When you’re working with soft cuddly fleece fabric there are just a few things you need to remember to help you achieve the nicest possible result:
● When you’re cutting out your pieces, do try not to cut too much of the fur pile, especially if it’s quite long. It may be easier to try using a craft knife or rotary cutter as you’re less likely to accidentally snip strands of fur away.
● Fleece fabric can be sewn either by hand or machine, but I do think that for the neatest least visible seams and best finish it’s probably best to stitch by hand. But do make sure your stitches are small – even though the fabric is quite thick. If your stitches are too large, then your seams will be a lot weaker and you may even find yourself with gaps that need closing.
● When you’re hand stitching a short back stitch is probably the best stitch to use for this type of fabric.
● Pin or tack your seams together before stitching and push the pile down between the two pieces of fabric while doing so. This will help to disguise the seams on the right side and give thickness to the pile around theedges of ears and other parts of your softie. If you do catch any pile into your stitching when you’re sewing the seams, then this can be lifted from the seam with the blunt end of your needle.
● You should insert any pins at right angles to the seam and not along it to avoid stretching and slippage. If machine stitching you can sew over pins placed at right angles to the seam though, as fleece can be stretchy, slippery and generally difficult to handle, you may wish to baste before machining seams. I usually find pinning is perfectly adequate for hand stitching though.
We hope you’ve found these tips helpful. If you’ve got any other, please leave them in the comments below – we’d love to know!
This is great advice – thank you! The little sheep are darling! Do you have a pattern for them?
I just found (and bought) the pattern in the store. Thank you!
That sheep is a darling!
I recently made Humphrey the hound. Pleased with the result! Instead of a button I”m working on doing a felt nose.
Recently I found a lion pattern in an OLD reader’s Digest craft book. It called for corduroy but I used some gorgeous fur and felt.
What a challenge it was sewing with faux fur! I found that doing a zigzag along the edge, after trimming the fur inside the seam line helped.