Fleece and Cotton, Can They Live Together?
 

I was asked to take the fleece pajamas of my daughter-in-laws twin boys and use the fabric to make a quilt for each boy. I have taken the pajamas apart and have a great deal of fabric to work with, the colors are bright and will be terrific to work with. I've never worked with fleece so I need guidance. My idea was to take a cheater panel as the center of each quilt, then use the fleece to surround the panel. I had thought of using HST, but I don't know if fleece and cotton can work together. I appreciate any comments and help you might have for me.

Because fleece is bulkier than cotton, I would use cotton sashing between the fleece pieces. This keeps the seams from getting too bulky.

Many thanks, I hadn't thought of that and it could have made for a major problem. Your advice also gave me an idea as to how I'm going to use the fleece. I was sure if I asked there would be someone to help me out, so thanks again.

I like fleece on the back cotton on the front. I do not like piecing with different weights.

I agree, use the fleece for the back of the quilt. I would piece the fleece and make it look like a crazy quilt.

If you need to piece fleece, one trick that I learned while making fleece jackets is to open the seam and top stitch on either side of the seam. The seam lies beautifully flat with the extra stitching. For clothing with a 5/8 inch seam, I would top stitch about 3/8 inch away from the seam on both sides. You can do a small sample and test it. Takes extra time but pays in looks.

Thank you so much for that tip, it will definitely help me.

Thank you one and all for the tips. I was pretty sure that using fabrics of different weights was a no no, but now that it has been confirmed I have a plan.

My daughter fleeces most of the backs to her quilts and cotton on the front. When I use fleece I use the walking foot, it really helps keep from having pleats and bunched seams. I'm not sure about doing the HST using both fabrics but maybe do the cotton with HST and sqaures or a pieced backing for the fleece or even use the fleece and cotton to make rag quilts. The fleece won't ravel but it will curl so it makes really nice rag quilts