How to Use 50 Percent Cotton and 50 Percent Polyester for a Quilt

Use poly blend fabric on quilts that get washed frequently.

Quilting purists will tell you that you should only use 100 percent cotton fabric in a quilt --- every single time. On the other hand, there are quilters who realize that the decision to choose a fabric should depend on the final use the quilt will have. If you are making a lap quilt that children will often toss on the floor, a picnic quilt or a baby quilt to be dragged around as a blankie, blended fabric is perfectly appropriate. Save your expensive quilting cotton for heirloom quilts and hand-stitched showpieces. Make your workaday quilts quickly and with fabrics that will hold up during tough use and washing.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• Washing machine
• Laundry soap
• Dryer
• Iron
• Sewing machine

Instructions

1. Cut all the selvage edges from the lengths of fabric. These are the tightly woven edges on the sides of fabric. Selvages wash and stitch differently from the rest of the fabric and need to be removed before the fabric is used.

2. Wash each length and piece of fabric in the washing machine with regular laundry soap and warm water. Open the washer halfway through the washing cycle to see if the suds are colored from dye coming out of the fabric. If they are, run the fabric through another wash cycle to remove any additional dye.

3. Dry the fabric on a warm setting in the dryer. Remove the fabric from the dryer when it is slightly damp. Iron the fabric smooth, and fold or hang it until you use it in your quilt.

4. Create a quilt using only strips, squares or rectangles. Polyester blend fabric doesn't have the same "give" as 100 percent cotton fabric, so working with curves and points would be a very difficult job. Make easy quilts with simple designs. Pull most of the interest from the colors of the fabric rather than the pattern itself.

5. Sew your quilt design using a 1/2-inch seam allowance instead of the 1/4-inch allowance used by most quilters. Cotton and polyester blend fabrics tend to ravel more than 100 percent cotton, so the extra seam allowance will keep the seams from coming undone with repeated use.

6. Quilt the fabric by stitching in a grid pattern with a sewing machine. It is very difficult to sew or tie a quilt by hand with these fabrics. Save your fingers and go for the machine. If you want a little more design interest, use diamonds or free-form swirls instead of a grid. Keep the stitching lines about 6 inches apart.

Tips & Warnings

• Use cotton/poly blend fabrics for quick gift quilts for babies and children. There will be no worries about tossing the quilt in the washing machine because of the sturdy construction and materials.

• Check the flammability of all fabrics before using them with babies and small children.

References

• Quilted Paradise Newsletter: 100% Cotton Fabrics vs. Polyester Blend Fabrics in Quilts