron it to the back of my fabric. I was supposed to use my fingers on the pressure sensitive adhesive, not my iron. I permanently adhered the paper to all 63 pieces. Awesome. I was determined to make it work and find a way to move forward. My solution, a glue stick. I thought I could use the glue stick to stick the pieces down long enough to sew around them.
That didn’t really work out like I planned. You can see from the picture above it was basically a hot mess. The little points wouldn’t stick and I couldn’t sew around them without having tons of trouble. But I kept going. I wasn’t going to start over. Not happening.
But, after much contemplation and some annoying chatter from my husband, I started over. I had to. I broke out my second to last pack of steam a seam and started over. Things went much better the second time around.
I’m sure EZ Steam is a fine product but I wasn’t taking any choices the second time around. Next time I will read the directions when I try new things. It would have saved me a lot of time.
Vicki
PS…Don’t forget tomorrow is the last day to enter the giveaway. And you should check out Instagram for another chance to win. You can look for me @OrchidOwlQuilts or click the icon in my sidebar.
I’d have done exactly the same thing- I assumed it all worked the same way :S
the annoying chatter from husband comment cracked me up. It always seem they find their way to hang out with you when something is wrong. Never when you are smooth sailing! 🙂
You know, I had problems the last time I used a fusible. I probably made the same mistake! I didn’t bother to read the directions though, so I can’t be sure. I did vow to read them the next time I use a fusible though!
Good lesson, it’s usually my mistakes, glad you figured it out. I love your quilts. Can’t wait to see what you do next.