Using flannel
01-18-2014, 10:26 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brownsville, Oregon
Posts: 355
Using flannel
Okey, Dokey; have read all the dire warnings on use of flannel; but I am going to do baby quilt and am going to use flannel for the back and also some in blocks in front; I realize I need to wash; shrink; wash; shrink! I liked the idea of using lightweight fusible interfacing on back when cutting my pieces; however I have this question: no doubt there will be a huge fraying problem on my washing and shrinking process; could I sew along the cut edges before to halt this or could I make a glue paste or has anyone ever tried liquid stitch along edge to prevent fraying. Thanks for your time!
01-18-2014, 11:54 AM
#5
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
The triangle thing never worked for me.
I highly recommend using starch instead of a lightweight fusible before cutting. I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water, "paint" this on the yardage with a large wall painting brush, wait a couple of minutes to ensure the starch has penetrated fabric fibers, toss in the dryer, and iron with steam. This make the flannel very stable and easy to cut and piece with accuracy. Of course, you would do this after your last preshrinking wash/dry. A huge advantage over interfacing is that the starch washes out and leaves the flannel with its original softness.
It's a very good idea to use 1/2" seams with flannel.
It's actually possible to use unwashed flannel in a quilt as long as the quilting is moderately close together. Once quilted, even flannel cannot shrink more than the batting allows. This does *not* work if quilting lines are far apart. If your quilting lines will be more than 3" apart, definitely prewash the flannel.
I once took a class from Harriet Hargrave, and she brought a flannel quilt with her to prove it works. It was all unwashed flannel. She measured the quilt before washing and after washing, and it shrank the amount that the batting (Hobbs80/20) was expected to shrink. She had used a moderately close meander on the quilt.
Edit: For washing flannel yardage, it's a good idea to sew or serge along the cut edges to prevent ravelling. It's also a good idea to fold the yardage into large accordion pleats and use large safety pins to keep the folds in place. This keeps the yardage from twisting around on itself.
I highly recommend using starch instead of a lightweight fusible before cutting. I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water, "paint" this on the yardage with a large wall painting brush, wait a couple of minutes to ensure the starch has penetrated fabric fibers, toss in the dryer, and iron with steam. This make the flannel very stable and easy to cut and piece with accuracy. Of course, you would do this after your last preshrinking wash/dry. A huge advantage over interfacing is that the starch washes out and leaves the flannel with its original softness.
It's a very good idea to use 1/2" seams with flannel.
It's actually possible to use unwashed flannel in a quilt as long as the quilting is moderately close together. Once quilted, even flannel cannot shrink more than the batting allows. This does *not* work if quilting lines are far apart. If your quilting lines will be more than 3" apart, definitely prewash the flannel.
I once took a class from Harriet Hargrave, and she brought a flannel quilt with her to prove it works. It was all unwashed flannel. She measured the quilt before washing and after washing, and it shrank the amount that the batting (Hobbs80/20) was expected to shrink. She had used a moderately close meander on the quilt.
Edit: For washing flannel yardage, it's a good idea to sew or serge along the cut edges to prevent ravelling. It's also a good idea to fold the yardage into large accordion pleats and use large safety pins to keep the folds in place. This keeps the yardage from twisting around on itself.
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