How to Sew With Fleece Fabric
- 1). Select a suitable sewing project for your fleece fabric. Not all clothing items are suitable for making with fleece. Sweatshirts, jackets and loose pants are examples of clothing items that you can easily make with fleece fabric. Covering pillows and making blankets are also ideas for using fleece fabric.
- 2). Cut out the paper pattern pieces, if necessary.
- 3). Lay out your fleece fabric onto a flat work area that is large enough to allow you to spread the fleece fabric flat. If you are sewing clothing, you must treat fleece as a fabric "with nap" because fleece fibers have direction that will appear different if they are not all sewn facing the same way. Place the fleece fabric on the work area with the wrong side facing up and the selvage (manufactured) edges at the top and bottom as you are facing the fleece.
- 4). Place the pattern pieces over the fleece fabric laying them correctly according to the grain lines on the pattern pieces. The grain lines should run parallel to the selvage (manufactured) edges of the fleece fabric. Make sure the pattern pieces are also all facing the same way so the nap of the fleece will be uniform on every piece.
- 5). Pin the pattern pieces to the fleece fabric using long pins. Cut out each piece.
- 6). Transfer pattern markings from the pattern pieces to the fleece fabric pieces. This includes notches, hemlines and tucks.
- 7). Begin sewing the fleece pieces together, following the individual instructions for the item you are making. Use eight to ten stitches per inch when you sew fleece because of the extra bulk of the fabric. If the fleece dulls your sewing needle, change the needle so you are always sewing with a sharp sewing needle. Stitch carefully to avoid making mistakes because ripping seams out of fleece is difficult.
- 8). Continue constructing the item by working your way through the instructions. You do not have to hem fleece edges unless you desire because fleece will not fray. Some people leave fleece edges free of any hems. Others prefer to hem fleece edges by hand with a decorative stitch. You also might choose to serge the edges, bind the edges with seam binding or turn them under in the standard fashion.