Does anyone know if Phaff varimatic 6091 has an appliqué stitch

"Peggy" wrote in message news:d15a9$54908b81$cf3aab60$ snipped-for-privacy@news.flashnewsgroups.com...

You would do it like any other machine. If you are not going to do free motion set the stitch length to just a little more than zero use an open toe or clear satin stitch foot and a zigzag width to your liking.

If you want to free form it use a darning foot, lower the feed dogs and the presser bar lifter should like halfway down so you have thread tension but are not right on the material.

Ron Anderson A1 Sewing Machine

I've seen Nancy Zieman of "Sewing with Nancy" do appliques just as you desc ribe it Ron.

I don't know this machine, but any sewing machine can do applique -- even the old straight stitch only machines. I did applique on my grandmother's treadle when I was a kid... just wished I'd known some of the tricks I do now, like stitching a fabric to a sacrificial backing (old dryer sheets work well), then cutting a slit in the backing and turning the applique. Press well then glue the applique to the base fabric with a water soluble glue like Elmer's School Glue. Then stitch around the edges.

You can fake a pretty good hand applique with the blind hem stitch. ___^___^___ Put the straight stitches just barely outside the edge of the applique, and the zig onto the edge of the applique, just barely onto the applique.

Any stitch that looks something like ___|___| can be used to fake a blanket stitch in pretty much the same manner.

And of course, there's satin stitch, which often looks better if you go around twice... once with a narrow satin stitch, and once more with a wider one, right over the top of the first. If you're going to do that, though, you probably want a satin stitch foot or embroidery foot, one with a little hollow on the bottom of the sole, so the thickness of the stitches don't push the foot up.

Practice on scraps first... you may find you need to change the upper thread tension a smidge, or that you can't put the zigzags so close together or your fabric will distort, or that a different foot will give you better results. A good starching of your fabric before you start will also help many un-cooperative fabrics work better. Or embroidery stabilizer.

Kay

ps: see if your library has a copy of Harriet Hargrave's Mastering Machine Applique...it's a lot of good information on many different methods of machine applique. Probably some similar information in her other quilt books, too.