I really love rickrack. I add it to quilts whenever I can. Just about any excuse to add rickrack works for me!

I’ve had a hard time managing its application, though. Pinning never works. It just doesn’t stay in place. Positioning it as you sew doesn’t work because then it’s hard to get it placed correctly.

Here’s a little trick I use to hold the rickrack in place temporarily so that I can sew it down by machine.

I only use 100% cotton rickrack, and this technique works best on cotton. On any quilt that will be washed, I pre-shrink the rickrack in hot water and dry it on the dryer’s hot setting in a lingerie bag.

I use lightweight fusible web, and I cut very narrow strips about 1/8″ wide.

I cut it however long it needs to be for my project, but not longer than about 14″ or 15″, just because it’s easier to handle shorter strips.

I cut the rickrack to the length I need. Then I iron the fusible to the rickrack following the manufacturer’s instructions for iron temperature. It takes only a second or two to melt the fusible. Don’t overdo it or the fusible will disappear completely.

Then I peel the paper away.

You can see that the fusible sticks out a little bit when viewed from the right side, but that’s okay. When you fuse it down, that will disappear.

Above, I’ve followed the block instructions and marked the patch for placement of the rickrack. The marks are 1″ from each side at the bottom, and 1″ down from the top center.

From there it’s pretty simple to fuse the rickrack a little bit at a time into place.

Above, it’s all fused in place.

I use matching thread to sew right down the center of the rickrack to secure it permanently. For the photo, I used a lighter thread for visibility. In reality, use matching thread.

I find that pressing with steam flattens everything nicely. If you have trouble, try reducing the pressure of the presser foot (a really useful feature on many machines, including the HQ Stitch), or try a walking foot.

Find the free block instructions and ideas for using the blocks in last week’s post.