can I do this???
 

A fellow quilter who is cleaning up her sewing room, gifted me a HUGE bag of velvet clothing she had been collecting to try to make a crazy quilt. I was thinking of just cutting like 8 inch squares and making a simple throw with them. Do you all think it would work? I plan to just tie the intersections of each square. Would it be a bear to sew? would it wash ok? Suggestions, thoughts, input appreciated! Faye

I agree with this. You might want to look at the labels and only use the ones with similar washing instructions. However, you might like the crumpled look! Another option is just toss the garments into the washer before cutting (use a delicate cycle & woolite). I think the big issue is going to be the dryer. Use a low heat setting and remove promptly. Then just discard the items that didn't make it thru. You might want to consider using a little larger seam and maybe tie in the middle of the blocks in addition to the corners. I'd get out my button box and put a button in the middle of each square. The knap makes the velvet 'creep' a bit when you sew it. Pin, pin, pin and use a walking foot if you have one. And my final comment is have the knap going in different directions on your blocks. The colors will be subtly different and make it look like you have used even more fabrics than you did.

Ditto what paper princess states.

great tips... have fun with it and let the adventure begin I say.... lol

PaperPrincess, your reply is very informative. I learned a lot, Thanks
Thanks Faye for asking this question.

excellent advice!

Also consider the weight when choosing your quilting design. My sister made one out of corduroy and velvet & found that with just stitching along the ditch some of the seams started to fray.

all terrific suggestions... I think I will prewash, sew and say a prayer. Maybe make smaller snuggle quilts for the grands. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I'd sure like to see it when it is done.

For sure sew with at least 1/2"... better 5/8" seams. Ask me why I know. :o

Since this velvet was originally clothing it will most likely wash nicely.

I also have found that upholstery velvet washed and dried beautifully. Even pieces several yards long. I found that I could only do one really long piece at a time in the dryer if I wanted to have it come out dry and not wadded up. The shorter pieces (3 yards or less) I could put two or three in at a time. This fabric is 100% cotton and sort of looks like canvas on the back. It is used for table draping as well as like curtains on our booths at Faires. At this point it has been washed either three or four times. Do have to be sure to clean the lint trap after each load (and in the case of one of the really long pieces, half way through ). Love this fabric!

There are different kinds of velvet -

Rayon velvet - I haven't done enough with it to give a really informative answer - some of it crushes easily and is very heat sensitive
Cotton velvet - also known as velveteen - it handles a lot like cotton corduroy
Upholstery velvet - like mom-6 mentioned -

I think all velvets are 'directional' - the same piece will look like different shades of the color when the directions are different (nice when intentional - not so great when it was an 'oops')

I have not tried this, but just cutting squares should work. Sometimes, however, velvet can be slippery but I saw a craft show where the demonstrator used tissue paper under the velvet to help keep it from slipping all over the place. It might be worth trying on a couple of squares just to see what happens and it might save you from a lot of aggravation. Hope this helps.

All great tips, can't wait to see the quilt or quilts!

I have been saving velvets for years to make a crazy quilt tablecloth that I saw in some magazine long ago! I have been too nervous about how to even begin so you guys have helped me a lot! Thank you once again :) I was seriously worried about needing to wash it. I also wondered if the seams were serged together with different fun stitching done on top, would it work? Maybe it's time to try a small one first?

I would not normally suggest this, but if you have a serger, I would serge all the seams to help with the fraying.

Ironing velvet can pose problems. There is something called a needle board that can help keep the nap from lying down when you iron it. Maybe some of the newer velvets don't do it. I remember going to a high school semi formal, with a guy I didn't know very well. We danced, and the usual high school stuff. After the dance I took a look at my dress, a red velvet top with a pleat in a white fine fabric. Anyway, on the back of my dress there was a handprint where he had held me while dancing. I guess he steamed it into the dress!

I am so jealous. I am in the process (a long time!) collecting fabrics for a crazy quilt. Does your sewing machine have any fancy stitches? If so use them to top stitch the seams.

I would also zigzag the edges of each seam to perhaps defer some of the fraying. A crazy quilt of velvets is one of my future projects. Keep us posted, I will hopefully learn from your experience.

If, after washing, some of the velvets are crumpled looking, I would think that this would add texture to the quilt.

Velvet actually can be from several different fibers -- silk being the most expensive. A lot of the newer velvet is made from polyester, nylon, acetate, viscose as well as cotton. The difference between velvet and velveteen is if the pile is created in the vertical yarns (warp -- this is velvet) or fill yarns (weft -- velveteen). Some of the newer velvets are washable (I have a skirt and jacket that I just throw in the wash).

I would wash the velvets that you have in cool water, gentle cycle and dry them cool and keep the ones that look nice. Make sure you have some kind of color catcher if you have strong colors since the color will probably leech out.

Be warned, some of the velvets ravel and some don't -- I would staystitch with a small stitch (tighter than the normal piecing stitch) the ones that ravel. Velvet can be a sun of a gun to sew because the really nice ones on slick on the back and they want to walk. If I rubbed the velvet up and down along the seam line, the pile sort of nested -- if you pin, keep the pins in the seam area and use 1/2" seam. The slick back may wiggle, so keep a good hold of it and use a teflon or roller foot if you have them.

If you don't have or don't want to invest in a needle board, put the velvet face down on a thick towel. You want to steam it.