Knit Fabric
 

Is there any way that you can use knit fabric in a quilt. I have yards and yards of top quality knit fabric that I wanted to donate to the Linus Project but I was told that they don't accept it. I don't know what to do with it. I don't want it because I have had it for a while and have reached an age where I no longer sew clothing but concentrate on quilting. I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you ladies. Busy Lizzie

Absolutely you can; I was in my 20's before I realized that quilts could be made of materials other than heavy polyester knits and old jeans.

It is trickier to work with knits, so I would keep the pattern simple. I've never tried it, but I don't imagine the corners working out nicely on half square triangles, so I would stick with squares and rectangles. Since you have experience with garment sewing, I don't think it would be beyond your abilities.

Good luck!

What kind of knit fabric do you have?

I get a lot of knit fabric given to me. I just recycle it to the local thrift shop. I believe such fabric is more trouble to work with than worth. I have serged some and made receiving type blankets that went overseas. Think about the aggravation in working with it.

Cotton doublknit makes wonderful receiving blankets.

I was wondering if it could be used as backing...it's usually 54-60" wide and usually has a soft feel to it. I am going to try it for some charity kids quilts.

About 40 years ao, I made 2 quilts out of a single knit fabric, polyester batting in both and a flannel for the backing. One of them has been on my bed every winter since. I have had to replace the backing and the batting on it once. I tied both of these quilts, Oh, the pieces were 4 inch squares, that I bought by the pound at that time. This is one of the warmest quilts I have. I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but it worked out.

Fleece is a knit, and I have used that several times. With fleece, I found that using batting with the fleece makes it quilt/look much better. I have used a thick cotton knit as backing on one quilt as well.

It was quilted on a long arm/frame. I found that I had to place the backing on the frame so that my machine would be primarily sewing in the least stretchy direction. It seems to me that a very thin knit would be difficult to work with, though.

I wonder how those knits would work as a batting? The top and the backing would secure it once it is quilted.

If it seems stretchy just use pins to sew the seams, use 1/2". I would probably make larger squares, about 8" - 12".