donnai

I want to make a rag quilt. I have never used flannel before. How much does flannel shrink.if I want 7 yards total how much should I buy. Any tips on making the quilt greatly appreciated

PenniF

The problem is, different grades of flannel will shrink differently. Some of the better ones i've bought a yard of barely shrunk at all. Quilter's Corner web site suggests buying up to 1/4 yard more than the pattern calls for....then wash and dry on hot settings of course to get the most shrink over with. Try Googling "flannel fabric shrinkage" - and you should find several sites offering suggestions.
Good luck with your quilt.

ManiacQuilter2

I didn't worry about shrinkage. I just cut out my squares, stitch it together and the clipps the edges. It came out fine.

Dolphyngyrl

good ones hardly will. It really depends on the quality of it. Connecting threads has good quality flannel that doesn't shrink much

garysgal

I got some from who knows where and made my grandson a pj bottom. washed it and it had shrunk 7''. I learned that if you buy the cheap flannel it will shrink a lot. the more expensive stuff doesn't seem to. One trick I learned at a quilt class is to hold it up to the light and if you can see that it is loosely woven it will shrink more. I find that the tighter the weave the better the flannel. I make a ton of rag quilts and have learned over the years to test it out.

Prism99

I've had flannel that didn't shrink at all and flannel that shrank many inches in both directions. For a rag quilt, I wouldn't worry about it because I wouldn't prewash the flannel. As long as you quilt a big X in each square (or in some way quilt the layers inside each piece together), shrinkage won't matter that much because the batting will prevent the small areas between quilting lines from shrinking excessively.

If you are totally set on prewashing, I would buy at least 10% extra. Although the flannel may not shrink that much lengthwise, if it shrinks it may also shrink a lot width-wise. This can reduce the number of pieces you can cut per width as well as per length.

Edit: I will say that there is a different reason to prewash -- at least a small piece of the fabric you are planning to use. This is to see if the flannel pills easily. There are flannels that will pill excessively on a first wash. Better to find this out before it's in a quilt rather than after! It's not necessary to test every single piece of flannel fabric, but it can be a good idea to test a small piece from each line of flannel you are thinking of using. If buying 7 yards of one of JoAnn Fabric's flannels, for example, I would first buy a yard of it, measure before washing, then wash and see how it looks when it comes out. If it doesn't pill, measure after to see how much it shrank in each direction.

mom-6

I've also had varying degrees of shrinkage in flannels. Some were bought at the same time and place and still varied.

The previous advice to hold it up to the light is an easy way to determine the likelihood of shrinkage.

You can also sometimes get an idea just by the feel of the fabric. If it is somewhat stiff it may have a great deal of sizing and possibly be more prone to shrinkage.

Peckish

Buy a sample. Cut it 12" x 12" square. Wash it, dry it, measure it, preferably several times. This the best way of figuring out how much shrinkage you'll get from the exact flannel you want to use.

ckcowl

For raggy quilts flannel shrinks just the right amount! I never prewash my flannel for raggys, just make the sandwiched squares with an X of stitching, sew them together, clip the edges, take it out & shake it ( a lot!,) then wash, ( out to shake some more) then into dryer -- perfect!

donnai

Thanks for all your information. Does it matter that I will be using flannel as batting and backing?