I love the feel of flannel, but only used it once for backing. I had to almost pull the quilt through my domestic machine. Any tricks to make it move along smoothly?

My GD asked for placemats and I put a layer of white flannel in between the two fabrics for each. I just straight stitched, small stitches, along the raw edges of the yardage and washed it in the hottest water I could and dried in the dryer. There was minimum fraying!

I use flannel or minkee on anything that's going to be a throw. Those are the ones that really get snuggled in. As for bed quilts or table runners, etc. I still use good quality muslin or I piece a backing with leftover fabrics that were used in the front of the quilt.

For those who use minky do you want a short it in a special way? I w a s going to use it on the last baby quilt I did but when I read the washing instructions I decided at a against it e s peck a lot for a first time mom.

Love the nylon brushed arnel -- I have several robes made of it and they wear like iron. Saw some on ebay a few days ago - never thought of putting it on the back of a quilt.

I wash flannel before I use it but I don't go to extremes. I wash it like I do most anything else- warm water, normal cycle, do add color catchers just so I know what's going on. Then dry it in the dryer, normal cycle. It does fray like most fabrics do. Don't do anything special about that either. Usually, as I square up the piece the frayed edges are also cut off. Most of the time I've had really good luck with the flannel and I've used many different brands, including JA and name brands. Only once I can remember after doing the prewashing and then washing again after the quilt was completed it pilled and did look a little used. Sometimes it sounds to me that people want to "declare war" on flannel and wash in hottest water, sometimes more than once. Why would you when you don't normally treat fabric that way?