Wonder Under - Steam a Seam -- Heat and Bond

I've always used Heat and Bond Lite for paper backed adhesive and bought it by the yard, but Joann's no longer carries it by the yard. Only small one yard packages and it looks like they are folded. I'd really like to buy it by the yard.


Has anyone used Wonder Under or Steam a Seam. Particularly Wonder Under which is a Pellon product. Any super disasters? Really the disasters tells me a lot.

I liked buying the giant economy size rolls of heat bond lite at Joann's, but they quit carrying those. I've used steam a seam before and it works fine, but the problem is sometimes the adhesive part is tricky. You have a paper layer on either side of it, unlike heatbond. Heatbond only has the paper on one side. I'm not sure I've used wonder under. Of the two, I have packs of both around here, but I greatly prepfer heatbond. I think I saw my Walmart still carries it by the bigger roll, so you might try there. I also see it's listed on Amazon.

This question always stirs up such personal preferences. I find Wonder Under to be stiff and sticky - don't like it at all. I thought Steam a Seam was okay, though when I was doing some testing, the fabric edges frayed an eensy bit compared to the H&B Lite. And, like Bratt mentioned, there's paper on both sides, and I think it's tricky to figure out which side is which. My LQS has carried the H&B by the yard. I'm thinking you can find it somewhere.

I did see online now at JoAnn's in 5 yard pieces. I'm betting it's on a roll, so no creases. I have a bit of a fear of Steam a Seam due to a fail from a fellow quilter in a class. It was a fusible applique we were doing. HUGE applique -- Christmas tree about 3-1/2 feet tall with large curling branches. Anyway she had used Steam a Seam and the paper with the traced pattern kept coming off before it was cut. She had to pin it on and then cut. I'm betting she traced it on the wrong paper side. Considering how dumb I am on some of those things, I would totally do that, so would likely steer clear of Steam a Seam.

I'm a Heat N Bond person too. I buy it by the bolt and then roll it onto a kid's art paper dispenser I got from IKEA... ($6.99)



It is flippin' brilliant.

Steam a seam always seems too thick for me, Wonder Under too stiff. Remember I do the eensy fiddly fusing, so lite is the way to go for me.

There are some new products out there - Shades Soft Fuse and Misty Fuse have both gotten rave reviews from quilter friends of mine. BUT at least the Misty Fuse is stinkin' expensive and the raves for both products came from people who are involved with the making money end of quilt shops.

I'll be happy to share my stuff with you, as I'm sure many others are. Just whistle...

Tracy - "It is flippin' brilliant." Yes, indeed!! I already knowed you're smarter 'n the average bear.

For $6.99, that is flippin' brilliant.

I too don't pay too much attention to quilt shops raving about their new product. I'd rather rely on yous guys to tell me the down and dirty.

I too love Heat and Bond Lite, but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on a better product.

I hate wonder under. Never could get that stuff to work for me. Don't have steam a seam around here but wouldn't deal with 2 papers. Love HeatnBond Lite. Works the best for me. Buy it off the bolt at LQS, roll it on a cardboard bolt thingy that I had empty at home.

Wow Yogi, that is flippin brilliant. Wonder if Ikea still has those?

Stopped at Hancock Fabrics on the way home from work. It's kind of out of the way, but doable. They had Heat and Bond BOTH Lite and Featherlite. I bought a yard of both. Will try featherlite and see how that works and will also have the lite in case I don't like it. Then once I decide, I'm buying a boatload of the one I like.

Don't like Steam a seam and the 2 paper thing. I always drawn my pieces on the wrong side!

I love Shades Soft Fuse and Misty Fuse but they are getting expensive.

For the price I've had the best luck with Heat n Bond Lite and Wonder Under.

I just bought Wonder Under Web with no paper like Misty fuse but haven't tried it yet!

FB That is "flippin' Brilliant" I am going to built me one of those! I'm always trying to figure out the best way to store my fuse.

Fb, where do you buy your bolt from... I always buy by the bolt too... I would be willing to try H & B lite... using wonder under now...

Golo, I got my first bolt a Jo-Ann's with a 50% off coupon. The last one I got, though, was from the warehouse 'my' shop uses.

Tried both last night. The FeatherLite was TOO lite. The glue was so thin that the paper kept coming off white trying to trim. Then there wasn't enough to stick to the background fabric. I'm going to try it on another project just to be sure though.

Two things might affect it:

1. Iron too hot. The instructions (which I didn't read until this morning. ) said medium high and mine was set at higher.
2. Fabric should be washed first. I've never washed my fabric with the Lite even though the instructions tell you to do so, too.

Another product I have used and liked is Print and Fuse. You run these sheets through your printer then fuse. It seemed more pliable to me than H and B lite. It is pricey but sometimes I am lazy and it works well for fiddly things.

Never heard of that Anita. Woud be great not to have to trace everything.

I guess I need to weigh in for Wonder Under as no one else seems to like it. I live in the sticks & it is the only kind available to me. I've never used anything else & I've never had any problems. BUT I follow the directions to the letter. I usually buy 3 or 4 yards at a time & roll it onto a Christmas wrapping paper tube.

Anita M. wrote:

Another product I have used and liked is Print and Fuse. You run these sheets through your printer then fuse. It seemed more pliable to me than H and B lite. It is pricey but sometimes I am lazy and it works well for fiddly things.

Only problem is you have to make it reverse everything then. Sometimes I don't care, but I use my applique pressing sheet a lot. That tells you to put the pattern underneath, so everything HAS to be reversed if you do that.

Reverse!!! Dang! I traced the BOM snowman and forgot to reverse it. Oh, Well. It's going to face the other direction!

Luvsquilting wrote:

Reverse!!! Dang! I traced the BOM snowman and forgot to reverse it. Oh, Well. It's going to face the other direction!

Gee, I've never done that. Nor have I ever asked myself "What were you thinking?" Nor have I - - oh, wait a minute. Must be that I have memory problems. it's so nice when you do it with a piece that can face the other way. "About face, Snowman."

Look that'a way! NO! Look the other way!



At work when I forget something or do something wrong I say:

"Senior moment or brain fart. You make the call."

Did y'all notice anything odd about my Christmas BOM? I didn't reverse anything except the letters. There wasn't anything that would be adversely affected and I really don't care what my snowman looks at. I find the whole reversing thing a big pain in the tush so usually chose to add my own artistic touch and face everything the opposite way by not reversing.

Sometimes the appliques are already reversed.

Anita, Oh, that's right! Hadn't thought about that. It's just so important to keep my wits about me while doing the tracing, and sometimes my wits go off to play somewhere without me.

You rebel, you, TxM!! Do you sing "I Did It My Way" while you're just blithely going ahead without reversing?!?

Yeah, I've forgotten to reverse enough times myself! The thing for me is that with my pressing sheet, since I'm basically fusing on top of the pattern, it really does need to be going the same direction as the pattern. Course if it's one where I can eyeball it easily enough and fuse on my own, I don't care too much!

I'm with you TXM>>>> never worry about reversing..