Lite EZ-Steam II Review

I've been working on this quilt for my cousin's baby. I was out almost out of Wonder Under, so I ran up the street to Sewingly Yours for some more. Lo and behold, no Wonder Under. They did have a new product that looked interesting: Lite EZ-Steam II by Pellon. Their version of Lite Steam-a-Seam 2 I guess, which has annoyingly been off the market for some time. 

This product was on a roll, but seems very stiff, almost like interfacing. The sticky stuff is in the middle like an Oreo. It seemed light enough. My Babylock is very particular about fusible web. She doesn't like anything too thick.

I drew a piece of coral and traced over it with a dark marker. I pulled out the directions. Check to see which backing removes most easily. That seemed a little vague to me. There is a 'paper' side and a 'plasticky' shiny side. The paper side peeled easier I thought. So I traced my design on the shiny side, well my daughter traced it, and if her complaints were anything, drawing with pencil on shiny material is no easy job. She had a nice hand cramp by the end of it.

Step 3: Peel off the paper backing on the opposite side (ok, so I was right about tracing on the shiny side), and place the pressure sensitive adhesive against the wrong side of the applique fabric. Alright, this is sounding a lot like Steam-a-Seam Lite, right? Stick it on, cut it out, position right side up on the right side of your background. Hang on, do you peel the shiny fabric off first? Unfortunately it doesn't say. I am familiar with Steam-a-Seam, so I just assumed you do. But if you've never used fusible, you could be in trouble at this point.

Well, here I am in a whole lot of trouble anyway! I spent a lot of time cutting out this irritating shape and make the mistake of pulling the shiny sheet off too quickly. Let me tell you, this stuff is tacky! This isn't Steam-a-Seam for sure. That product has just the right amount of stick to keep the applique in place, but not cause problems. Lite EZ-Steam II is way to tacky. A couple of those coral limbs touched and the whole thing starting sticking together. You can see what happened when I tried to pull them apart. Big globby mess and strips of adhesive sticking out. No fun:(

I did try a small test piece before hand, with the shiny stuff stripped off just to be sure. I covered it with a damp cloth like the instructions say and fused it for 10 seconds, well maybe a couple more than that.

7. Once completely fused, Lite EZ-Steam II will not fray or lift off

Famous last words, haha! Well I did fuse it, and then I fused it again. I wanted to see just how stuck on this was so I starting picking at a corner. As you can see, it can be peeled off again. Maybe it needs to be fused on longer, I'm not sure, but I'm not impressed over all.

I give this product 2 out of 5 stars. It can be used in a crunch, but VERY carefully. I would definitely stitch it down after too, unless it is going on a wall quilt that will never be washed.

Note: I haven't tried to stitch through this yet. It is getting late and I'm feeling a little frustrated with the whole thing. But to be fair, it doesn't seem too thick.

Overall I prefer Wonder Under. Lite Steam-a-Seam 2 is my favorite, but unfortunately it is unavailable:( Anyone have any good alternatives that aren't too thick to be stitched through?