The Stabilizer Series

The Stabilizer Series – Sulky
Tender Touch
We are well into this series now and have gone through the
basics of stabilizers and their uses, now lets get to some
other uses!
If you missed the start of this series, here are the links:
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and the Infographic!
Today I want to tell you about Sulky® Tender Touch™. Tender
Touch originated as a “cover-a-stitch” backing that is used
when you do embroidery on clothes for babies or small
children. That is still the primary use of this product, but
there is sew much more you can do with it!
For me personally, Tender Touch has saved the day on many
occasions. My younger daughter, Krissy, is very particular
about what touches her skin. We have had more than one
complete over-the-top dramatic melt down over the fact that
“something on the inside of this shirt is itching me!” In
comes the super hero of stabilizers, Tender Touch! I just iron
it over the offending area (while Krissy is still playing out
her dramatic scene next to me on the floor) and give her back
the shirt. TADA! It’s fixed and we can all go on with our
lives. In case you are wondering, Tender Touch will adhere to
almost all fabrics including sequins, lamé, tulle, organza and
seams of all kinds (guess how I know!).
Tender Touch is also a perfect backing when you are doing hand
embroidery. Not only does it stabilize your fabric and the
stitches without changing the hand of the fabric, it also
ensures that the thread doesn’t show through from the back of
your design. This means you don’t have to cut and tie off
every time you want to move to another area to stitch. You can
let that thread string across the back and no one will see it
once you finish the project.
Have you ever wanted to make a t-shirt quilt but weren’t quite
sure how to start? Tender Touch! Cut the t-shirts apart and
then stabilize the area you plan to use for the quilt with
Tender Touch. This makes that knit shirt more manageable
without changing the hand of the fabric, which means it will
still stay soft and cuddly for the finished quilt.
Tender Touch is also a perfect fusible interfacing! My friend
Mimi G of Mimi G Style uses it this way. Check out her blog
post here about her first experience with it.
Tender Touch is also a good stabilizer to put on the back of a
fabric that you are thread sketching! The soft hand of it
allows it to slide nicely over your sewing machine bed so you
don’t have to fight any resistance when you are working on a
thread sketch design.
Occasionally, I will get an email or phone call from someone
saying that they used Tender Touch to cover the stitching of
an embroidery design and after a wash that it will just come
off. In my experience, if the Tender Touch comes off, it
usually means it wasn’t adhered well enough. The secret to
success for me has been to cut the Tender Touch with pinking
shears and to iron it on with steam. The steam and extra edges
seem to help the whole piece to stay on the garment no matter
how many times I wash it.
How about you? How do you use Sulky Tender Touch? Let me know
in the comments below!