Just before Christmas I asked readers if anyone had used Mistyfuse as it is a product I had not seen in Australia. After an email exchange with the folks at Mistyfuse I received a sample to test. Before I go any further other than receiving a sample I am not affiliated with Mistyfuse or stand to gain in any way from this small review.
Mistyfuse is a range of formulated thermoplastic polymer fusibles that comes in 3 types: black, white and ultraviolet. The Ultraviolet fusible is formulated with protection against the tanning effect of long term exposure to UV rays so it is ideal of any work that you want to last a long time. All their products are manufactured, under strict environmental safety supervision and are friendly to the environment. The product produced is a fine yet strong web with no added adhesives. Since there is no adhesives there is no stiff, gooey stuff to stitch through in fact the effect on the drape and hand of the fabric is barely noticed.
This week I decided to put this product through its paces and chose to fuse fine silk to linen foundation with a couple of contrasting areas of rayon. Under the hand the linen felt like linen the silk behaved like silk and rayon well … it remained its rayon-ish self. This is an image of the first layer of the sample I worked. It is in the format of a fabric postcard.
Next I proceeded to use stitches that involve knotting the thread, twisting the thread and scooping the needle in the process of stitching.
Hand embroidery stitches that involve these actions do not normally behave when using other fusibles. With stitches like these, any stickiness on the thread causes the thread to grab and knot where you don’t want a knot to be! Bullions and French knots can not be worked with a thread that is even slightly gummed up. Stitches that involve a lot of looping such as Oyster stitch look stiff and if they are too gummy from an adhesive and often catch on themselves (in the wrong place) as they are being worked.
Threads will also influence how a stitch is worked so I included a number of different fibers in this sample. I used cotton and linen threads in a mix of weights but also added threads that don’t like being gummed up or are delicate. So to the mix of fibers I added silk, wool, and metallic blending threads. All behaved themselves wonderfully.
As you can see I really built up the layers of stitches on this fabric postcard sample. Then just to top it off I added beads. Mistyfuse behaved itself beautifully! It is a great product and has won my heart and frankly I won’t be buying anything else.
Mistyfuse can be doubled and tripled for heavy fabrics like denim. Apparently Mistyfuse holds for wet painting in tepid water which means it should be possible to combine it with contemporary surface design techniques. I plan to explore that aspect of the product next. Mistyfuse is steam heat reactivatable so you can iron lightly with a hot steam iron to refresh a bond if necessary after repeated washings.
Not only is suitable for hand embroiderers it is of course ideal for applique and quilters will find it useful. Mistyfuse will ship internationally. For Aussies apparently Craft Mailbox in Malabar (who I have not dealt with before) Punch with Judy (who I have dealt with happily before) stock it in Australia. (I am not affiliated with any of these businesses). For those readers who live down under it really is better than other products we have easy access to as I say I won’t be buying anything else from now on.
Sharon, how can we tell which Mistyfuse is the one you are famaliar with and the one you are not? Want to be sure to get the right one.
Thank you,
Jan in VA
mailto:hood@shentelnet
I have tagged you! You made my day…you should go to my blog to see what you can do if you have the time! I have heard so much about you I often find myself surfing your site for ideas!! Thanks for being out there…interesting stuff this mistyfuse is..thanks for that!!! *~*CAROLE*~*
Tally
thanks for the compliments but I do both embroidery and crazy quilting and it is not the first time I have worked this way – check out the postcards on my flickr account –
http://flickr.com/photos/sharonb/
Also on my site there are embroidery samples which uses this type of heavy textured treatment
http://inaminuteago.com/embroidery/embroiderygallery.html
and my Sumptuous surfaces class teaches this type of highly textured embroidery
details about my class are on the classes offered page – so if you want more eye candy like that
http://sharonb.wordpress.com/workshops-and-classes-offered/
Your blog was one of the first I ever discovered and I studied it, not believing how much effort you put into it! Thanks.
However, I’m into (fiber)craft, but not so much into crazy quilting, so I’m not so regular here.
What made me posting is that I just thought “wow, how beautiful, that’s great” when I saw your picture, only to find out that it was only the first and not of the finished work. Hope you don’t mind, but this one really inspires me.
Memories of one of my favorite art pieces by the surrealist Max Ernst floated through my mind as well.
Greetings to you in the other side of earth
Tally
Thanks for posting your review of MistyFuse and your positively mouthwatering sample postcard. Gotta get me some of that stuff!
I’ve used Mistyfuse but never made anything as lovely as this. This is beautiful! Gayle
Thanks for trying it out before I bought it.
I was wondering about it and now know that I can buy it and not be disappointed with it.
Thank You Kathy kathyro@smartchat.net.au
Thank for the link. I have tagged you for ‘you make my day award’.
The first week’s results from the TIF are on my blog.
Sharon, thanks for a great post covering Mistyfuse. Perhaps I won’t have to learn applique, after all. I especially enjoyed seeing your work on the fabric postcard.
I’ve just tagged you back with a “You make my day” award. Thank you for all your work, posts and classes that have been such a constant inspiration to me.
I got some MistyFuse about a year ago, and I love it. It’s everything you say it is. I wanted to be able to work with thin silks and keep the drape of them, so that I can have a CQ garment that doesn’t stand up by itself, and this stuff is going to work for that!
Hi Sharon
I would send you a personal email but I can’t find an address – if you email me your snail address I will send you some Gossamer Fuse which is our own product and you can try it for yourself.
Cheers
Dale
I knew you’d love it once you tried it!
Thanks for this recommendation, Sharon. I will definitely get some Mistyfuse when I am in the US this month. I like the fact that you say it is easy to hand stitch through. This must be just the product I am looking for. I also love your postcard – especially the way that the blue fabric changed from being positive space to negative space when you added the embroidery! cool! cheers Mara (in Beijing)
Thanks for the review of mistyfuse – its good to know how a product will work. great postcard- I’m not sure how you maintain such a large stash with such wonderfully embellished surfaces!
Hi Sharon.
Thanks for the heads up on this product. I have thought about this sort of stuff for a while and was intrigued when you asked about it. Having a positive report from you is very useful.
I have ordered items from Thread Studio in the past and they have been excellent to deal with. They are very professional.
Have a nice day.