HeatnBond Fusible Webs: results and insights from a week of testing

What a week it’s been. I’ve had a blast experimenting with the HeatnBond fusible webs and sharing tips for woven fabrics and applique. I’ve learned a lot and want to share my thoughts with you today.

HeatnBond fusible web products

Keep in mind that my samples were not scientific by any means. I did keep the prewashed and not prewashed fabrics separate. I also noted the weight and type of fusible web for each sample.

After marking all the samples with a permanent pen, I threw them into the washing machine and dryer to see what would happen.

Let’s have a look.

I’ll start with the HeatnBond SoftStretch. If you remember, I used several fabrics in my samples: fleece, stretch denim, flannel, and T-shirt knit. I learned that I’m not an experienced sewist with stretchy fabrics, but for the sake of the experimenting, everything worked out just fine.

Here’s a picture of all the hems I made using the SoftStretch Lite or Ultra. All of the hems came out of the wash looking amazing. That was super impressive!

The sample hems on knit fabrics (and flannel) using HeatnBond SoftStretch Lite and Ultra

Here’s a couple of things to note:

• The stretch denim and the red T-shirt knit maintained their stretch in the fused hem, although the stretch was slightly less than the non-hem section. This factor would help stabilize the hem and prevent unsightly stretching.
• The blue and gray fleece also maintained some stretch in the hem, but not nearly as much as in the non-hem section.

The T-shirt knit retained its stretch in the fused hem

• While the nap is crushed somewhat by the pressure of the iron on the back, the front looks great, and you would never know that an iron touched it.

The nap is crushed somewhat by the pressure of the iron on the back, the front looks great.

The samples where I stitched a cover stitch hem with either a twin needle (sewing machine) or the serger retained a good amount of stretch. I love how the fusible web tape made getting a perfect cover stitch hem easy. The red knit kept wanting to curl and is thick, so the SoftStretch tamed it to get the ideal cover stitch hem. The width of the SoftStretch is ⅝” (15.9mm) – wouldn’t it be great if it came in skinnier widths (¼”) just to tack down the edge for the cover stitch? Yes – that is a lazy way to do it, but I liked the results!

The pre-fused cover stitch hems are perfect.

Let’s look at the larger pieces of HeatnBond SoftStretch to see how it held up with washing. Here are the fleece samples; they are perfect. The gray squares remained firmly attached to the background, and there was no fraying.

The only thing to watch is crushing the nap with the iron. I imagine pressing from the wrong side longer would prevent crushing the nap and still get good adhesion. In some of the gray squares, I can see the texture of my ironing surface, and it might be better to press on a towel to protect the nap. Overall, I love how they turned out.

The prewashed and not prewashed samples of fleece

The next sample is the stretch denim for the background and the thick knit for the applique. I did have a corner of the Ultra come loose, but it was easy enough to iron back in place. I found that both of these fabrics were a challenge to work with. OK – for me, ANY knit fabric is a challenge!

But here’s the thing. More experimentation needs to happen. Was it the stretch denim? Was it the T-shirt knit? Was it the temperature? Was it the length of time? Did I have complete coverage with the iron? Did I use steam?

The other sample (not prewashed) had zero issues with the applique square adhering to the background. Hence, this corner lifted because of an operator error, not the materials or the HeatnBond SoftStretch. I sometimes found myself losing track of the fusing time, likely what happened in this instance.

I point this out because keeping close track of the temperature and fusing time is critical to the product’s success, as described.

Incorrect fusing time resulted in inadequate adhesion.

Look at the other stretch denim/heavy knit samples. They turned out amazingly well. Of course, there was no fraying, and all of them stuck well, except for that corner you saw in the previous photo.

Interestingly, there didn’t seem to be any difference between the washed and prewashed samples.

The stretch denim and T-shirt knit samples

Let’s look at the T-shirt knit. See how unruly that is – the edges wanted to roll like mad, which is why I like the adhesive tape (fusible web) to assist with the cover stitch hem. I wasn’t a fan of that red knit, but it worked very well as a background for a lighter knit fabric. None of the corners came up on these samples.

The light knit on T-shirt (heavy) knit samples

The last fabric I played with using the HeatnBond SoftStretch was a flannel. I was surprised to see this fabric on the recommended list of fabrics. However, flannel has a lot of flexibility; the recommendation was to use SoftStretch. You could try the products recommended for woven fabrics, but I didn’t have time.

By the way, I pressed all the samples after they came out of the dryer, as they were a bit wrinkly. None of the corners came up on this fabric, but there was fraying on the squares with no stitching. I’m not surprised, as flannel has a very loose weave and is prone to fraying.

I expected differences between the washed and not prewashed samples, but they came out very similar. Now, I did NOT get scientific and measure the samples for shrinkage, but  I’m sure there was some shrinkage.

The flannel samples using HeatnBond SoftStretch

Now, let’s move on to the woven fabrics to see how they did.

I’ll start with the sample that has multiple layers. I blanket stitched around all edges. By feeling the samples, you can tell which is the HeatnBond Lite (heavier) and which is the Featherlite. There’s a definite stiffness in the area with three layers, but these are three SOLID layers of fusible web and fabric, so I expected this stiffness with both weights. But for slight overlaps in your applique project, they would be just fine. I’d choose the Featherlite over the Lite for multiple overlaps.

Woven fabric (washed and not prewashed) samples with multiple layers of HeatnBond Lite and Featherlite

As expected, because these are woven fabrics, there’s some fraying on these samples if the edges were left unfinished, and I had a few mishaps with the fusing.

The fusing time for the Lite and Featherlite products is very short. The packaging says that the appearance of the fusible should be milky after fusing to the applique fabric (2 seconds), and mine was shiny, indicating it was overheated, which may be why this corner came up. I was able to repress the shape in place.

Look how nice the edges are with the blanket stitch!

The corner did not adhere to the background

Here are the samples of the prewashed fabrics. Except for that one corner that came up, all the pieces look good with minimal fraying, even when the edges were left raw. I’ll talk about the top sample, which was done with Ultra, in a minute.

The prewashed samples on woven fabric using HeatnBond Ultra, Lite, and Featherlite

If I look at the non-pre-washed samples, they did pretty well; however, one of the unstitched pieces came entirely off! I could fuse it back in place, and there was minimal fraying on all the pieces with the raw edges. Why did that piece come off? If there was sizing in the fabric – that could significantly affect the adhesive qualities of the products. Another culprit could be overheating the square, causing it to lift. When applying the applique square to the background, the pressing time is 6 seconds, which is NOT a long time.

The non-prewashed woven samples using HeatnBond Ultra, Lite, and Featherlite

I’m not sure what happened with the samples using the Ultra. I suspect I completely overheated both samples because of the large area, and parts of both squares lifted off the background. The lack of adhesion happened with both the prewashed and non-prewashed samples.

Is this bad? No – it’s a good thing to know, and I need to find a way to prevent the overheating! I was able to repress the squares in place. A larger pressing device (like a heat press) might provide an even and consistent heat over the entire sample without overheating the areas by moving the iron around.

The woven fabrics with Ultra were overheated and did not adhere well to the background

The last sample is a good example of shrinkage. I fused a grosgrain ribbon to a canvas fabric. I did not prewash any of these materials. Look how that fabric puckered with the HeatnBond Lite but not the HeatnBond Ultra!

Samples of grosgrain ribbon on canvas

So what does all this tell us?

HeatnBond has a comprehensive line of fusible web products, which work very well when used according to the instructions. I LOVE them all. Yes – there were a few hiccups, and I would do a few things differently when I use the products in my next applique project. The biggest culprit is overheating.  However, I learned a lot by doing these samples.

I love the fusible web tapes, which are amazing for hemming, fusing bindings, and many other tasks. They stand up great when washed, and I’ll use them all in future projects.

As for the results with the woven fabrics, this experiment just emphasizes something I already knew. You must TEST TEST TEST for any project that you’re about to embark on. If you’re doing fusible web applique, will the project be washed? If so, you likely want to finish the edges to ensure a solid adhesion and prevent fraying. I used three stitches to finish the edges, and all three worked equally well to secure the piece to the background.

Wow – what an exciting week with the HeatnBond family of fusible webs. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you learned a few things. I certainly did!

Have a great day!

Ciao!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: Mastering fusible web: HeatnBond TIPS for woven fabrics and applique

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