Hello all! I just finished quilting a quilt for my father-in-law. We used fleece for the back. Do I need to stitch the edges before we put the binding on? Anything else we need to know before we close this up?

Hopefully we'll have pics to post soon.

Thanks,

Darren

Hello all! I just finished quilting a quilt for my father-in-law. We used fleece for the back. Do I need to stitch the edges before we put the binding on? Anything else we need to know before we close this up?

Pictures to post soon!

Thanks,

Darren

You can if you want. I do suggest that you sewing the binding to the back and then hand stitch on the front. It's much easier to sew through cotton than trying to blind stitch through fleece backing. Looking forward to photos.

Did you do free motion or stitch in the ditch? Am planning on using that as a backing on the quilt I am working on and just wondered how it went. Any suggestions as to what worked well or not?

I would not use the pillow technique on fleece...I tried it...not good...had to rip it all out. No problems with doing a regular binding on it.

Kappy -

I just did free motion. I think the machine likes fleece better than cotton. It moved and sounded as smooth as butter. I did adjust the presser foot pressure a bit to account for the extra bulk (we used batting - I think most people don't use batting when using fleece for the back). Thanks for reminding me to put it back.

Another interesting thing was the lint. I pulled very little lint out of bobbin area. I guess most of it stuck in the fleece?

I will definitely be using fleece for another back.

I'm not sure how I got two posts. Hopefully someone can combine them?

Thanks for looking.

Darren

Personally, I don't stitch the edges when I use fleece for a backing. I attach the binding to the front before I trim off the excess batting and backing, though. (Unless the quilt is really pulled out of shape.)

If you trim the edges first, I would zig-zag the edges before cutting so the fleece doesn't curl on you while you are attaching the binding. Hope this helps.

I can't wait to see it. :)

I have used fleece a few times. Never put binding on it. That fleece is tougher than any binding. Just pull it around to the front and hem it down. When I was a kid we did this all the time on quilts. We always called it hemming. Did not learn about binding until after I retired and started taking classes. Some people call it self binding.

I have a cotton quilt right now that is about 10 years old that has cotton binding and it is totally ragged and needs to be replaced. The fleece quilts I have, there is no wear and tear on the edges since I hemmed them.

Hope this helps. Would love to see pics of your quilts.