Flannel questions

I use flannel to make baby gowns for a shelter. Often as not, after the flannel has been prewashed it is unacceptable because of pill-fuzzing. I use that flannel for batting inside preemie quilts and it does okay for that. It doesn't seem to matter what price the flannel is - some as high as $18 yard from a 'nice' place has been just as pilly. The favorite here is by Northcott - they make one that looks lovely and feels more like velvet. Conclusion? Just buy a little of the flannel you're thinking of using and give it a good test first. Your quilt of flannel with silk batting sounds exquisite. Polly

Now, you would have thought that I would have come up with that on my own after my last 'lack of testing' experience! Maybe I'll pop over to the LQS and pick up a couple of flannel fat quarters and work from there. Maybe I'll even MQ the piece with a scrap batt and wash it up a couple of times after just to see how it works as well. Thank you, Miss Polly, for your words of wisdom.

Glad to remind you of what you probably had tucked away in your mind already. I'm on cookie-baking break. All is going well except managing to have some left for tomorrow. Haven't quite figured that one out. Polly

Now, you would have thought that I would have come up with that on my own after my last 'lack of testing' experience! Maybe I'll pop over to the LQS and pick up a couple of flannel fat quarters and work from there. Maybe I'll even MQ the piece with a scrap batt and wash it up a couple of times after just to see how it works as well. Thank you, Miss Polly, for your words of wisdom.

My only answer to that one is...bake more!

Flannel is warm, it also shrinks like the dickens, ravels madly, and in the deep colors tends to be overdyed so that it bleeds like no tommorow. I always prewash flannel. Of course I always prewash everything, but flannel is one of the things I would never consider not prewashing. I'm with Polly on testing it. Some flannel is fit for quilts of the gods, some is fit for single use washrags. Just like most other fabrics, only with most other fabrics you don't get the de-fuzzification and snotfluff that happens with some cheap flannel.

If you are planning cotton flannel, I would be hesitant about a silk batting. The laundry requirements are just too different. I am fussy like that though. So far as quilting it, it will make you wonder if you have died and gone to heaven. Basting it will make you wonder what you did to deserve the other place. I have only ever used it in garments, a flat project is likely to be much easier.

NightMist

Flannel is not woven as tightly is regular quilting cotton. This has a couple implications:

- It is more likely to ravel. You may want to use a larger seam allowance than the standard quarter inch. If you do, allow for it when cutting and figuring yardage for the quilt.

- Bias seams will stretch more than regular quilting cotton. You may want to avoid a pattern with much bias.

- You many want to consider a pattern with fairly large, simple blocks.

Julia > I've not worked w/flannel in quilting. I'm contemplating making a

I'm with others that I would not do flannel if I was hand quilting it. Also I rarely make a baby quilt out of flannel especially if you want it to be their blankie. My experience I've never found flannel good enough that would even hold up to the first two years of washings. As they get washed a lot in that period of time. I make the flannel ones but never expected them to last. I make cotton ones to last their lifetime.

Flannel > >

Howdy!

cotton flannel: a stout cotton fabric with nap on only one side

YMMV: In my experience w/ good cotton flannel bought from a number of quilt shops, cotton flannel does not shrink much, does not ravel much, and the colors hold just fine. I like to use cotton flannel w/ Hobbs Thermore batting (poly) for cancer patients; the quilts have been well-received and much-used. Like you, Kim, I pre-wash, and handquilt.

Don't be afraid of the flannel.

Good luck! Merry Christmas!

R/Sandy - http://www.hobbsb> >

Use silk batting for another project. The density and weight of the flannel will not take advantage of the best qualities of the silk batting. Although I never prewash regular cottons, I always prewash flannels. Different fabrics will shrink differently, even within a single line.

MHO anth> I've not worked w/flannel in quilting. I'm contemplating making a