Michelekolt

Has anyone used fleece as a quilt backing. How would you control the stretch factor of the fleece. Free motion quilting the cotton pieced top bunches up. Will a walking foot and straight lines work? Your opion will really help. Thank you

PaperPrincess

You need to baste/pin the heck out of the sandwich. A walking foot with strait lines or gentle curves is a good idea. With FMQ, because the sandwich is thicker than normal, you need to make sure that your foot goes high enough to clear the sandwich and not catch the top

Tartan

​If you are using fleece on the back, you can leave the batt out. This helps reduce the chance of the layers shifting. I think I would 505 spray baste to help control it also. I would choose a quilting design that goes mostly in the direction of the least stretch in the fleece. I think it is the lengthwise that stretches less?

Quiltngolfer

I use fleece backs a lot. I spray baste with 505 basting spray, and I don't use batting. It makes a lightweight quilt that is very warm. It is very easy to quilt these quilts. The fleece is actually very forgiving, as I never have experienced wrinkling. It's my favorite choice for lap quilts.

michelleoc

I use fleece a lot as well, but I do use batting. I use Elmer's school glue and never have a problem. I'm currently working on a quilt with fleece on the top AND bottom and no batting. It's glued and I'm not having any problems with quilting it. The stitches melt into the fleece nicely and don't show any errors that I make!

Michelekolt

Thank you for your reply. I tried to FM stipple and the top kept bunching up. Tonight I will spray baste to keep eventhing in place and go with the walking foot.

BrendaK

Fleece is also one of my favorite backings for quilts. I have never had any problems with bunching up just with the way I quilt (ha,ha). I like to use my walking foot but lately it has been acting weird. I will be going along fine then for some reason my walking foot will jump up off the quilt and stay there. When I am able to get the foot back down I can go for a while then it will jump up again. I then continue with my regular foot and it works fine. Guess it's time for a new walking foot. BrendaK

QuiltE

I did a fleece backed quilt before Christmas and am very impressed. As mentioned above, it is quite light in weight, with a great warmth to it! Without any batting in it, it has a nice drape to it and is quite snuggly!

What worked for me .... I put the top face down on the table, and clamped/taped it in place to get that slight stretch. Then lined up my fleece and spray basted it in place. This way I could control the stretch factor just by the way I palmed it into place after spraying sections of it.

When I went to quilt it ... straight line quilting went smoothly with the fleece against the table using the DualFeed (like walking foot).

I was able to FMQ but found I was not getting the slip slide I wanted as the fleece seemed to be resisting that. Simple enough to solve ... I flipped it over to let the cotton top be on the bottom and the fleece facing up for the FMQ ... and all went great from there on.

Of course, not all quilts you can do that, but in this case, I was able to do so because the straight line quilting had been done and I knew where the FMQ needed to be.

Thanks for reminding me that I have yet to post the quilt ... when I do this weekend, I will return to this thread and share the link, so you can see the results.

Michelekolt

QuiltE, I was having the same trouble with drag. Flipping the quilt sounds perfect. I'm planning on straight line quilting the block and then FM each block. Thinking the straight stitch will stop the stretch problems. This quilt is for one of my friend who is getting Chemo and tells me she is always cold and fleece is so light and warm I really want this to work. Well off I go. Wish me luck. When I finished I'll post a picture.

QuiltE

MicheleKolt ... I had absolutely no problems with it bunching, gathering, or stretching etc. I think I stopped that flat with the reverse sandwich and then a good dose of 505 Spray! It is indeed cozy, so I I think it will be perfect to keep your friend nice and warm thru the Chemo chills ... and not need a lot of strength to move it around because it is so light in weight. It'll be just like a {{{HUG}}} from you, every time she uses it.

As a hint ... if she will be taking it with her to treatments, you might want to make her a carry bag, along with some pockets to hold any other things that will be with her.