Midwestmary

Be sure to allow for shrinkage - prewashing is very important...the other thing to consider is the type of batting or no batting - flannel quilts can become rather heavy.

Prism99

Following is what I do when piecing flannel for a quilt. (I have not do this for a rag quilt, but I haven't made any rag quilts yet.)

This is the only time I prewash and dry, and I do it *twice* because flannel can shrink an incredible amount.

After washing, I starch the flannel heavily to restore body and to stabilize the fabric so it doesn't stretch and distort while cutting and piecing. My method is to mix a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water, "paint" it onto the yardage with a large wall-painting brush, toss in dryer, then iron with steam. This makes for very accurate cutting and piecing of flannel. The flannel is about as stiff as thin cardstock (odd, but it works!).

Depending on the pattern and intended usage, I might increase the seam allowance of blocks to 1/2", as flannel can ravel.

As others have mentioned, stop and clean out your machine frequently (especially the bobbin area).

ruthrec

I, too, wash in hot water, dry in a hot dryer (buy extra fabric) and use 1/2 inch seams, pressed open. Other than that, it's a dream. Don't buy cheap flannel.

MadQuilter

Flannel has a higher shrink rate so prewashing and drying to shrink is important. I read that flannel, because it frays a bit more, benefits from a wider seam allowance.

DogHouseMom

All of the above with regard good quality is worth it, shrinkage, pre-washing a must in my opinion, lots of fuzz so keep machine clean, and it stretches more.

A few more things to add ... rotary cutting blades and needles will get more wear. Also necessary to wash your cutting board more often - I even use the edge of my 6.5" ruler to scrape it then wash it with with a damp cloth.

Last, when I work with flanel I use flanel for batting! 1 thickness will do. The whole quilt when done has a lovely "hand" with the flanel batting - very supple so it's great for "tucking" into. Not to oheavy but plenty warm.

cmw0829

Thank you all for the valuable information. I took DH to an LQS today and we fondled the flannels so I could get an idea of what he likes.

elliot

I have made 3 flannel quilts in the last several months, the last being king size. Two I backed with fleece and the king with 110" wide flannel from fabric.com. This is what I have found. I did not prewash because all were from kits, but before cutting I would starch very heavily (I make my own starch from sta-flo so I would spray until very wet) the back of the fabric and iron. I found that a good soaking and iron will take care of shrinkage and you don't get the ends all messed up and stringy like you do when you wash. I did pre wash the backing flannel because I knew I had enough and it was a dark color and I did not want it to bleed into the top after it was finished. Another thing I found was with the binding. The first 2 quilts I used 2 1/4" binding strips, they were too small but I managed. On the king it called for 2 1/4 but I increased to 2 3/4, worked much better. All my quilts had triangles they were a challenge. The heavy starching really helped there. HTH

janiesews

For rag time quilts do not prewash your flannel. It will "bloom" when you have snipped it and washed after putting it together. Rag times are fun to make.

teacherbailey

I have made exactly ONE flannel quilt and it was a challenge....in order to work with the triangles, I ended up ironing a strip of fusible interfacing (lightweight) to the back of the squares that I was cutting into half-square triangles....just an inch wide strip on the diagonal....so that they wouldn't stretch so much on the bias after cutting. I was using big squares so it didn't take too long and it worked really well to make my sewing easier....hope this helps. Also: quality flannel is absolutely worth the price vs the cheaper stuff!!!!!

didi

Thanks for these instructions. They sound very good and I would think that they make a big difference. I'm also planning on making some flannel quilts this year.