Quilting with fleece backing
 

I made a quilt with cotton top and fleece backing. I layered it with a thin fusible batting. Directions said to use a wool setting with steam. The top fused just fine but did not fuse to the fleece when I pressed the fleece side. I ended up using spray basting and all was OK. I did some SITD around the center and out to the edges from the middle on all 4 sides and it worked well. When I tried quilting on the diagonal, from the center to the edge, I could go along 10 - 12 inches before the thread broke. This happened numerous times. I have rethreaded, changed the thread and bobbin, checked tension several times. Thread keeps breaking. I don't know what is different from when I did the center. I'm at my wit's end. Can any of you wonderful quilters help me with thoughts on what I can try? This quilt is a UFO gift from last Christmas. I have to finish and gift it this year. TIA

I have yet to try fleece on the backing. Just too traditional I guess.

What i found when quilting with fleece backing, and I have very little experience with doing that on a DSM, is that Stitching on the straight grain - across or down - is generally ok after you have a bit of practice. Stitching fleece on the bias is like all bias stitching, more stretch, more problems. I suspect that the problem is that the fleece on the back of the sandwich is moving with the batting and top. Maybe using a walking foot would help?

One other observation on fleece: WOF on fleece seems to have the least stretch, too, where as on 100% cotton, the least stretch is on straight grain (length of fabric).

I do a lot of fleece blanket prep for groups doing Project Linus blankets, and my experience is that fleece stretches much more WOF than length wise. Stretch varies a great deal from one piece of fleece to another, and there are some that are extremely stretchy (usually the lower quality fleece). In fact I will not cut fringe on the stretch side for children to knot, because it usually results in a very messy outcome.

Thank you for your replies. I may have to change my quilting design. I hadn't even thought of bias being a problem because I had it spray basted pretty well on the backing. I'll let you know how it goes.

Are you using 100% cotton thread? If so, I would switch to a cotton wrapped polyester thread.

Also, someone else mentioned on this board using a stretch needle when quilting fleece. Good luck with your project.