I have washed my red Cozy flannel from JoAnn's and it shrank four inches. Ok so far. I carefully ironed it making sure not to stretch it. I cut squares and made Friendship Star blocks that I squared as I went along. Again ok. Now that I want to stitch them together, they are no longer square. One side is either shorter or longer than the rest. So what happened? I was careful when I pressed, Not ironed them. I know flannel has give and stretches a bit.

Now for my questions. Am I asking too much of the flannel by trying to piece it? Am I not doing something I should do? Or doing something I shouldn't? Maybe I should just forget trying to make pieced blocks out of flannel. I really do love flannel though and would like my baby quilts to have personality, not just plain blocks.

Please help! :)

Flannel is tough.. I have no problem with the thick men's flannel shirt material that I take old shirts. I wounder if because these have been laundered often.

I wonder if working with the baby flannel fabric is harder because of the thickness??

I do have a quilted, but one large piece, baby blanket that made it through two children.. used quilt binding on this over 30 years ago.

good luck.. flannel is hard to work with sometimes. :(

I am doing a quilt now that has flannel in it (it had the exact color and pattern I needed.)- a quilt for me! I starched the fabric after washing and hung it to dry. I am adding some starch when I press it. Then I am cutting. That should keep it from misbehaving.

Remember to press (up and down) and not iron (sliding along).

Don't know how to fix the ones you have already done but do not give up on flannel - starch is your friend! Use it before cutting your blocks.

STARCH STARCH STARCH. And press, don't iron. In other words, don't slide the soleplate of the iron on the blocks; this will cause stretching. When I use flannel for quilting I use a minimal number of pieces and try not to have biases.

Starch is the answer...
try again
DO NOT GIVE UP....this can be done

I've found the best results for working with flannel is to use squares and rectangles. When you eliminate the bias that comes from using triangles, you get better blocks and less distortion.

I heavily starch flannel before cutting. Heavy starch stabilizes the fabric so it doesn't stretch or distort with handling.

Chances are good that you can get your squares back into "true" with spray starch and an iron. Sharon Schamber has some great videos on how to do this on Youtube. Here are links to how she does this (not necessarily in order):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-3RIWhBvcA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6aplw_tVZc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIjZqABo2NY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQkF02vpVuw

Thank you Sewmary, gran of 6 and Deborahlees for your very quick responses. I'm afraid though that Starch is Not My friend. I have COPD including Severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivities which cause negative reactions to anything aerosol or with any kind of odor. I have tried the homemade type using cornstarch and got lots of flaking without much stiffness.

I think I will use MIJul's suggestion of using squares and rectangles and stick with cotton for my star blocks.
All of you have a great day.:)

Thank you, I hadn't thought of using those. My DH doesn't wear them since we moved to Florida. Maybe I can try a thrift shop. :)

Thank you Prism99. I have watched those videos before and forgotten all about them. I love her tutorials. I'll give them another look this afternoon. Unfortunately though I can not use starch for health reasons. :)

what about a 'stay stitch' before cutting, to keep your angles true....

Perhaps liquid starch would work for you? You can put it in a spray bottle rather than using the aerosol cans. I don't know if there is an entirely unscented one. I don't have an allergy as such to scented products, but I don't like them. I quit using fabric softener altogether after Costco quit carrying the unscented one. I don't understand why manufacturers think they have to add scent to everything.

Now that I think about it, you may be on to something here. :)
I will give it a try. I'm always up for learning something new. :)

Use good quality flanel (not saying yours isn't ) and starch starch starch before cutting. I like working w/ it because it is easy to match up since it sticks together when you sew it.

The only liquid one I can find at Wal Mart is scented. I'll check a special catalog I have for environmentally safe products. I agree with you 100% about the manufacturers. :) They claim all of the consumers want scents. I don't believe they are asking everyone. :(

I can sympatize with you, Tropical. I have problems with perfumes, etc. I use MaryEllens Best Press unscented. It is in a spray bottle, not aerosol. You might be able to use that.. It doesn't flake, has no starch in it, but gives a nice crispness to flannel to make it easier to work with.

You could also use spray sizing. That is what manufacturers use when they make fabric so it looks nice in the store. Also- All cotton, including flannel, has a stretch across but not down. When I work with flannel, I make a small clip on the not stretch edges, so that when I put them together, I can put stretch to stretch, and no stretch to no stretch. This may help you too, just remember to make little clips, so that they end up in the seam allowance.

Sometimes flannel will need multiple wash dry cycles before it's done shrinking. It also shrinks in one direction lots more than the other. I'm wondering if it was not done shrinking with your single wash and when you pressed it(with steam??) it shrunk again. If you still have an uncut piece, try washing and drying again.

If you want to sew with flannel after washing out all the sizing, you HAVE to use starch. The weave is too loose. If you can't use starch, try Mary Ellen's Best Press. I have a bottle of it, but haven't tried it with flannel yet.

Yeppers, that is exactly what I do...starch, starch, starch.....just finished a 56x56 rag quilt with flannel
I use Mary Ellen's best press for everything...it works well with flannel

I have heard of Mary Ellen's Best Press. I'll check it out to see if I can use it. I'm not sure where to get it so I will Google it. I am going to look for a higher quality of flannel as well. Everyone has been so helpful. :)

Your LQS should carry it.

What would happen if you glued the seams together and pressed before sewing.

Wash & dry on hot. Unscented starch or sizing before cutting the fabric and lots of it. For the thin, stretchy flannels--I would consider putting the starch mixture in the washing machine and soaking it through then damp dry in the dryer--iron to finish drying. That will teach it who is boss--LOL! For Friendship Stars, I would have cut squares and sewn on both sides of the diagonal to make the points. Avoiding or controlling bias is the key.

I made an Arkansas Crossroads quilt from a mixture of flannels for my trucker sister-in-law. It was fairly quick & easy. The yellow plaid was the thinner, stretchier kind of flannel. The creamy orange was a medium quality and the green was heavy, quilter's flannel.

Mary Ellen's Best Press is a liquid starch in a pump bottle and you can get it in Scent-Free as well as scented. It work's really well for me. I'm sure you can order it on line somewhere. I bought mine in a local quilt shop.

I went to JoAnn's yesterday and bought white flannel to use as batting for a table runner---guess I should wash it first !!!??? Paid $5.99 a yard, couldn't believe it---I remember buying flannel to make my babies' layettes for 99 cents a yard----many years ago tho. Now I wish I had read this before buying yesterday.
Thanks for sharing, Kutnso

I buy the ready made starch in a half gallon jug. I use a spray bottle and dilute it to whatever I need.

I also have problems with flannel, not when piecing or even 1/2 square triangles but in the borders. The last two quilts I used I wanted the flannel in the outer boarders for the cozyness of flannel but it comes out wavy. I have tried cutting it across grain and down but they both come out wavy. I do measure the center and cut the borders not just sew it on. I don't know what I am doing wrong either but would love to know as I really like the feel of flannel. The last flannel I used was quilters flannel and not the cheap stuff.

I've seen a thread or two on the board about making your own starch using cornstarch or even vodka. Maybe they would be kinder on your lungs than spay starch or sizing.

If you don't have luck with homemade cornstarch mixture, I'm wondering if you could use a little white washable glue greatly diluted and sprayed or brushed onto the your flannel. Since it washes out, it might be just enough to stabilize the fabric so it won't distort when you sew. Sharon Schamber talks about the washable white glue in her binding tutorials. I used her technique and was amazed at how much the glue helped. My project now looks professionally finished.

Flannel is like computers--it has a mind of its own.

Only use flannel for back of baby quilts. To difficult to work with. Like everyone says has a mind of it's own. And if I have to use it will only buy heavy type. Not the thin because it can cause alot of trouble.

Have u tried homemade sizing?

1Tbs. Elmer's School Glue
3 C. Warm Water
Mix well put in spray bottle

This probably should be washed out after completing the quilt.

I use very light weight fusible interfacing. It pieced beautifully and was not to hard to quilt. Also, no steam when ironing.

Excellent idea, msquiltalot.
Alma

Years ago I made many flannel quilts for Christmas and remember them being a little diff. to work with. But I did succeed. Think I used a lot of starch. I have just gotten 7 diff prints of flannels ironed and 3 of them was so hard to get the wrinkles out, I thought I would have to rent a jackhammer. I am cutting the Tumber shape with my Accucut and dread piecing them. LOL Will let ya know tomorrow how it goes. Those do have biases to deal with. *sigh*

I also had problems with JoAnn's flannel shrinking excessively. Mine shrunk 6" and made a mess out of a garments lining because it required piecing the lining and now the garment isn't really reversible anymore. Be careful with fraying seams and if any are fraying be sure to use fray check to stop this from happening. I no longer buy my flannel from JoAnn's any longer and haven't had excess shrinking or any fraying since.

I bought a very 'dense' flannel and never even considered stretching because it was my first queen sized quilt, and only my third overall. I decided the pattern was boring so I did flannel applique on each square. Then backed the quilt with....more very dense flannel. Needless to say, the quilt turned out to be very HEAVY. I could put poles under it and use it as a tent. My husband says he likes it. Smart man. It is kind of pretty, though, and we'd do have cold winters in Wisconsin.