Fleece Backing

Last month I shared the floral quilts I made and gifted to my three sisters-in-law. Instead of regular quilting cotton for the backing, I used a fleece for all three quilts. Today I'd like to share a few tips on using fleece.

I chose LUXE fleece from JoAnns which is their heaviest weight fleece and is supposed to be pill resistant. Since these are new quilts that haven't gone through much wear and tear or washing, I can't speak to the level of pill resistance. Hopefully they will wear well.

LUXE fleece feels heavier and more luxurious than the other types of fleece that JoAnns carries. I found this comparison of the various types of fleece on their website. It is more expensive than the other fleece but when purchased on sale and/or with a coupon it is still quite reasonable.

The main drawback is that the color choices are much more limited. There were several prints available but few solids. Fortunately I was able to find colors that worked well enough for all three quilts.

Another advantage to the fleece was the wider width. They are 59" wide which was just right for my quilts that finished at 42" x 54"  No piecing was necessary.

Because of the weight, I did not use any batting. I thought without batting they would feel lighter but in the end they feel about the same weight as a normal quilt . . . just softer. Lots softer.

The drawback to no batting was some shadowing of the seams. All of the quilts included some light fabrics and all the fleece was relatively dark in comparison. You can see the show-through in the following two photos. I felt like it was more noticeable in the first quilt that had larger blocks.

In the second example, the pieces were smaller and this made the show-through feel less noticeable overall. I think the small piecing and the quilting texture help to minimize the show-through.

If your quilt is full of prints, I wouldn't worry about the show-through of the seams as it will be hidden by the prints. Another option to avoid the show-through would be to use a lightweight lining fabric or batting to eliminate the problem.

Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting quilted them for me on her longarm. She was more than willing to give fleece a try which I really appreciated. Here are her tips for using fleece backing:

Do not cut off the selvage because it helps to stabilize the fleece which is stretchy. She said it was a little tricky at first to figure out how tight to roll the fleece without stretching it too much. Don't over stretch.

Choose a quilting motif that doesn't back track on itself. If the motif does back track, try to use thread that matches the backing. Cara used a lighter thread for all my quilts to blend into the quilt top. For the most part this worked beautifully because the thread tends to bury itself into the fleece pile.

In the photo below you can see how the thread color shows up as little spots of lighter color here and there on the back of one of the quilts where the design tracks over itself. This backing was also the darkest of the three and the design motif was different than the other two. I don't think it's terrible but definitely something to be aware of.

The best part about using fleece for the backing is the appearance. In the photo below you might think the thread is a darker blue but it's not. It's actually a light gray that blended well with the quilt top. The thread tends to get buried into the pile of the fleece giving the impression of being embossed. I love how it looks!

For some reason I found one of the quilts a little more of a challenge to bind than the others. I did all machine binding and the edges had a tendency to roll a little. Pressing well with a press cloth (because the fabric is polyester) seemed to help. I think it would have been hard to bind these by hand because of the pile. Not impossible but definitely harder to get down to the actual fabric base with the stitches.

All in all, I couldn't have been more pleased with the results. The quilts are really really soft and cuddly and I absolutely love how the quilting shows up on the back.

I have since done one more quilt with a fleece backing but haven't finished the binding yet. When it's done I'll share it here.

Have you ever used fleece or any other types of backing materials? I'd love to know about your experience.

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Quilts are Blooming

April showers bring May flowers . . . or so they say. It's May 21st and I woke up to snow this morning so anything goes here in Colorado. Snow aside, I have been spending a lot of time in 2019 working with my older floral stash. My April creating brought several blooming quilts to completion in May.

These three were recently finished and gifted to my wonderful sisters-in-law while on a recent road trip to the Midwest. I don't have siblings but consider myself extra blessed that I gained 3 sisters when I married my husband. I love them all and it gave me such pleasure to make personalized quilts for each of them that reflected their individual style.

First up was this simple Irish chain for Jan. She lives in Kansas also known as the sunflower state so my collection of sunflower prints fit perfectly. She loves sunflowers and all things Kansas.

Next up was this half square triangle quilt in lovely lavenders and purples for Nancy in Kansas City. She's going through some tough times right now with her health so I hope these flowers will remind her of better times spent in her garden and of her Mom who often wore lavender and light blue.

Last was this multi-colored Irish chain for Candy. She loves hostas and the colors purple and magenta so the hosta print and the peonies and other purple flowers were a great fit. I even put in a couple of sunflowers as a nod to years spent living in Kansas before their move to Iowa.

It was so much fun to gift each of these wonderful women in my life with a quilt. I hope they will be loved and used and brighten their days with positive energy and warmth. It feels nice knowing that some of my pretty fabrics have been put to good use.

I accumulated more than my fair share of traditional floral fabrics years ago when I did a lot of impressionist style quilts. Below is one of the early impressionist quilts I made for friends. On our trip we got to visit with them in their Iowa home and I took this photo. Not great lighting but I'm happy to know they still enjoy the quilt many years later as a reminder of their time spent living in Colorado.

So far I've completed 4 lap quilts and have fabric cut for 2 more and yet I've barely made a dent in my floral stash. There's even more than what this photo shows . . . Yikes!  I'll be following up with another post soon about the backing and quilting details for these three quilts so stay tuned.

Generally speaking these types of fabrics aren't my style anymore and yet on our recent trip I found myself buying these pretty green florals. I'm not a big fan of butterflies but the ferns and white flowers spoke to me.

I guess there'll be at least one more floral quilt to make. I'm thinking another Irish Chain as I love the simplicity of the design while still allowing room for a mix of prints. I have some fern and ivy prints I may mix in with these new fabrics.

Perhaps there will be more floral quilts in my future but after this one I think I'll be ready to move on. I have plenty of bright Kaffe florals waiting in the wings begging to be used, plus some new modern ideas brewing. Keep an eye on my Instagram account to see what I'm up to @springleafstudios.

I also have a new IG account specifically about color if you're interested. Right now I'm doing the 100 day challenge posting on the color green. It will evolve into other colors as I go along. @springleafcolor

Linking up with Kelly and this week's NTT party.
Also linking up with Cheryl's Favorite Finish Monthly.
Hope you're creating something beautiful in your world.

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Snowball Quilt; the Diamonds

My design wall is bursting into full bloom.

I'm well on my way to making a snowball quilt. My wall is covered with squares of Kaffe, Amy Butler and several older traditional prints from my stash. Lots and lots of cutting from lots and lots of different fabrics. Putting them up on the wall is like watching a fabric garden bloom. Love it!

Before I cut any fabric, I cut white paper squares to represent the diamonds. Then I fussy cut the blooms. See this blog post for my fussy cutting method. As more and more fabric blooms went up on the wall, I ran out of paper squares and decided not to bother with any more.

It's interesting to see the difference in the layout with and without the white diamonds. My first reaction was that the section without the white diamonds looked flat. The floral squares alone seemed incomplete. However as more and more squares went up I liked the look better and better.

Here's a section with the diamonds.

And here's a section without. Which do you prefer?

I don't really think one is better than the other. It's more a matter of what you're after in a design. I actually think a really large quilt of simple squares would be quite stunning. Especially one that included several of those big blooms with the dark background. They add depth and a focal point that helps to break up the overall surface. At this point in the process I have not played with fabric placement. Only cutting squares and throwing them up on the wall. Distribution of color and fabrics will come later.

My original plan was to use white for the diamonds but before committing I tried another fabric from my stash. A small black and white dot. This quilt will be used in my guest room where I've used a lot of black and white decor. At first I didn't like the dot. The white paper stood out so much that the dot looked flat. But the more dotted squares I added, the more I liked it. It's more subtle than the white which allows the blooms to really stand out. Plus, the little tiny touch of black is just right for the room.

Even though I grew to like the idea of all squares, perhaps that's another quilt for another time. Right now I'm making a snowball quilt.  A snowball quilt with black and white dot diamonds. This process reminded me of how important it is to continue to fine tune and work through design issues as you go along. If I hadn't bothered with the paper diamonds I wouldn't have had a good idea what the final quilt would look like. It's good to see all the parts come together. It's also good to be flexible if those parts aren't working the way you envisioned. Be open to making changes along the way. You just might discover a whole new concept that's even better. Or at least different and equally worthy of being made into another lovely quilt.

I'll be back soon with a post on how I decided on the size of the corner squares plus how I sew them.

Love gardening with fabric. Just wish my design wall was bigger so it could hold even more
beautiful flowers.   : )

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WIP Wednesday

Time for another WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Yesterday was my turn on the Let's get Acquainted Blog Hop hosted by Beth at Plum and June and I admitted there that I have many many UFO's piled up. Sadly my family is so used to seeing quilt tops hanging up around the house that they don't even know what a quilted quilt looks like. But not any more! After whipping up a little table runner tutorial for the hop and quilting it and putting it to use already, it seemed time to finish the original table runners that sparked the tutorial.

Fat Quarter Table Runner made with this tutorial.

Original table runners not yet quilted. I'm working on it.

Plus I'd like to get my fall sunflower quilt actually finished. I'm embarrassed to admit that I made this quilt years ago and hang it up in the fall even though it's not yet quilted. And even though it's not so much my style anymore, I still like the fall feeling it brings to the room. So the time has come. The backing is ready. The batting is cut. Basting right now, quilting this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

This quilt is like standing in a field of sunflowers in Kansas. It's busy busy but makes me smile. Now if only I can manage to keep smiling while I quilt it.

Spring is Here

I LOVE spring! I'm a color person and after a long winter of drab colors, I'm so so ready for spring. Green is my favorite color. All the new little leaves emerging always feels so fresh and clean to me. And then there's the flowers and all their fabulous colors . . .

I can never have enough flowers. I'm such a sucker for picking up yet another little pot of something to bring home and plant in the garden. I can spend hours at the greenhouse trying to decide which colors to plant for the summer. Kind of like hours in the quilt shop drooling over all the fabric. I'm almost as bad buying flowers as I am buying fabric. 


I guess that's why I have so many floral fabrics in my stash. Sometimes I think gardening with fabric is easier than in real life. No watering everyday. Once you "plant" some florals in a quilt, they stay as bright and fresh as ever. And you don't have to weed. Gotta love that! 


Every spring, I bring the garden indoors by putting up some of my floral quilts and my floral ceramics collection. It makes the room feel new and fresh.

This is the quilt that takes center stage. I started it in a class taught by Sandy Bonsib a few years ago. It's made entirely from my floral stash. While the fabrics are pretty traditional and not what I buy these days, I never tire looking at all the individual prints and colors. I think that's the beauty of scrappy quilts. They offer so much eye candy. Every time you look at a scrappy quilt you can see something new.


And these are some of the floral ceramics I've picked up here and there mostly at flea markets. 

I love getting all these colorful floral quilts and dishes out every spring. 
It makes me happy. : )
Hope spring is renewing your quilting passion and making you happy.