Fleece or Felt for Crafts Projects -- Think Christmas

Felt Makes Crisp Cutouts

Felt or Fleece?

Fleece has taken the crafts market by storm, but felt is an old standby. If you like crafts that do not require much sewing, felt and fleece are ideal because they do not fray. However, fleece does not produce the same result as felt. The feel of fleece is an improvement over the feel of felt, but felt has been around for years and works well for crafting.

Why use felt when fleece feels best? The answer is in the crispness of the fabric and the way it is made. Fleece has a center layer of foam and when cut, the edges are not crisp. Using a crafts project made with fleece creates more fraying or feathering of the fleece fabric. Fleece is heat sensitive because of the foam center in the fabric. Use care if you attempt to press fleece. Felt holds up better for small crafts.

Fleece is a good fabric for large projects such as scarves or even baby throws, but is not as good for, say, making a snowman applique for a Christmas stocking. We have some fleece books and patterns available on a selling site if you need ideas. Copy and paste this link to get to the fleece items.

http://www.ioffer.com/selling/cajunc?query=fleece

Felt has been available for many years and there are some excellent patterns. Felt patterns are available for sale as well, but you will need to copy and paste the link.

http://www.ioffer.com/selling/cajunc?query=felt

Fleece does not work well for applique work with layers of fabric as it tends to get thick with just two layers. Sometimes you can use fleece best with cut-out designs.

Here’s how to make cut fleece designs. Make your background shape with fleece first. Cut a second shape slightly smaller than the background with a contrasting color of fleece.

Cut Two Fleece Shapes

Cut out designs in the second shape before you stitch the two pieces together.

Cut the Design on the Top Layer

Fleece is fun and easy to work with, and you just need to design the work to accommodate the fabric capabilities. Cut-outs are one of the ways to use fleece for your Christmas projects this year.

See you next time with more needlework crafts!

Linda
cajunC