5 more Fleece Lap Quilts

Lessons learned:
If you are thinking about doing something with fleece, you should use a serger.

I purchased some fleece at Joanne, but it was only about half as thick as my bags of scraps.

Be flexible! This stuff is really difficult to work with on a regular sewing machine. If you just want something colorful and warm [as these lap quilts] AND do not have to have perfection [these quilts have lots of imperfections], then go for it. Of course I still do not know how the recipients will like these. That will come some time later. Really rather stressful for me since they have been a LOT of work. I have one more in process. But then I'll do something more usual.

I would really appreciate feedback on both the quilts and the puzzle cuts.

Hope you enjoy, ann

Lap Quilt #4 and the puzzle




Lap quilt #5 and the puzzle




Lap Quilt #6 and the puzzle




Lap Quilt #7 and the puzzle





Lap Quilt #8 and the puzzle

Lap Quilt #3 = fleece

I actually started this fleece construction process last year. I tried putting the pieces together like one would put cotton or other quilting fabric. The fleece is much too thick. I got so so frustrated last year that I just put the fleece back into bags. Below are a couple of examples of my first attempts.


This year I decided I needed to get those bags of fleece out of the way. Fleece takes up a lot of room. I would have to overlap the pieces. Someone suggested I try to lap the stretch grain with the non-stretch grain. That was a good suggestion which I tried to follow. After quilt #2, I decided to just use the fleece alone.

Cutting this stuff straight is a BIG challenge on the stretch grain. The fleece ruffles and wiggles and seems to have a mind of its own. The blade will often bounce, catch, and jump. Cutting with the non-stretch grain is a lot easier; only have to deal with the curling. I cut rectangles and squares from all of the rest of the fleece in the pile. Then I sewed the pieces into strips 36" long. That length will become the width. It is easier to work with that length than longer because I just laid the pieces out on my cutting board. I have actually finished that process with the rest of the pieces, so the quilts should be coming in a bunch very soon.

Although I am happy with this result. I would not ever recommend anyone work with this stuff on a regular sewing machine. Someone said a serger would be easier. Not sure it would solve the stretching problems.

For all of us puzzle addicts, I picked a challenging cut because the quilt is so simple. ENJOY!

Lap Quilt #2 + puzzle

I got these bags of polar fleece leftover pieces [from some manufacturing company I think]. I paid about $5 for the whole lot. I had NEVER used polar fleece, so I thought this was a bargain. Very few large pieces, quite a few too small to use, and most of the rest were medium sized odd shapes. Knowing I didn't have to worry abut raveling, I did NOT realize the bulk of the fabric would cause many problems in sewing.



Comparison of fleece sizes. Most are about the size of the light blue one, but not that regular in shape.



I first tried to make 'regular' seams. After much fighting and frustration, I realized that would not work for these small pieces because the many seams were pretty ugly and stiff.



I then tried overlapping seams. That worked better. Trying to loosen myself out of my square corner rut, I ironed back the edges on a nice piece of fabric to use as my backing. As you can see, I used a lot of uncut pieces. Not very happy with the results. Hopefully someone will pick it for their choice. It will be very warm. The size is 42" x 48".



In the middle of finishing this quilt, I decided for the next one I would square cut up the rest and piece it together by itself. I'm working on that. The cutting seems endless. I'm already bored, but too stubborn to give up. This stuff is very light weight, soft and very warm. Hopefully I will have something to post very soon.

TA DAH. . . now for the puzzle.

First Lap Quilt as a Puzzle