It’s not often that I get a new (to me) product which surprises me but that’s what happened when I received the woven interlining B 700 from Vlieseline to try out. I thought it was a standard iron on interfacing which had environmental credentials, and it is, but so much better than expected.
When quilting, it’s recommended to use pure cotton thread. Cotton threads are softer so match the fabric in hardiness. Polyester threads are much stronger so can, over time, cut your quilt top with use. I do have a couple of quilts that have displayed this but, to be honest, it happens with regular use over some considerable time. With the invention of Free Motion Quilting, the use of the stronger polyester threads has become much more common and this has seeped into the piecing of quilt tops. I still try to stick to pure cotton for everything other than FMQing but with dressmaking, poly is used much more often. The strength is required here due to the stresses that clothing is put under. (I’ll also always use poly for bag making for the same reasons.)
I’m going to digress now, but when my boys were small and had cotton polo shirts for their Primary school uniform, I used to compost the old shirts in our compost bin. It amazed me that these cotton shirts went down to nothing in a surprisingly short period and all that was left was the poly thread! It really brought home to me the damage that all the plastic based thread can have on the world so have tried to edge to the environmentally friendly products since.
Interfacing, or interlining, is one area that I’d not realised there was an alternative, until now. Vlieseline sent me examples of their B700, a heavy weight woven fusible interlining with biodegradable adhesive, and their B710, their medium weight version of the same.
When I opened the pack I thought ‘Oh, it’s just a woven layer of cotton. You can’t feel any adhesive so they’ve sent me the wrong stuff!’ Well, I was wrong. The feel of the woven cloth is so soft, it’s lovely. I passed it around the class I was teaching with all saying how they couldn’t believe it was a fusible. On closer inspection, there was the slightest texture, indicating the adhesive side so, as I was making a shirt dress at the moment, I decided to use this for the collar. When I opened the medium weight, the glue side was easier to tell. The heavy weight was the one I choose to use, to test it and see how firm it actually was. It’s designed for light to medium weight fabrics for small articles such as collars and cuffs on shirts and blouses. Perfect for my dress collar.
Did I follow the instructions for pressing the interlining to my collar? (Did I heck!) But it still went on a dream. When I did read the instructions, you are meant to use a damp pressing cloth, iron onto the wrong side of the article and then leave for 15 minutes to allow the glue to cool and set. I followed some of the advice, in that I used a layer of greaseproof to protect the interlining, what I had to hand at the time. I do allow it to cool, to stop burning fingers but also to allow the glue to set but it certainly wasn’t 15 minutes. (As an aside, this is advisable for all heat bonding such as your appliqués.)
Once bonded, I sewed the collar up and top stitched around the edge. (A new toy which I bought for my lovely new JUKI machine which is truly amazing, but that’s another story.) The collar has a lovely soft feel, it doesn’t have that ‘hard’, almost plastic touch. I hadn’t really thought how the traditional iron on interlining, being polyester based, would not degrade over time but this has given me something to think about. And, if you are like me, I would encourage you to try this product if you are trying to improve your environmental impact.
In my preference for pure cotton in my quilts, I’m going to try these products as the stabilisers for memory (t shirt quilts) so expect to see that on my feeds soon.
Insta: @strictlyquilting
Facebook: Helen Kent, Strictly Quilting
Vlieseline is a household name and you can find their products nationwide in craft, hobby and sewing supplies, online and in shops. For general product and stockist information visit www.vlieseline.com
Follow Vlieseline on Instagram – @vlieseline_uk
Strictly Quilting 