The afghan is knit and you are attaching fabric dogs?

The afghan is crochet and I am attaching crocheted dogs. It is actually yarn to yarn. Everyone says it cannot be done. However,there has to be something that will anchor it.The pictures are on fabric paper through and ink jet printer. I think I should have stabilize them before I sewed them down because they are puckered.

What you are doing here is basically applique as I understand it. Could you do just a simple, small running stitch around the dogs using the same yarn or maybe a cotton yarn, contrasting color? It might look cute. Don't worry about the back. Remember, your dear granddaughter is going to love the afghan no matter what.

Not sure about gluing, although there are some strong glues out there, gorilla glue, fabric glue. You could make a quick object of any kind, crochet a swatch, and practice gluing them together to see how it works and looks. Could you sew or glue a cotton backing onto the backs of the dogs to give them more body? Sorry I'm not more help. Just some thoughts. Let us know how it goes.

Ok so it's the picutres on the injet fabric you are wanting to attach? If so I would probably try and iron on stabalizer on them first to get them stiff then I would maybe use a tiny hole punch and punch around them and do like a blanket stitch with the yarn or something TO attach each one. I don't really know I have only ever used those inject fabric things for like quilts where you iron them on and have never seen them done on crochet. Mary

Mary, that had me confused because she said it was yarn on yarn, so where does the fabric come in? Oh well, she has probably gone ahead and fixed it by now. S

Nope!! I have been away or several days and couldn't wait to get back to the forum. I have several people coming for lunch today and will have to get back to you later.The doggies are yarn but the pictures are just like you use on quilts. I anchored them down fine but they puckered when I washed the afghan.

Well the pictures done on the inkjet fabric stuff I think you usually iron them on the quilt so just tacking them down I don't think will work and that's why they puckered but I have no clue how else you could attach them to crochet as I don't know if the iron on wonder under stuff would work with yarn.

Here is an example of what she is talking about, you print the photos on special injet fabric and you make a quilt. She tacked one down on the crochet afghan and after washing it puckered. Mary

Here is a link that might be useful:

Mary, Thank you so much for explaining it so much better than I did.I made the "Bears on My Blanket" from Mary Maxim and made the bears look like doggies,with the help of several here.Then I did the pictures and put them on the balloon,the star and several other places.The afghan tells the story of the fun things my granddaughter and her grandpa "doggie" like to do.
Did you find the colors in the photo you copied to not be as vivid as they should be?

I have seen some memory quilts in person that look great. It's all gonna depend on the original photo and how good your printer is with printing photos. You can fix up photos really good in photo shop though and you could also have the fabric stuff with the photos printed at a digital photo place where they have the pro printers. Mary!

If you're trying to attach fabric doggies to a crocheted afghan, you're going to have a problem. Glue or fusible bonding won't work because the crochet is not tightly woven and is stretchy in all directions. I would use strands of the afghan yarn (unravel several strands from the yarn) and use an embroidery outline stitch to attach your fabric pictures.

She is not tying to attach fabric dogs but photos printed on the special inkjet fabric that you use to make the quilted memory quilts like I posted. She tacked the photos down to the crochet afghan but when she washed the afghan the photos puckered. I really feel the photos need to be put down with fusible web to stay good and don't think you can accomplish that on yarn. Even if you were to blanket stitch around them you would still need them secured wtih fusible web but this is something I have never tried so just guessing. Mary

Regardless the type of "fabric", a closely woven fabric will not adhere to a crocheted or knitted piece. There is too much give in the yarn piece and not enough in the fabric piece. So, it doesn't matter if it's a special inkjet fabric or a fabric applique. Fabric is fabric.

You could try to stitch your fabric on the afghan with a decorative stitch and use some batting or other "stuffing" material to puff up or pad your picture. This might help prevent the fabric from puckering.

There was a similar craft going round a number of years ago where a design was stitched on a doubled piece of fabric and then stuffed to make the design more pronounced. I had a friend who did one as a wedding gift for her daughter. It was a small wall hanging done all in white of her wedding flowers. The flowers, leaves and ribbons stood out and the background receded.

I'm a quilter and knitter/crocheter, and my experience with the inkjet fabric is that it is VERY stiff and nearly impossible to sew by hand. In addition, if this is an afghan for a child to use, it's going to be washed a lot and those pictures will fade away pretty fast.

Suggestion...give her the afghan with the doggies, then either put the pictures in a photo album or scrapbook, or make a quilted wall hanging that will be handled and washed very rarely.

Donna

if u don't like the thread on the back u may try putting a back on the afghan

Why not turn the dogs into a simple graph and do them in duplicate cross stitch? You can use a textured yarn to give them definition, but they will be a permanent part of the squares and will not wash out or off.