Creative Uses for Fabric Stabilizer

Here's a tip for using your machine embroidery stabilizer for some other things. I always like to find multiple uses for the products I use in my sewing room, because why not, you know? If you're gonna buy it for one thing, you might as well use it for 10 other things. So of course, this stuff is good for stabilizing fabric for machine embroidery, that's its main use. And this, in particular, is a water soluble variety of stabilizer. And what I also like to use it for, whether it's cutaway, tearaway, or water soluble, is for pattern templates. I think it's really great for, you know, applicate templates, pattern templates, pocket templates, in particular because you can actually add it to the pocket as sort of an interfacing or interlining, and it just adds a little something. You just wanna make sure that the weight of your stabilizer isn't gonna interfere with the weight of the garment that you're working on. And also, water soluble, in particular, if you are making, let's say, a knit garment or something that has a lot of stretch to it, you can apply little strips of water soluble stabilizer to the seam before you sew it, and your fabric will actually kind of act like a woven. You'll take the stretch away completely. You can sew your seams together. And then it will just wash away and it will go back to being the stretchy knit that you know and love. And you wouldn't have had to contend with any, you know, crazy stretchy or puckering at the machine. Another thing this is good for, I mentioned applique templates, but applying the applique itself. So, here I have fused the stabilizer to the wrong side of some fabric. And then I took a little fabric print motif from a second fabric and I just used some spray adhesive, and put it on top like I would an applique, and you'll see how this stabilizer does exactly what it should, in that it stabilizes the fabric. And it makes sewing that applique on there super duper easy. You can see there's no shifting, there's no puckering. I can move the fabric no problem. And I'll just stop right there so you can see it. And then once you're done, you know, it's water soluble. So all you do, is throw your project in the wash and this is gonna completely come out. You know, a tearaway variety would also work for this, just make sure to keep your hand tight on the stitches, on the wrong side when you're tearing it away, so that the stitches don't pop. And you're good to go.