Replies

1. 
   Stephanie_Corina_Goddard | Mar 03, 2000 02:54pm | #1

   *
   Bev, there are two approaches to using freezer paper for applique. One is to cut the desired shape from freezer paper and iron the paper to the good side of the fabric, leaving about 1/8" seam allowance all around. You would then use the needle-turn method of hand applique to turn under that 1/8" as you stitch around the applique, using the edge of the paper as a guide. The other method is to iron the cut-to-shape paper to the wrong side of the fabric and then press the seam allowance around the paper shape. You can then remove the paper, although some people like to stitch the applique with the paper still inside, then make a slit in the base fabric so the paper can be pulled out from the back. As for the embroidery markings, I just purchased a product from Clotilde's catalogue which is a tracing canvas that can be used with wash-out markers. I haven't tried it yet.

1. 
   Bev_Atkinson | Mar 03, 2000 10:48pm | #2

   *Thanks Stephanie. I will try both methods and see which I prefer!

1. 
   Angeline | Mar 19, 2000 08:59pm | #3

   *Bev - as an aside - freezer paper is great - you can also use it to make envelopes from either paper or fabric - just make a sandwich of tissue paper/cheap sarah wrap/freezer paper and iron it! you can substitute fabric for the tissue paper and then cut an envelop shape and glue together! Great for gifts matching the fabric or greeting card!angeline

1. 
   Ghillie_C | Mar 22, 2000 11:26am | #4

   *I know this sounds a stupid question, but what is Freezer Paper? I don't think anything is sold under that name in this country, but that does not mean it is not available. What are you supposed to use it for? is it the stuff you would use to stop beefburgers sticking together in the freezer? is it waxed or treated with a silicone? is it the stuff I would call 'grease proof' which you wrap sandwiches in? How does it do these marvellous sewing tricks without (apparently) any adhesive or leaving a mark?

1. 
   Bev_Atkinson | Mar 22, 2000 09:57pm | #5

   *I don't know about the UK but in Australia freezer paper is sold in craft shops and fabric stores! I have never actually seen it in the paper/foil/plastic wrap section of the supermarket! Perhaps it is actaully used for freezing in the US.

2. 
   Becca_ | Mar 23, 2000 05:05am | #6

   *(in the US)freezer paper is found at the grocery store or your local walmart along side wax paper and cling wrap. for best quality, buy Reynolds brand. and yes, i use it for crafts (envelopes, etc.) and i wrap my meats and cheeses to be frozen.

3. 
   Paula_DeWhite | Mar 23, 2000 08:44am | #7

   *Freezer Paper is great stuff. We buy if in any grocery store where you would buy foils and plastics. It is white paper with a plastic-like coating on one side. It is totally designed to wrap foods in so that they can be frozen, namely meats. A piece of meat is placed in about the center of a 24 inch square piece and then wrapped up starting at one corner and then folding in the sides so that when you finish wrapping you will have just one pointed corner to tape down. The plastic-like coating keeps the food sealed so that it does not leak and so that air does not get in to dry out the meat.We are farmers. We raise all of our own beef, chicken, and pork. We butcher them right here on our farm [after they have had a life, not as babies] and them cut up the meat and wrap each piece in FREEZER PAPER and then place it in the freezer for later consumption by our family.Most all of the Freezer paper sold in the supermarkets is for home butchering. The locker plant use a different type. You will only want to use the home-type version in your sewing room.

4. 
   Ghillie_C | Mar 24, 2000 03:45pm | #8

   *Life is crazy. My butcher in Oxford U.K. has just wrapped the weekend joint in EXACTLY the way Paula describes. I have never seen it done quite like that before with a plasticky paper, but apparently customers have been complaining about polythene bags. I shall unwrap the meat carefully and try out some applique with the bits that have not been in contact.Maybe I can then talk a few clean sheets out of the butcher, I have no idea where to buy it! Home butchering is pretty much banned here by European food hygiene laws.Ghillie

5. 
   Sew_White | Mar 25, 2000 04:33am | #9

   *Ghillie, you've got the guts, I am proud of you for trying. I would never use meat juiced paper on a sewing project! But then, here in northern America this paper is readily available in almost any grocery store. And I would probably do just what you suggested and try a good place to see how it works too. Just remember that it might not be the same stuff and then it might not work.And Gillie, What is a WEEKEND JOINT?Also our own home raised beef is MUCH safer and better to eat then processed beef. And true, not just anyone can go butcher an animal just because they feel like eating it! But this is a farming community and this is how we live. Have a good day.

6. 
   Ghillie_C | Mar 27, 2000 09:48am | #10

   *Oh dear! we are getting tangled with English and American usage here. By weekend joint I only meant the nice piece of beef I bought to roast on Sunday. It came originally from a Welsh hill farm where the steer had been raised without the use of concentrates and hopefully had a decent life and a humane death. I avoid mass produced anything when I can and certainly would not object home raised meat properly handled. European regulations ban all kinds of things for no very good reason. In many regions these rules are just ignored, but the Brits are very law abiding so we have no use for Freezer Paper. I just trimmed off the clean edges of the paper, and tried ironing them onto a piece of scrap fabric. Nothing horrible happened, but nothing very useful either. Wrong stuff I think.Happy eating!Ghillie

7. 
   Sew_White | Mar 31, 2000 03:58am | #11

   *Gillie, In America a "weekend joint" just might be a drug/marijuana party.

8. 
   Ghillie_C | Mar 31, 2000 03:25pm | #12

   *I know! I laughed when I realised the double meaning. I don't do drugs, they might make my seams go crooked.Ghillie

9. 
   Chris_Haynes | Apr 04, 2000 08:02pm | #13

   *I also use freezer paper to separate larger quantities of meat (like what you buy at Costco or when the grocery store is having a bulk bargain sale). I do NOT butcher my own. Actually, the freezer paper I have now we purchased at Costco.I also use it as "fingerpaint" paper for my kids (fingerpaint being powdered tempura paint on glob of liquid starch placed on shiny side of paper).I have tried using it for applique, but I found that the plastic coating really doesn't work that well. I actually prefer using the iron-on stabilizer I buy at the fabric store. I noticed that one of my last catalogs from Nancy's Notions had a version of freezer paper with grid lines for sewing, I haven't used that, but it might work better.

10. 
    A_udrey_Gatey | Apr 06, 2000 10:34pm | #14

    *Wow this is so great to be able to be in contact with people who can help when we need it. (just got on the net last week & the kids get more time than I do) Anyways, freezer paper-- thought that was what my parents used to wrap the beef up in so they could freeze it & have it not get freezer burn. Then a friend who got me into a quilting round robin clued me in on it being used for a stabilizer when sewing one row onto another so the quilt doesn't stretch & waffle. Now I've learned fom this site that it can be used for applique. Thanks! I asked at a store where I buy quilting fabric "where do I get freezer paper?" They told me they sold it & gave me a roll of white paper. I was surprised because the stuff my parents used is brown.It isn't as thick either. Live & learn. Maybe someone will have to snail mail you some if you can't get it anywhere --it isn't very expensive.

11. 
    Bev_Atkinson | Apr 06, 2000 11:19pm | #15

    *Thanks for all your comments - it has been really interesting to follow this discussion. (Australians understand a "weekend joint", Ghillie!) I am yet to actually try the freezer paper as I have been making a determined effort to make up some of the fabric in the stash(!!).

12. 
    Dorothy_Atkinson | Apr 30, 2000 10:19pm | #16

    *Hi Ladies,I have enjoyed this conversation on freezer paper.What an education, I wish I could have our optometristsee what we actually do on the net. He said he just got one and thinks it is just a terrible waste of time. Just look at what we have learned from this message list. We have learned about each other, meat in other countries, a joint? that was funny.I live in Canada and we haven't been able to get freezer paper. One of the fabric shops was able to get a bit which helped because I love doing applique. The lady who owned the store decided to retire and I am doing a wallhanging which is all hand appliqued and was desperate to get freezer paper.My husband took early retirement from teaching and found that he enjoys doing the grocery shopping,yeah. I was overjoyed because there is a fabric shop right next to the supermarket. He gave everyone in the fabric shop a good laugh, he came whizzing in and said "you will never guess what I got for you?"It was my Reynolds Wrap Freezer Paper 50' x 18". No on knew that it was available. The fabric shop cleared pretty quickly, as it turned out the women in the fabric shop were all quilters, so they not only got a kick out of my husband but were thrilled to know that we could get it. I wonder if the company knows what we do with their product. Perhaps if it isn't available to you, you could ask the manager of your supermarket if he would get some in. As we can see from all of the above emails that there is more than one purpose for it. My husband got me 3 rolls, I don't know whether I will ever use it up but I am sure it will shared with my quilting friends. Bye for now, Dorothy

13. 
    Dorothy_Atkinson | Apr 30, 2000 10:21pm | #17

    *Hi Ladies,I have enjoyed this conversation on freezer paper.What an education, I wish I could have our eye r.see what we actually do on the net. He said he just got one and thinks it is just a terrible waste of time. Looked what we have learned from this message list. We have learned about each other, meat in other countries, a joint? that was funny.I live in Canada and we haven't been able to get freezer paper. One of the fabric shops was able to get a bit which helped because I love doing appliquŽ. The lady who owned the store decided to retire and I am doing a wall hanging which is all hand appliquŽed and was desperate to get freezer paper.My husband took early retirement from teaching he likes to do the shopping, I was overjoyed because there is a fabric shop right next to the supermarket. He gave everyone in the fabric shop a good laugh, he came whizzing in and said "you will never guess what I got you?"It was my Reynolds Wrap Freezer Paper 50' x 18".NoIone knew that it was available now. The fabric shop cleared pretty quickly, as it turned out the women in the fabric shop were all quilters, so thquittersnly got a kick out of my husband but were thrilled to know that we could get it. I wonder if the company knows what we do with their product. Perhaps if it isn't available to you, you could ask the manager of your supermarket it he would get some in. As we can see from all of the emails that themailsmore than one purpose for it. My husband got me 3 rolls, I don't know whether I will ever use it up but I am sure it will shared with my quilting friends. Bye for now, Dorothy

14. 
    Mary_Heffernan | May 20, 2000 11:09am | #18

    *Hi Bev,& other Ladies, I have just discovered this site...wonderful. May I add to the freezer paper bit. I am in West Aust and searched in vain for this freezer paper mentioned in Harriet Hargraves Quilting by Machine Book. I could not find it in stores here, so when I was lucky to visit the States it was on my shopping list and I returned with a roll. I have since seen it here in Aus only in Quilting/Craft Shops and have not found anything equivalent in grocery shops (where it is sold in US).Uses: apart from using it as an iron on template (for needle turn hand applique), ironing it onto the reverse of a larger piece of fabric to stabilise and then draw an outline, the shape of which which can then be cut out easily with scissors for machine applique, I have found it an excellent backing to iron on prior to doing machine embroidery where the fabric is hooped (as under these top of the range sewing/embroidery machines). The sticky back paper used in the Hoop it All attachment is a different product again (and more expensive). Hope this helps explain (or confuses) further. Happy stitching. Mary

15. 
    Carolyn_Baker | May 21, 2000 04:54am | #19

    *I am looking for a beautiful cat applique pattern. I have found several "cartoon character" ones on the web, but cannot find one that really looks like a lovely cat sitting on a window sill, fabric, basket, or etc. I also want to do free hand embroidery on it so it resembles a painting. I saw one in Albuquerque in March and was told that "it is no longer sold here" so I know they exist/existed someplace. Thanks, Carolyn

16. 
    Carolyn_Baker | May 21, 2000 05:07am | #20

    *Sorry, this is my first visit and my previous question was posted on the wrong discussion board. Please forgive me...by the way, I loved & learned from the freezer paper discussion.Carolyn

17. 
    jcc | Jun 02, 2000 11:28pm | #21

    *overBooks published The Cat Coloring Book. My kids did not like it and it sits unpainted on the book shelf. If you cannot locate the book and still need cats, I will gladly aaxhem to you. You will need to send me a axaxthough. I have often thought I would do a similar project but have never gotten around to it. AC

18. 
    Heather_M._Claus | Jun 30, 2000 02:29pm | #22

    *I use freezer paper for stabilizing patterns. When I purchase older patterns, or I plan to use patterns more than once, I iron them on to freezer paper, which makes them much more sturdy. If they have rips or holes, the freezer paper will hold them together and not allow the damage to go further. Really a wonderful tool.-- Heather M. Claushttp://www.sewnet.comhttp://www.patternshowcase.com <--- now open! join our mailing list to receive special offers!