stupid frrezer paper question

Desert setting: Hot and Dry! :)

I heard somewhere that freezer paper can shrink under certain conditions, but I don't remember the details. I bet steam makes it shrink, though. Musicmaker

Kate's right, HOT and DRY!!! but not too hot. cotton setting, no steam. the FP will curl some, but i never saw it shrink... amy in CNY

I believe Judy Mathieson says that it might shrink - she recommends ironing it first to pre-shrink, then transfer patterns to it.

Just don't start pre-washing your freezer paper!!!

Hanne in London

Yes, freezer paper can shrink. When I took Susan Cleveland's "Piping Hot Curves" class, she had us preshrink the freezer paper by pressing it to the ironing board cover. Susan says to use cotton setting and no steam, as steam can make it difficult to remove the paper.

Julia in MN

I'm not sure it matters too much! I would leave out the steam - which is the general advice for quilting anyway. But I wouldn't turn the temp down from whatever I was using for the quilting fabric - very very occasionally I've got a bit of brown burn on freezer paper, but it's only been if I've been doing something that has held the iron on it for a long time, like turning a seam, but even that has made no difference to the finished result.

My best tip is to remove the iron carefully and upwards, to avoid shifting the piece, once you've melted the shiny side, it needs to cool a bit to hold it in place, so I don't pick what I've ironed up straight away.

Cheers Anne

Watch out with 'hot', though - it can scorch. . In message , amy in CNY writes

(I'll try this again from the other day, since my messages seem to go off into the ether. :-()

I cover this in all my classes. YES - FP shrinks! It all shrinks, even just a little, and more in one direction than another. My solution is to preshrink (HOT & DRY!!) onto an applique pressing sheet and Immediately pull off to cool in the air. Repeat until it stops curling. The curl, btw, is the shrinking. I believe some use steam or starch for even more shrinkage, but I have not found that worth the effort. Also, the flatter the platen on your iron (less steam vents, etc.) the better the shrinkage. Just remember, you are trying to evenly HEAT the FP, not press or iron it per se.

HTH, Lorraine

yep, i heard that too. havent used it recently so cant recall if it curl'd on me or not. i too use hot and dry, of that i'm sure. i wonder if it curls cuz paper is made from trees, much like cotton, natural fibre. even if they do coat with plastic and do whoknowswhatelse to it in the process. still needs those fibres to realign i guess. j.

"Tw> (I'll try this again from the other day, since my messages seem to go