I have hand quilted quite a few flannel quilts. The tops were pieced, polyester batting and flannel for the backing. I have not had the problems that you are having. My stitched aren't quite as small as with regular cotton but I have been able to do regular stitching. In fact I am doing a baby quilt all in flannel right now and it needles like going through butter. I use a number 10 needle and hand quilting thread.

You are the only one who doesn't have trouble. Are you using quilter's flannel and are you washing and drying it more than once. I'm going to try everyone's tips before attempting a baby quilt. Thank you everyone for all the assistance.

I use quilting flannel,washed once. The only place there is any kind of a problem is by the seams. Then I do the stab stitch until I'm by them. I have done several lap quilts, baby quilts and a couple of Queen size ones.

This information has been quite helpful and may have helped me make up my mind on how I am going to handle my flannel quilt top. It is made of that heavy weight flannel and I am using warm and natural for the bat and a lighter weight flannel for the back. The pattern is a big block and the fabrics are darker and kind of men's ware looking in many cases. I was hoping to quilt it on my home machine and feather stitch the "ditches". It is too heavy to handle. SOOOOOO my next thought was to feather stitch the "ditches" by hand using pearl thread, kind of like of "crazy quilt" fashion. I had planned to use a larger needle and not try to get really small with my stitches. Am I headed for trouble???