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Polar Fleece Tips?

pamici | Posted in General Discussion on

Hello,

I began my sewing journey last fall with a pair of polar fleece outfits for my girls and found that the hems seemed to roll and distort a bit. I’d like to make more fleece outfits now that I have more experience … anybody seen any good “tip sheets” out there for sewing with fleece?

Thanks!
Pamela

(will duplicate post in Fabric & Trim)

Replies

  1. woodruff | | #1

    Malden Mills, IMHO the maker of the finest fleece, has an online tutorial on fleece basics:

    http://www.maldenmillsstore.com/e-classroom.asp?id=051757096863717450557

    1. pamici | | #2

      Thank you -- this looks wonderful!

  2. MTothill | | #3

    Ok call me lazy, but I do not hem Fleece. Especially on kids clothes.

    It will not fray or pull. I also find that hems add a great deal of bulk.

    I will on vests, bind the edges with lycra, but that is about it.

  3. mimi | | #4

    pamici: I made a lot of polar fleece outfits for my daughter when it first came out.  It does tend to roll a lot on unfinished edges.  To control this you have a couple of choices:

    • if you are making pants or sleeves, zig zag some elastic on the unfinished edge.  This will anchor it and keep it from rolling.  Cut the elastic to fit the wrist or ankle and stretch slightly as you sew.
    • rolled hems are actually in this year!  to keep the roll under control, sew a straight line about an inch from the edge, it will keep the fabric from stretching.
    • use an overlock edge.
    • use self facing:  when cutting out the pattern cut another piece the depth of the hem.  Sew the bottom of the hem together (right sides together), cut the seam allowance back, turn and hem.

    These always worked for me!

    mimi

  4. User avater
    artfulenterprises | | #5

    There are several terrific books on sewing Polar Fleece that might inspire you to take your fleece projects to new creative places, as well as resolve basic sewing issues.
    Polar Fleece Adventures and More PolarFleece Adventures by Nancy Cornwell are excellent and there are others. Put polarfleece into the search engine on Amazon.com and I'm sure you will find a variety of books to choose from.

  5. Kiley | | #6

    I love working with polar fleece. I have made many items for my DGK's. They love the quilts and clothes and keep requesting them. For little girls instead of hemming I like using a cutting blade with a wave that makes the fleece edge look nice and frilly. You could also cut a scallop edge for hems then go over it with a blanket stitch in a contrasting color. I did this on a 3 piece outfit for my DGD and also did the hat the same way. It is really cute.

    1. susanna | | #7

      I did the same outfit - twice! Once for my DGD, and another for my friend's DGD. Took quite awhile to hand stitch those hems, but it was really worth it.

      Anyhow, another thing to do is stitch two lines 1, 2, or 3 inches apart around the hem and then fill in with random scroll stitches. Or whatever fancy stitch. Looks cute as well.

      I saw some laser cut polar fleece banding at a fabric store the other day & want to try that now. It looked like the ultrasuede banding that used to be around (maybe it still is).

      1. Kiley | | #8

        Sussanna, When I did the outfit for my DGD with the scalloped edges I didn't handsitch the blanket type stitch, I used my machine to do it. My machine has several types of blanket stitches small and large. I praise you for doing all that handstitching.

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