Why am I showing you this?

I've been using good quality fleece as batting for my art pieces for the last four or five months at the suggestion of Deb Lacativa - and though I have had minor issues with stretching in densely quilted pieces, and slightly bigger issues with an inability to block the pieces properly (due to the fact that the fleece either doesn't shrink, or with heat, shrinks too much) - I solved the latter problem by using a clothes steamer rather than a iron, and the former problem - I am learning to make adjustments for the stretch factor. ;)

All of that to say  - fleece is a great alternative to the more expensive batting.  One hundred percent cotton batting here runs about $35/yard, wool and silk even higher.  I tried the more economical flexi-fibre, which was great for small pieces but was really challenging to use in larger sizes, and I tried poly/cotton blend batting at about $17/yard.

But fleece? I spent $12 a yard. Well, actually, I bought about ten yards of it at at 50% off sale at my local FabricLand  (the only time I go there, actually - the fashion district just has too many fabulous fabrics to spend much time at FabricLand!).

But even at full price, that's a win in my book! And it functions very nearly the same way.


I did some "drunky-piecing" as I call it (a faux crazy-piecing I did quite a bit when I was a quilter), and from that I made a heart.



But, ummm...

This is totally NOT working.

Back to the drawing board on Wednesday!