How to Make a Flannel Quilt?

My experience with flannel clothes goes back to the time my when my parent’s decided to send me to boarding school. I still remember how excited I was to see the black box with my name neatly written on it with white paint and on closer inspection the contents which included new, clean and neatly ironed clothes such as a blazer, skirts, shirts and two pretty flannel night suits!

What is flannel?

Flannel is a warm fabric, which is light-to-medium in weight. This fabric originated in the Midwest and is used to make bed sheets and clothing. Originally, flannel was made from carded wool, but now it is often made from either cotton and wool or synthetic fiber and wool.

Making a Flannel Quilt

As this material is soft and warm, it is often used to make a cuddly quilt. Here you will learn how to make a flannel quilt.

Things you will require to do so are:

• A sewing machine
• A few quilting pins
• A white colored pencil
• Some fabric
• Some batting
• A rotary cutter
• A cutting board
• An iron
• A plastic template
• A ruler

Instructions:

• First of all choose a flannel quilt pattern.
• Next determine the size of the quilt, in order to determine the amount of fabric you will need. To do this, you need to decide whether you want to make a crib quilt, a queen-size quilt or a king-size quilt.
• Once that is done, buy the fabric using the measurements on your flannel quilt pattern. While buying fabric ensure that you purchase high quality flannel, as it is thicker and more durable.
• Now prewash the fabric twice in hot water and dry it in a dryer. Once the fabric is washed, spray starch and iron it.
• Use the information on the pattern to cut the pieces of fabric. Remember to cut for ½ inch seam if the pattern mentions ¼ inch. Ensure that you label the pieces as you cut them.
• With all that done, you can now go ahead and stitch the pieces together to make a quilt top.
• Once you have made the quilt top, sandwich the batting in between the backing and the quilt top, with the right sides facing in the outward direction. Use pins or baste to put them together.
• Now hand quilt a design on each block, to do this either use a template of stitch along the seams.
• You can now bind the edges of the quilt using homemade bining or with binding that has been purchased. To know the size of the binding, measure around the outside of your quilt and add 6 inches.

Flannel Quilting Fabric

Fortunately there are plenty of designs available in flannel quilting fabric. With the choice available I am sure you cannot go wrong! Here is a list which comprises of a few designs of flannel quilting fabric.

• Animals
• Batik
• Solids
• Sports
• Nature
• Pastels
• Florals
• Tropical
• Seasons
• Woven
• Landscapes
• Food and Drinks
• Holidays
• Letters and Numbers

Tips for Making Flannel Quilts

• Since flannel will dull your needle very quickly, remember to put a needle in before you begin the sewing and discard it after you finish making your quilt.
• Brush out your machine before you begin making the flannel quilt as flannel will lint up your machine very quickly. Also remember to check it after you are done.
• Pre-shrink flannel before making the quilt. To do so put them in your washer’s hottest setting and dry them in the drier’s hottest setting too.
• Use a little spritz of starch to help you when ironing the flannel as is does not press as crisply as cotton. Remember to press the flannel with the seam allowances open.
• Since it is very hard to rip open stitches on flannel without distorting the fabric, it is advisable to have a little extra fabric in case you need to cut a new piece.
• Use more dye as well as mordant if you are hand-dyeing the flannel.
• As flannel does not have a high thread count, it distorts when you attempt to make severely angled cuts. In order to avoid this consider sewing flannel patterns such as a Double Irish Chain, a Bargello or some Seminole designs.
• In case you want to bind using a Logger flannel, use only a single fold binding as this will help save your fingers.