Arm your sewing machine with a new, 80/12 or even 90/14 machine needle if you have one.Īs far as stitch length goes, try making them a bit longer than if you were quilting with light-weight quilting cotton. Use sharp scissors, or a larger blade rotary cutter (2-inch diameter) when cutting. Because flannel is a thicker, softer fabric, quilting with flannel is kind of hard on your hardware. You’ve pre-shrunk and straightened-up your fabric. You have to pardon the Flight of the Conchords reference. Quilting With Flannel Episode 4: It’s Business Time (Have questions about starch? Read about it here, Fabric Starch: Get it or forget it? Because of all of that stretchiness, flannel can slide a bit, making it hard to sew. Try pressing flannel instead (holding the iron in place for a few seconds), or even trying starch. Since flannel is really stretchy, ironing can stretch out the fabric a little too much.
If things do get a little wrinkled, it’s not a bad idea to iron things out before sewing. Drying is the same story: crank up the heat! Tip – If you want, add a large bath towel into the dryer to keep the yardage from twisting and accumulating unwanted wrinkles. You may want to use a lingerie bag to cut down on that fraying problem. Use very mild detergent, and crank up your water temp so you can get all that shrinking out of the way before you start quilting with flannel. You’re worth it.Īfter you make it home with your brand-new flannel, you’ll definitely want to pre-wash it. This usually means purchasing up to a quarter yard more, but trust me. Because of this, you’re going to want to increase your seam allowance when quilting with flannel, from the typical 1/4" all the way to 1/2". Those loosely-woven fibers that give you that soft and cuddly feel also come apart easily on the edges. This means you’ll have to buy more in the first place. So when you take your fabric home and pre-wash it (more on that in a minute) it’s going to come out of the dryer smaller than it was when you put it in.
You’re also going to be glad that flannel runs on the less-expensive end of the spectrum, because you usually have to buy more than you planned on buying. Definitely something to keep in mind, though if you’re quilting with smaller pieces, you may not mind too much. Most often this fuzzy fabric comes in narrower rolls. It all starts when you meet at the fabric store… or wherever you go to purchase your flannel. When you’re prepping for your big date with flannel, you’re going to want to add a few extra steps. Quilting With Flannel Episode 3: Gettin’ Ready
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