The Design Pro Applique Mat has been designed with a specialised surface to keep your applique templates and pieces in place to prevent slipping while fusing. Measuring 11.6″ x 16.5″ the mat is see-through to allow for repeated use even with fusible materials and includes a Teflon pressing sheet – so is it worth the £35 price tag?
Truthfully I’m undecided on this one, it has many great features and I enjoyed using it but I didn’t find it as simple or straight forward to use as is implied in the packing instructions.
Firstly although ‘see-through’ it is not completely transparent, as you can see the design I am wanting to use is not really visible until I really push down on the area.
In my opinion to truly test a product for review there is no point in making up a project to simply follow the instructions exactly as they are given – realistically you are going to want to use it in your work at various points depending on what you are making, so I actually had a project in mind to test this out on. The challenge for Aurifil Artisans throughout the month of August was Applique – any kind, any project, so it seemed only fitting that I put the Design Pro Mat to the test!
You can read all about my Aurifil project here, I’d love to know what you think!
Cutting out the fabric motifs I wanted to use and placing them on top of the mat was easy enough, although not completely clear underneath, I did have my drawings to work from and the idea/inspiration in my head so I managed with it just fine.
I have to say I absolutely loved this part of the project, playing with all the beautiful flowers and creatures, working out how to place them and where to hide them was so much fun!
The Teflon sheet was great for transporting sections to the ironing board, nothing moved out of place which is exactly what you want, however I did have to play with the settings on my iron and the length of time I was keeping it on each section for because the recommended time for the Bonda Web I was using didn’t stick down well initially – I can only put this down to the extra layer of the Teflon sheet between the iron and the fabric. It was easily solved, but is something to be aware of.
Overall it’s a useful product and with more practice I’m sure I’ll get better at using it. You can find a list of stockists by checking the Groves website or have a look at any shows you may be attending to see if they’ve got them on offer. The RRP is £38 approx but from a quick Google search I’ve seen £35 -£45 so definitely worth shopping around!
If your interested in following my creative adventures and general crafting nonsense you can find me Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook or via my website www.thatssewkerry.com
Happy Sewing!
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