Moira in N.E. England

For the past few days I have been working with fleece fabric for the first time and would like to share my thoughts and tips with those who may be considering using it.

My ‘quilted blanket’, as I now call it, has a top made from 5 inch squares and a back made from a lightweight anti-pile fleece - I did not use wadding or batting.

I did not realise fleece has a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ side. Apparently the selvage curls to the Right side. I was caught out by this on my first attempt. The pile finish did not go right to the edge of the fabric on the right side so I had to make some adjustments to the binding when I Did realise!

It was very easy to secure the top to the fleece before quilting. I used large pins rather the safety pins. It did not need a lot of pinning as the top did not shift or slide. Th fleece did not stretch as I sewed it.

I did have a problem with my sewing machine ‘jumping’ or missing stitches. I tried a number of things and found positioning the needle to the left instead of centre sorted the issue - don’t know why!

I ‘stitched-just-outside-the-ditch’ of each block. Some of the blocks were made up of 6 x 5 inch - so I ‘tied’ the squares by doing 6 - 8 machines stitches where the blocks met to hold them in place. (Not sure if this was necessary).

For my first attempt I added a cotton binding - this worked fine. On the second I folded the fleece over from the back - I think this is called ‘self binding’.

I mitred the corners as shown in this video -
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TtXmuARqg38

As the edges don’t fray I didn’t turn over a narrow hem - I just stitched round once with a straight stitch then went back round with a zig-zag.

I’m happy with the finished project and would use fleece again.

Hope my comments help someone else and would love to hear from other fleece users.

Maggie_Sue

I have not used a fleece backing yet, but will keep your suggestions in mind, thank you!!!

Iceblossom

I had a similar experience a year or so ago when I used fleece as a back with no batting for the first time.

I'd probably like a light weight batting or at least a layer of flannel, for me it would have a better feel. The fleece I used was very dark, had my quilt been lighter it would have certainly shown through to the outside, another reason for some layering.

But it was easy enough to work on and I love the width, typically I can't make a top that fits 44/45 width and need those extra inches I recently finished a top backed with flannel and I made the binding with the same flannel. It was a high quality flannel but once again I'm reminded that I don't like working with flannel. Never felt that way with the fleece.

Moira in N.E. England

Iceblossom has mentioned something I forgot - as there is no wadding a dark coloured fleece will show through a light coloured cotton so choose fleece colour with this in mind but on the positive side as there’s less bulk I found it much easier to handle on my DSM.

Also - does anyone know how to get creases out of fleece? When I bought my fleece there was less than half a yard left on the roll. The assistant asked me if I wanted it and did not charge me for it.

This last half yard was badly creased. I’ve washed it and line dried it but the creases haven’t budged. Any suggestions?

GEMRM

Very helpful tips, thank you for sharing.
As to the "badly creased" - if washing and drying hasn't helped, I'd try steaming it with a towel underneath and one on top, but you'd have to straighten out the wrinkles one small area at a time without stretching it and then lay the top towel on and gently steam.... worth a try to salvage the fabric. Good luck!
Just had a thought - maybe a facecloth would work well for the upper towel as it would be smaller to move around.

lorimax5859

Thank you so much for sharing. Love a better way to do things!!

SallyS

Thank you for that timely information! I'm making a quilt with hand dyed fabrics for a friend and am going to back it with fleece, bringing the fleece to the front for binding. Your tips and experience are a big help!

katiebear1

Thanks for the tips. I am going to be using fleece as a backing with out batting on my next quilt.