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Safe to sew fleece?
margaran   Beginner Member since 12/25/10 Posts: 51	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 10/20/12 7:29 AM I loaned a friend my FW. She would like to sew fleece scarves and pillows. Is it safe for her to sew fleece on the FW? I was not able to find any info on the web for this question. Thanks, Maggie
beauturbo Advanced CA USA Member since 5/2/09 Posts: 1544	Login to reply to this post In reply to margaran << 1 member likes this. Date: 10/20/12 8:19 AM I have never heard of anyone getting hurt while sewing fleece yet, on anything, but I guess anyone could run over a finger with just any machine. If you mean instead, is it really fuzzy, and would it be messy in there and jam up a machine, and make the race not turn in that one more likely than any other one if you really let it pile up in there and you never cleaned all that fuzz out, possibly maybe a bit, just because it's kind of tight right there, but I think instead it's mostly just a piece of wayward thread if that happens. Probably could not be any worse for that than velvet or fake fur either. All that kind of stuff is pretty messy. You just have to stop and clean it out of a machine as you are sewing along, way more often than something that does not shed like that. Just tell her not to oil the machine, until she takes all the Polar fleece fuzz out of it first, since I think Polar Fleece fuzz with oil dumped all over on top of it, would be kind of really messy and icky. So I don't think it's unsafe for a machine or a person to sew fleece at all, on anything, but if you googled something like Singer 221 and sewing polyester Polar Fleece, you might not get a whole lot there, just because I don't think that is the optimal kind of fabric that a lot of people sew on most with those. Just because quilters seem to like and collect them now, and they tend to piece cotton quilt tops with them instead. So I think it would really be better to have a zig zag for Polar Fleece, (since it stretches) but sometimes you just got to use what ever you have access to and don't really have a choice. I had to make a 4 way stretch bathing suit with elastic in it once on my Mother's Singer 221 decades ago, and it was no fun, not having any stretch stitches or even zig zag for that, and results really would have been better and way less frustrating for me probably using something else to do that with, but it was not dangerous for me or the machine in anyway, just not really the optimal tool for something like that either.
LynnRowe   Advanced BC CANADA Member since 3/9/09 Posts: 7005	Login to reply to this post In reply to margaran << 1 member likes this. Date: 10/20/12 9:44 AM You are a far more generous person than I; I don't let anyone breathe on my FWs, let alone borrow them! Your Feather should be fine on the fleece. There will likely be a lot of fluff uder the needle plate, and that will need cleaning out. Does your friend know how to oil the machine? And with proper oil? As long as she knows how to take normal care of the machine, fleece itself won't harm it. ------ I heart Panzy, Pfaff Creative Performance, the sewing machine love of my life! And Rupert (Pfaff 2023), Baby (BL Enlighten), Victor (BLCS), Ash (Bernina 350SE), Pal (Bernina 530), Kee (Bernina 750) and the Featherteen Flock! Most of all, I heart Woo (HimmyCat). Until we meet again, my beautiful little boy. I love you.
Jennifer Hill Advanced AB CANADA Member since 4/11/02 Posts: 1492	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 10/20/12 2:50 PM I have successfully sewn polar fleece type fleece on straight stitch machines. First I would test to see what the fabric's "recovery" is like - when you stretch it, how easily does it return to its original shape? I like to loosen both tensions a wee bit (not much, just a WEE BIT), and gently stretch the fabric as I sew. GENTLY - how gently, determined by the recovery test. For really stretchy fabrics, like the bathing suit stuff that Beauturbo mentioned, I would definitely use a zz machine or serger, never a straight stitcher. Jennifer in Calgary
PattiAnnJ   Advanced OH USA Member since 12/3/06 Posts: 5219	Login to reply to this post 3 members like this. Date: 10/20/12 3:10 PM Why would you loan out a FW to begin with. She can get a cheap Singer or Brother at Walmart for under a hundred bucks. And even less from Goodwill. Don't loan out sewing machines no matter the brand or model.....it will save your friendship. ------ “I don’t give them Hell, I just tell the truth about them and they think it’s Hell.” — Harry Truman
beauturbo Advanced CA USA Member since 5/2/09 Posts: 1544	Login to reply to this post In reply to PattiAnnJ << 1 member likes this. Date: 10/20/12 6:00 PM Well I think a really cheap Brother or Singer from Walmart would be the absolute worst machine to even try to stitch Polar Fleece on actually, especially if you were sort of a new sewer and had not much sewing technique under your belt so to say, and had the pressure foot jammed up too high, with too much stuff under there, and then no top tension, and then got tangles underneath and then tried to forceably pull and tug that fabric through there, against your feed dogs and your needle got deflected, hit the stitch plate and you untime and unadjusted the cheapie machine. I guess some place like Joann's Fabric might disagree with me there on that, just because they seem to be full of both Polar Fleece and those kinds of machines though. but that does not mean they really go together so optimal at all. Because I do think that is often the end and the death of lots of those machines, often just because it would cost more to get them fixed, than just get a new one. And it might happen over and over again to, if the person did not catch on and just do their sewing technique in lot better of a way, for something like that. But the the problem is when that happens, especially if a brand new sewer, it really could happen on hour one of sewing with one of them like that, or even hour 50, so you could go through a whole lot of them that way even in a row maybe. By that time, you actually could have had something much better new or old instead, even for the same amount of end money.
beauturbo Advanced CA USA Member since 5/2/09 Posts: 1544	Login to reply to this post In reply to PattiAnnJ << Like this post Date: 10/20/12 6:12 PM Also I think a real cheapie machine, especially those made in more only two piece clam shell construction (like lots of those often are) are the worst ones to sew on with fuzzy linty fabric, just because it's way to hard for people to keep them clean themselves, as a lot of people can't even figure out how to open them up to even keep them clean at all. Especially if no eay and quick way to get to the thread take up area, and under the bobbin area where your gears are there. And since they are so cheap, would never pay anyone else to do it either, and probably another reason why they tend to lend themselves to kind of ending up sort more like a disposable machine, pretty quickly, sometimes, quite often.
margaran   Beginner Member since 12/25/10 Posts: 51	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 10/21/12 5:33 AM Thanks to all. She is new to sewing so I think for her to be successful and not be frustrated I'll have her over to do it on my Bernina 930. Maggie
LynnRowe   Advanced BC CANADA Member since 3/9/09 Posts: 7005	Login to reply to this post In reply to margaran << 1 member likes this. Date: 10/21/12 7:42 AM With her being new to sewing, that sounds like an excellent idea! Although FWs are simple to use, when you add in the tensions and threading and oiling, it could be overwhelming to her. ------ I heart Panzy, Pfaff Creative Performance, the sewing machine love of my life! And Rupert (Pfaff 2023), Baby (BL Enlighten), Victor (BLCS), Ash (Bernina 350SE), Pal (Bernina 530), Kee (Bernina 750) and the Featherteen Flock! Most of all, I heart Woo (HimmyCat). Until we meet again, my beautiful little boy. I love you.

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