Thirty-nine years ago, I married a wonderful man, Rick. Becoming part of another family meant that I was introduced to many things I’d not known growing up. New traditions. New recipes. My siblings were all girls. Rick’s siblings were all boys. I now had brothers! Among all of the “new” things I was learning about my new family, was the tradition of quilting. Rick’s maternal grandmother made quilts. I’d only seen them in magazines. I never knew anyone who actually owned a quilt! Remember, I grew up in south Florida. Not much need for quilts there. We never put our summer clothes away! On the rare occasion when the weather actually got cold enough to need a sweater or jacket, our family had afghans, crocheted by my maternal grandmother, for warmth.
Well, among my new husband’s belongings were two quilts made by his Grandma Meyer.
They were both so warm and cozy! I loved sleeping under them in the winter! We’d been married about 19 years when I got into quilting. To my shame, I hadn’t known how to properly care for quilts and we had used them to death! I could just kick myself! They are well worn and stained now, so they are stored safely in pillowcases. I don’t want these treasures to disintegrate completely!
The St. Louis quilt is thin and drapes beautifully. Some quilt battings can be very stiff in the finished quilt, they just lay on top of me instead of wrapping me in warmth. Through it’s worn places, the St. Louis quilt revealed a very thin cotton batting. Ahh, that’s why it’s soooo comfortable!
The quilt in the photo below the St. Louis, is super thin. I mean SUPER thin. I wondered where Grandma had found such a thin batting. Was is cotton? Wool? I new it wasn’t polyester. It wasn’t hot, or puffy. Where did she get a batting so incredibly thin, yet so incredibly warm and cozy?
Well, I found a very worn place on it that revealed its cozy secret.
It’s flannel!
Yep. She used flannel fabric as her “batting”. Why not? It’s warm. Holds up well. Doesn’t have to be quilted closely, so, no bunching. The fuzzy texture helps keep the fabric layers from shifting while quilting. The weave of the fabric is loose so it can be hand quilted easily.
(You know I tested it.)
I sandwiched a piece of flannel between two solid fabrics.
Tiny stitches were easy to obtain.
It folds nicely. Snuggles you warmly.
A win, win….win….win!
Six days ago, Lori at quiltingneeds.com, posted a photo of a sweet baby quilt she had made while trying to use up some flannel fabrics she had. It got me to thinking about other ways to use flannel. Some people don’t like the look of a finished flannel quilt. Others don’t like to quilt on it because the stitches get lost in the loose, fuzzy weave.
Well, here’s a way to use it up and make way for more fabric! More fabric. That’s always a good thing!
Maybe this tip will help you to whittle away some flannels that have been “stuck” in your stash with no certain project in mind.
Leave me a comment and tell me how you used up some flannel.
Thanks for stopping by,
Diane