Fleece fabric is wonderfully versatile, it can be used for anything from mittens and scarves to cozy NFL fleece blankets. While it is soft and enticing, it is also a bit strong. The following tips will help you while working with fleece fabric.
Does working with fleece give you the warm fuzzies? Before risking frustration or ruining perfectly good fleece–follow these tips!
Tips for sewing fleece fabric:
- While many fabric projects should begin with a good press, this is not necessary with fleece fabric. Smoothing it with your hands should produce the desired result, unless it is truly wrinkly. A wash and tumble dry should solve the issue. Pro-tip: if your seam allowance is still doing curl-ups at stretch time, consider a nice topstitch. If you absolutely must press, place a thicker fabric between the fleece and the iron to avoid burning the delicate fibers of the fleece.
- Be sure to begin by practicing first on fleece scraps. This will give you a good idea of how the fabric is going to react to your desired stitches. Zigzag stitching looks fantastic on fleece, both large and small sizes.
- Go slow. While you may be a sewing whiz, a steady hand and slower pace is best when working with fleece because it is a thicker and more durable fabric. The upsides: Fleece does not typically fray or pill!
- Fleece can be stretchy. For this reason, use caution when guiding it through your machine to avoid sizing errors.
- Fleece generally does not unravel, so you can save time on edging in certain areas if desired.
- Make sure your pins are thicker and large enough to be seen in the fleece and do not sew over your pins! Sewing over pins is never a good idea– it can break your pins, machines and make a mess out of fabrics. Because fleece is thicker and fuzzier, it is more challenging to remove mistake threads from it without damage.
Take your time when using a machine with fleece
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Post by J&O Fabrics
