Making your own extra-swell tartan flashes

[ChattanCat]

The drawback to putting the seam on the sides is that you wind up with a ridge 4 thicknesses thick along the edges and only two thicknesses thick at the center. And the fusible web only sticks to 2 sides, so, at the seam edges, you can't really stick everything together. So it doesn't produce the really nice, flat, smooth flashes that you can get without a seam.

Anyway, there are lots of ways to make flashes! Certainly no one right way.

Hogs and quiches,

B

I made a fine enough edge stitch that there were only two layers. Will have to see if the stitches come out over time...

[Barb T]

I made a fine enough edge stitch that there were only two layers. Will have to see if the stitches come out over time...

So did you put two pieces on top of one another and edge stitch over the raw edges? I'm having a hard time visualizing what exactly you did to avoid a quadruple thickness at the edge seam.

B

[ChattanCat]

So did you put two pieces on top of one another and edge stitch over the raw edges? I'm having a hard time visualizing what exactly you did to avoid a quadruple thickness at the edge seam.

B

Yes, two pieces on top of each other without folding them under. With a fine edge stitch.

[Barb T]

I wonder if you could use a piece of Steam-a-Seam 2 in between the two layers and avoid the stitching? I'd try cutting the pieces a little oversize, steam the bejeebers out of the fusible web, and trim them to the right size. It might not ravel at all or need edge stitching. Worth a try with a small piece, anyway.

B

[James MacMillan]

Has anyone tried Dritz Fray Check?

I have used it at the bottom of cheaper flashes to keep them from fraying more or, after they started to fray, and I had trimed some off, then applied the Fray Check. After it is dry, it's a little stiff, but not completely.

It's a liquid and comes in a small bottle. I also used this product on the fringes of a Fly Plaid that I self fringed and then braided the tassels. For that application it kept the tassels from coming unbraided.

Joanne sells it here.