MJ, your directions for removing the freezer paper are excellent. There are several situations where this method is absolutely nessesary, such as labeling a quilt or adding applique to an already finished quilt. But in 20 years of applique, I have never had a problem from slicing or cutting out the background fabric. I hand quilt and find it much easier to quilt on the applique, if that extra bulk is removed. I design applique quilt patterns and do up models for trunk shows. Those models get washed a lot and they hold their shape very well. I might add that if a person was doing a tied quilt with applique, leaving the background fabric intact would be a good idea. Or in the case of a recent consignment piece involving T-shirt material, I used your method, pulling out the freezer paper, except on the pieces with the rubber paint, those I had to needle turn because that stuff melts under the iron.

2  out of 2 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?