klswift

You can make quilts out of anything and All donated quilts are appreciated. Think about the old fashioned crazy quilts made of cotton, wool, velvet, lace, whatever was available. They all had one thing in common - they are beautiful! The only thing I would do is to wash everything (including the new fabric) in fairly hot water to make sure any and all shrinkage is handled. I am one of those who does not prewash, but in this case I would.

nativetexan

polyester is not recommended for children's clothing or bedding. fires burn poly fabrics very fast.

bkay

I found their website, but there were no links to local groups who might use the fabric. Fabric is heavy, so shipping is expensive. I'd love to donate it to that, as it's appropriate for those cute dresses. Making the dresses is not something I will ever do.

(I've reached the "l won't live forever" stage of my life, so I'm paying more attention to what I say I'm going to do and trying to be realistic about what I will actually do.)

bkay

bkay

I understand polyester would make a good quilt. I chose black polyester broadcloth(?) for sashing a child's quilt because I wanted to reduce the chances of fading. It was a pain. It would shrink when you pressed it, so it was really hard to get everything to line up. I had to make the sashing twice on several blocks. I swore I'd never use polyester again in a quilt. I would donate it for someone else to make. I'll check with Project Linus to see if it's something they can use.

bkay

Iceblossom

For many years I happily used poly blends, especially for solids for the bright colors. There aren't really any problems in using it for quilting -- however, be warned that when you are used to working with cottons poly are very slippery! I pin anyways, but if you don't usually pin you should. If you go back to the old magazines and such, poly blends were often recommended for the sheen and lack of ironing.

I can't hardly find any double-knits in the thrift stores any more, but they were actually preferred by at least one group I used to donate to for quilts for the homeless as they dry easier than cottons and are extremely durable and sturdy.

I've used textured fabrics before as well in quilts. Usually best to do something simple like 6" squares of the textured with alternating blocks or 9-patches or whatever.

Edit/PS: I've brought along a piece of a poly blend to my mom's. I don't do much garment construction any more but I'm going to make some Kuspuks (Innuit Summer Parkas). I'll be making a personalized "pattern" for myself out of the poly. Usually I use old sheets for that sort of thing, but I'm out of those and had that piece of yardage, so it's what I'm going to do.

QuiltNama

For many years I used poly fabric making quilts as cotton was impossible to find, poly was the new wash and wear. Just use a cooler iron and more pins. Poly quilts wear like iron and are very soft. Peace, Brenda

Kelsie

If you are thinking about making clothing remember that polyester is warmer - it does not breathe like straight cotton does. I wonder if it would be a good idea for Africa?

Jingle

Poly blends are wonderful for quilts. Just don't mix it with cotton. Poly blends wear like iron, cotton doesn't.

Mdegenhart

I dislike poly because it pills as it wears. Same reason I never ever buy blend bedsheets

illinois

You'd think I wrote what kiswift did! Totally agree with that comment. I love the sheen, the durability and the color fastness of poly blend. I especially use it when needing black so it doesn't become brown with aging. Yes, be careful of the iron temperature. I, too, have had it shrink before my eyes! When my daughters were born as summer babies, I made their receiving blankets from seersucker and loved them. But then years later I bought seersucker to make a summer robe for myself. In the meantime the manufacturer of seersucker decided it was a good idea to put poly in that fabric. Augh!!! Hot! When it was cotton, it was a wonderful summer fabric so do be careful what you choose to use it for. If you find you have some of the fabric that won't work for your own projects, you might consider making pillowcases to donate to various agencies or facilities. Am I thinking correctly that your 1 yard pieces --if you have 2 coordinating fabrics, could yield 2 pillowcases with a larger piece being the body and the shorter one being the hem portion?