Sewing with Polar Fleece

Author: Cyd Klein

Polar Fleeces are some of the easiest fabrics to sew with. They are soft and warm so they work great for outdoor wear and especially winter parade or pageant wear. Here are some examples of Parade Costumes made using fleece.

First, Don't get fleeced. You put a lot of work into your sewing, make sure it lasts and buy the non-pill variety.

The non-pill finish is very important because it prevents the surface of your fabric from balling up or pilling after several washings. The less expensive fleeces without this finish are not worth sewing, because they start to look old quickly, leaving you feeling that you've wasted your money and sewing time. Pay up front, or pay later Grandma Loretta used to say.

Any fabric store should be able to tell you whether a piece of fabric has a non-pill finish. This finish is applied only to the right side of the fabric. That's important to remember because;

FLEECE HAS A RIGHT SIDE AND A WRONG SIDE.

On prints the right side is usually clearer or the colors are more vivid than the wrong side. On solids, the right side is smoother than the wrong side which looks more like felt. If your not sure, ask the fabric store personnel before you purchase it. If you have some already in your stash and are not sure which is the right side, wash the fabric a couple of times. The side that looks the best is the right side.

When sewing with fleece, you have a variety of weights to choose from.

Micro fleeces are lightweight fabrics, almost like chamois. They're perfect for shirts, leggings, housecoats, lightweight jacket linings, and scarves.

100-weight fleeces can be one- or two-sided, which means they're fuzzy on either one or two sides. Slightly heavier than the micro fleeces, these fabrics are about the same weight as sweat shirting. The 100-weight fleeces are great for high-tech sweatshirts and leggings, jacket linings, and lightweight gear for heads, feet, and hands.

Medium-weight fleeces are probably the most common and versatile on the market. They're perfect for jackets, pants, hats, mittens, socks, slippers, and vests, and there is a lot of medium weight fleece available.

Stretch Fleeces are great for leggings or comfy long johns under your snowmobile suit. They are also great for socks, mittens, gloves, and hats.

I recommend a size 14 universal or sharp needle on your project. Keep the presser foot fairly tight , somewhere between 4-5. Try it on same scraps first, looking for the adjustment that allows the fleece to feed through evenly.

Tips

Whether serging or sewing, have the bottom piece extend beyond the upper piece by 1/8 of inch. That way you can see it while you are sewing to make sure both layers are being caught in the stitch.

Take Caution when ironing, use a cool iron and a press cloth. Lucky for the sewer, fleece does not need much ironing.

Once I know which side is which put a big chalk X on the wrong side of each piece when I cut out the pattern.

Cyd Klein, Sew Help Me.com

About the author: Cyd Klein has 21 years experience sewing for others. Her vocation is designing and manufacturing Costumes which are then marketed locally and on-line at http://www.nbr-1-costumes.com. Ms Klein also maintains a sewing help site at http://www.sew-help-me.com