carol45

I am making a wall hanging (for my DD's 40th bday) which has puffy balloons holding up a hot-air balloon basket. The photos were printed on laser-jet cotton, and I filled them from the back so that they puff out. Naturally, the puffing distorted the fleece. You can see I now have marked straight lines to cut the fleece so that it will be as squared as possible. I thought to back it with the same fleece, and I had the thought that it might be better to orient the backing widthwise vertical so that it will stretch less in the horizontal direction and maybe help keep the whole thing flatter. I had not intended to bind or quilt the 2 layers, but simply to use a pillowcase turning, and add a sleeve. Any comments/suggestions/advice would be most welcome.

sharon b

Sorry no suggestions, but that really is neat :thumbup: She will love it :lol:

littlehud

I have no suggestions. Fleece is so stretchy but so comfy to cuddly with. I love your wall hanging.

sewcrafty

What if you got some light weight muslin to stabilize it before you sandwiched it? Would that be a consideration?

Just thinking out loud.

carol45

Do you mean to sew the top to the muslin?
Would I do it just around the edges or around the baloons as well?

sewcrafty

I thought maybe if you spray basted the fleece to the muslin, maybe you could get the fleece back to where it needed to be before you put the back on and quilted it. I think quilting around the balloons would look real cute, then maybe doing some balloons as quilting on the background fabric would then stabilize it.

carol45

That's a good idea. Hadn't thought of spray basting.

amma

I agree with sewcrafty, if you can get it back in shape first, you may like the looks better in the end. Quilting around the balloons and other objects would help keep the layers together. I would prewash the muslin it hot water first :wink:
What if when you sandwich it, you cut the muslin just big enough to fit just outside of where you have your stitching lines. Resew them to catch the edges of the muslin, and trim any excess muslin away. Leave 3-4" of fleece on the front and back around the edges, clip them for fringe or tye them instead of a binding?

sewcrafty

Good ideas Amma!!!

carol45

Amma, I don't understand what you're suggesting. Are you saying that I just use small pieces of muslin in back of each balloon, and sew them to the backs of the balloons and then reshape the whole thing? What am I missing?