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From: nomad
Date: 12-09-2006, 11:17 PM (1 of 6)
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Hello! I am hoping to complete a fleece blanket project in time for Christmas & need some help! I'm a relatively new sewer & most of my efforts have been learning to quilt so far, a few pillows, etc. I have a piece of fleece that is 60x72. It is a special print of my husband's favorite sports team & i thought big enough for a throw when i ordered it. But once i cut the edges down, it will be a bit small. So, i'd like to turn it into a blanket. Several issues/questions: * He now has a daybed/couch in his sports 'den' so i thought i'd make it big enough to cover that. It is plenty wide, with probably a 10" drop on either side (even after i cut it down). That's the 60" dimension. But i need to add about 6 inches to either end to make it long enough. * what is the best way to do this? Will it look funny to add to the ends and not the sides? I was planning to add a solid color 'border' of sorts & possibly attach it as i would a binding to a quilt (folded over to the back to cover the seam). I think i can get by with abour 3/4 a yard if it is wide enough & just cut the 12" strips (to be folded over). * What type of thread is best to use for this? i usually use all-cotton when i quilt, so i'm clueless. The slightly heavier thread i've seen in JoAnn's is ryon (i think), but most of them don't include the weight. I know i may have to go to my quilt shop to find the right thing, but i don't know what to ask for! It would be for a standard sewing machine. And would i stick to the thinner cotton in the bobbin, or do i need to change that too? * What type of stitch would be best to attach this extra material & finish the edge? I was thinking zig-zag would show up better, but have read that both wide and narrow zz stitches are best...again, clueless! * Do i need to worry about binding it, or will the edges be ok as is or with a zig zag stitch? * If you have a good solution that i haven't thought of, please let me know! I obviously want to do a decent job at this even if it takes me a little while to get it right!  Thanks in advance! |
User: nomad
Member since: 03-22-2006 Total posts: 19 |
From: Sancin
Date: 12-10-2006, 02:06 AM (2 of 6)
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Hi Nomad I made a fleece blanket yesterday in under 3 hours. I wonder if you are planning to make it more complicated than necessary. Fleece is a wonderful fabric to work with as little sewing is required - one can even use as purchased as the cut edges do not unravel or shed. Regarding your fabric pictures. Is your piece a panel of one big picture or is it an all over design of the sport? It may make a difference on how and where you cut it. Cut off your selvedges. Then you can cut off one side of your 60" to make it as wide as you need. With the cut off section you then add to one end only to make it as long as you wish. For example if you cut off 12 " you cut off one side you add it to either the top or the bottom. You may want to try to get it to closely match the design particularly if the colours are very different from one end to the other, but it may not be obvious. Further, you will be adding a selvege length to a width so there may be a difference in the stretch a little, but not probably not enough to be concerned with. There may also be a difference if the design has a one way to it. In that case you may want to consider purchasing a solid co ordinated fleece to place on each end as you have thought of. You could make a pillow cover out of the sides of your fabric and the contrast. Over lap the pieces by about 1- 1 1/2 " or whatever, then sew on both sides of the overlap to make the join tidy and not bulky. If you feel it is obvious you could use a single layer ribbon of a coordinated solid fleece to cover the seam. Now you essentially have your blanket complete. You can finish it in several ways: 1. Turn the edges over once and sew a hem. If you have decorative stitches on your sewing machine you may want to use one here to hold hem down, perhaps the hem stitch. You can use contrasting thread or Perl cotton or match the fabric itself. I use regular sewing thread such as poly or cotton poly covered as the fleece is a synthetic. You will need to lengthen your stitch to accomodate the plushness of the fleece if you want your seam/designs to show, similar to how you do when you make a quilt. 2. Bind as you suggest, but binding really isn't necessary. If you want to bind, I think you will want a knit binding as fleece is a knit fabric. You would only wrap the binding around the fabric, no need to make like bias binding with several thicknesses. In fact if you try this you will find the fleece loses some of it's nice drapey flexibility. You could also buy some sports binding to make a wrapped edge - a nylon knit that is used to bind sports clothing. Finding a colour you like may be difficult. 3. Make a fringe. http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Easily-Create-Your-Very-Own-Fleece-Blanket tells you how to cut fringe. You could do decorative stitching where fringe starts or you could tie or braid your fringe pieces. Good Luck - I am sure your husband will love the blanket - anywhere or how he plans to use it. 
*~*~*~* Nancy*~*~*~* " I try to take one day at a time - but sometimes several days attack me at once."
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User: Sancin
Member since: 02-13-2005 Total posts: 895 
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From: nomad
Date: 12-19-2006, 11:47 PM (3 of 6)
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thanks Nancy. For some reason i was blocked from posting so i couldn't reply...i had a few questions/thoughts on your post, but none that would keep me from trying...So the update: :( I'm so frustrated right now! grrr. I've been working (here & there w/ lots of interruptions) for 2 days to finish this blanket while DH is away. I cut strips for borders (not a small task when you're measuring a 60" blanket at 7.5 mos. pg! :lol: ) I know there's a better way, but i wanted to lay it out flat to make sure i liked how it would look... I practiced & tried various stiches & lenghths on scraps to figure out which i liked. Had to re-thread the bobbin (my machine didn't like the top thread being heavier), adjust the tension, etc. I've learned that the inability to hold an exactly balanced tension is why my grandmother finally went back to her very old & well-loved machine. This one is perfectly fine, but it is picky and i've only been able to get the tension absolutely 100% perfect a couple of times since it's tune up this summer (so i know it's just a quirk of some sort & probably not actually 'broken'). My husband says i shouldn't bother with a new machine since i hardly use this one (& am just learning), but this frustration is *why* i don't use this one more...everything takes three times as long as it should because i have to fight with the machine... Anyways, i get the tension as close to right as i'm going to get it and decided i was ready to sew the actual blanket. Meticulously pinned the thing (only had 1/2 inch overlap, so that took a while), lined it all up, etc. I sew...and when i am finished I see that it has randomly skipped stitches all along :( I want to cry. I didn't expect it to be perfect, but this does not look good at all. The thread is nearing the end of the spool, so i wonder if that has anything to do with it? I know it's a minor thing, but i really wanted it to at least look nice & not hap-hazzardly done (it was not --i sewed very slowly and carefully to try to keep things looking nice) but it didn't come out that way at all :( I have to get more thread to do the other side tomorrow, but i'll probably end up ripping it all out and trying again after Christmas. I'll still give it to him because that was the plan (if it wasn anyone other than DH, i would not), & i'm sure pg hormones aren't helping here, but i was so excited to be almost finished, to have the borders cut & more or less straight (what wasn't would be hidden & it's fleece, so it's tricky), to make something he'd be happy to have in his den. But now it just looks yucky & like a project that was messed up. I am not happy with it at all. I just don't have time to take it all out, re-pin (again, 60" of fleece + the pg thing), and re-sew when i don't know how it happened in the first place. I have a new needle, the thread was fine in the test pieces & maybe 75% of the stitches in the blanket, it wasn't obviously looping (the v. minimal was maybe 2 stitches in my test piece & i had to look very closely to see it, but didn't see it in the blanket). I'm just kind of disappointed about it all because i was so close to being done with something i knew he'd really love, & even moreso because i made it. But i swear a 10-year-old could make it look better than my machine did with the missed stitches. There are stretches that look fine & perfect & then maybe 2 missed (it's zig-zag, so it looks kind of like a bell curve in the middle of the stitches), no looping that i can see otherwise & if it were tension, i'd expect to see a problem on all of the stitches. If i weren't so persistent, i'd be tempted to just give up on the whole sewing thing, but maybe i just need a better/different machine. Just so annoyed that it didn't do this on the test pieces (and i did a LOT of them) at all. sorry to ramble. I just hope it doesn't happen on the other side tomorrow (or something worse). And i can't exactly explain to my husband what's wrong...If anyone is reading along & has any ideas about what might be wrong, feel free to post! I probably won't get to the second border until noonish tomorrow. |
User: nomad
Member since: 03-22-2006 Total posts: 19 |
From: plrlegal
Date: 12-20-2006, 12:34 AM (4 of 6)
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Nomad I'm sorry that your machine is not stitching properly. So, just take a deep breath, and let's go through the basics of what could be causing your machine to skip stitches. First of all, what kind of machine do you have? Second, are you using the right size needle I would use a 80/12 or 90/14 for sewing fkeecel and do you have the same thread in the bobbin that you are using on top for the needle? All of these factors could account for the machine skipping stitches. Also, when you put the bobbin back in the machine are you threading the bobbin case properly? Also, what is your top tension setting on your machine. Check all of these things and then see what happens to your machine and be sure you have the machine threaded properly and the bobbin thread winding off in the right direction when the bobbin is in the machine. It's only Wednesday and you still have time to finish your project for your dh for Christmas. Patsy Patsy
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User: plrlegal
Member since: 05-19-2001 Total posts: 318 |
From: nomad
Date: 12-20-2006, 01:02 AM (5 of 6)
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Nomad I'm sorry that your machine is not stitching properly. So, just take a deep breath, and let's go through the basics of what could be causing your machine to skip stitches. First of all, what kind of machine do you have? Second, are you using the right size needle I would use a 80/12 or 90/14 for sewing fkeecel and do you have the same thread in the bobbin that you are using on top for the needle? All of these factors could account for the machine skipping stitches. Also, when you put the bobbin back in the machine are you threading the bobbin case properly? Also, what is your top tension setting on your machine. Check all of these things and then see what happens to your machine and be sure you have the machine threaded properly and the bobbin thread winding off in the right direction when the bobbin is in the machine. It's only Wednesday and you still have time to finish your project for your dh for Christmas. Patsy thanks for reading all of that. I didn't mean to write so much, but i'm just frustrated by the whole thing! It's not a fancy machine at all - a Simplicity Celebrity (about 5 years old, but was rarely used until i got it). I'm using a 90/14 needle (which is also what they recommend for fleece in the manual - i did check that along the way). I do have the same thread in the bobbin -- i threaded a bobbin just for this project from the same spool i'm using for the top so it is exactly the same. It's a little heavier than normal thread (because i wanted it to show on the fleece) - i'll have to check the exact weight - but i probably used about 1/4 to 1/2 the spool just for the bobbin & then the test pieces for tension & the stitch length, etc. I'm fairly sure that the bobbin was properly threaded - i used it on all of the test pieces first. The tension is currently set at a 4. When i put in the heavier thread, i had to experiment a bit with that & that seemed to work the best. Even after i got that to look right in the testing (as i said above, there were maybe 2 stitches that had very minor looping underneath when i looked very closely in the testing, but the top stitches & 99% of the backside were fine. I tried a tighter tension just in case that was the culprit & that made it worse so i settled on 4). I sewed for a while trying different stitch lengths and widths, without any major problems. I can't think of anything else to try. |
User: nomad
Member since: 03-22-2006 Total posts: 19 |
From: Brenisback
Date: 12-20-2006, 04:50 AM (6 of 6)
 Hi nomad ...Here's my two sense ... Did you Clean and Oil your machine before you started.Maybe there's some fuzz stuck somewhere... or a piece of thread ...it's just a thought...hope it helps... Your hubby will love it ... Merry Christmas Brenda
People come into your life ...for a Reason a Season or a Lifetime. |
User: Brenisback
Member since: 09-20-2004 Total posts: 228 |
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