Flannel is a sturdy, warm, dependable fabric and clothing made from it will last long, it can be used for sewing different garments for Autumn and Winter.
Sewing With Flannel is used by seamstress to make different garments for fresh and cooler weather, as its a warm and soft fabric to the touch, and will help you to keep warm during cold weather months.
Flannel fabrics will be on top of your list of fabrics to look at on your next visit to the fabric store when thinking about sewing soft and cozy garments, whether is an easy to make scarf of a poncho, or if you want to make a new shirt or a jacket, and don’t forget about making some pj’s for the family.
Is Sewing With Flannel Easy?
At the first look, you might get the idea that sewing will flannel will be easy and it will go right as you planned, but there are some tricks you need to follow to make you’re sewing go smooth and get good results.
Flannel is a weave fabric, made from cotton, wool, a blend or with some synthetic fibers. When making the flannel fabric it can be with brushed fibers before or after the fabric is made, this process will make the flannel fabric to have its own soft and cozy touch characteristics.
Most well known patterns on flannel fabrics are plaids, but you can also find some different pretty and modern patterns on flannel fabrics today.
How To Prepare Flannel Fabrics For Sewing
When you have some time already sewing, you might notice that flannel fabric tends to be soft to the touch, but it also tends to have some movement on its own, and this is because this is a woven fabric, the fibers can be loose and it will make of this fabric to have a lot of movement when tracing, cutting and sewing it.
Rewashing flannel fabrics will help you to sew your projects with this fabric with more confidence, taking your time to pre-wash and press your fabric well, will shrink the fabric before you make the first cut, this will avoid any bad surprises after you finish your project and it might shrink in the first wash.
Set the laundry machine with cool or warm water and run a regular washing cycle with your regular laundry soap, flannel might fray during the washing, if you want to avoid having all the fray in your washing machine, you can put the flannel in a laundry bag.
When drying the flannel in the dryer, I would use a regular cycle, as if you use a cycle with hot air it might shrink your flannel fabric as it does with any wool garment.
You can also decide to take the flannel to a laundry line if the weather is still nice.
Take your time to press your flannel fabric, you can use steam or not, if you notice your fabric weave is still too open and it moves, you can spray some starch while pressing it.
How To Cut A Flannel Fabric
When the times’ comes to cut the different pieces for you’re sewing project using flannel, you need to known in advance that when using any flannel with a plaid pattern, you need to take your time to fold and set the fabric the right way, so when you cut any parts for the project, the pattern on the flannel will go right and the finished garment will look right.
When using a flannel with any other pattern then plaids, you will have more freedom to fold and set the fabric on your cutting table.
If you’re making a new piece of cloth or any item for home decoration with a flannel with plaid patterns on it, you might need to buy some extra fabric to be able to fold and set the fabric on your cutting table to get your project cut right.
How To Sew With Flannel
Flannel is a soft fabric, but is woven and it might have some movement on its own while sewing, for this reason there are some tricks to have in mind when you’re making a new piece of clothing with this material.
Seams Allowance – As flannel is a fabric that frays a lot, you will need to cut your seams allowance 1/2 inch, and you can use a pinky shears to prevent some fraying.
Overlock Seams – The best way to prevent fraying on flannel is to overlock all your seams, but if you don’t have an overlock machine, you can also run a zigzag stitching on all the seams, some new domestic sewing machines come with overloack stitching patterns you can use.
Pin Your Sewing Project Parts – Take your time to pin the parts you’ll be sewing on, it will help you to hold the pieces together while you use you’re sewing machine to sew on two pieces of your project, and repeat the process of pining your project parts as you keep sewing your project.
Walking Foot – If you’re sewing machine comes with a walking foot, its the time to set your machine with it, as flannel is a thick fabric and it will make the upper layer to be fed in your machine at a different pace that the lower layer, a walking foot will help you to even feed both layers while sewing.
Stitching Length – You might need to run a test, using two pieces of scraps of the flannel you’re using on your project, you might notice that using a small stitching won’t work well and it might get some waves on the fabric, set you’re sewing machine with a bigger stitching length, it will work better and it will avoid any waves while you sew on your project.
Sewing Machine Needle – Flannel is a weave fabric and it might be tough to sew with it, you might notice if you use a regular sewing machine needle, it might break the fibers on the flannel, for this reason it will be better if you use a ball point needle.
Sewing Machine Maintenance – Flannel is a tough fabric on the sewing machine, it will leave your machine with lots of lint, you might need to stop working on your project to brush away all the lint on the sewing and bobbing area, and don’t forget to do a proper maintenance on you’re sewing machine after you finish working on your project.
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What Sewing Projects To Do With Flannel
Flannel fabrics are having their moment now, and you might notice more and more people are working with this material to make different sewing projects like: pj’s, scarfs, ponchos, shirts, dresses, jackets, coats, and quilts.
Don’t let the weave characteristics on this fabric to stop you from sewing with it, follow the tricks mentioned above and they will help you to known more about how to sew with flannel and get great results every time!
