Vlieseline are well known as the leading brand for interfacings but did you know they do a range of battings too? I have been having a play with several of the Vlieseline battings in differing fibres, thicknesses and colours and I wanted to do a post to share these with you! This isn’t an exhaustive post about the Vlieseline battings so do head to their website to see more of the battings that they produce.
Before I launch into the different types of battings, I wanted to highlight how Vlieseline are taking a massive step forwards to be more sustainable in the products they create. Where possible, recycled fibres are used and they have a sustainability statement on their website available here which highlights their commitment to be more environmentally focussed and aware in the work they do.
So, let’s talk battings! There are 5 Vlieseline battings that I am going to cover in this post and I have made 4 patchwork and quilting samples to showcase these battings, their pros and cons, and how they feel (I didn’t quilt with one of the battings and I’ll explain why when we get to it!) I’ll also talk about loft in this post. When talking about a batting’s loft, this refers to how thick the batting is and how much puffiness it provides once quilted. This is generally only a guide as the puffiness of the quilt will also depend on the fabrics you used on the patchwork too and quilt backing too, but the loft guide is still good to know!
Batting 1: Vlieseline 266
Vlieseline 266 is a beautifully soft wool mix batting in a natural colour. It is 80% wool and 20% polyester which can be machine washed on a gentle spin (you don’t want to felt it!) up to 30°. It is a lightweight batting with a low loft (this means it isn’t very thick and so it doesn’t provide too much puffiness when quilted).
It quilted really beautifully and it can be quilted up to 10cm apart. I used it for quilting this Art Gallery Fabrics EPP Christmas Tree wall-hanging (fabrics are from Fine City Quilting) and I quilted an echo of the tree (both inside and outside the tree to make it pop).
I really liked how soft the batting felt, the natural colour and how it still offered a slight loft to the Christmas Tree without being too thick.
Batting 2. Vlieseline P250
Vlieseline P250 is a white, heavyweight batting which is made up of 80% recycled polyester and 20% polyester. The Vlieseline website says it is suitable for a range of products including quilts but I personally wouldn’t use it for a quilt (which is why I didn’t make the sample with it).
It is nearly 4cm in thickness so unless you have an industrial machine for quilting, I wouldn’t even attempt to use it for a patchwork quilt as it is just so thick. It would, however, work well for upholstery.
Batting 3. Vlieseline P120
Vlieseline P120 is a very soft medium loft batting in white. It is made up of 80% recycled polyester and 20% polyester. It is just under 1cm in depth so it offers a medium puffiness/loft to the quilting.
I used it to quilt an echo (or 3!) around my Cloud9 EPP Colourburst Hearts block using the Tinsel fabric collection.
It is a really nice general batting which works well for both smaller projects and larger projects.
Batting 4: Vlieseline P140
Vlieseline P140 is a thicker weight than the P120 with a depth/thickness of around 2cm.
It is high loft white batting made up of 80% recycled polyester and 20% polyester. The Vlieseline website says it is suitable for all projects. Personally, due to the high loft (and 2cm thickness), I found it a real struggle to use for a small patchwork project (such as this wall hanging) both with the quilting and the binding.
I had to quilt it incredibly densely to be able to flatten it enough to attach the binding.
That being said, and despite the struggle (and use of lots of thread with dense quilting), I liked the finished look as it offered a LOT of loft to the overall block which looked really effective.
It comes down to personal preference and balancing out how much you want high puffiness to make your patchwork pop versus having to do a lot of dense quilting to get it to be manageable.
Batting 5: Vlieseline HH650
Last, but not least, is the Vlieseline HH650. I LOVED using this batting on my patchwork wall hanging because you don’t have to do any basting…the batting does it for you! This is a fusible batting so I simply cut it to the same size as my patchwork block (if I cut it bigger than my block I would have ended up fusing it to the damp cloth so it is important to cut to size). I then placed it inbetween the block and the backing (NB. make sure you iron both the block and the backing beforehand). Then, using a damp cloth, I pressed the iron onto the quilt sandwich (not moving the iron or pushing the iron, sinply holding it on) for 15 secs to bond them together. I repeated this on the back of the work too to ensure it was all bonded well and lay flat.
No pin basting, no crawling around the floor spray basting…it is all basted in 1 move by ironing them together. Now, I found it super easy to do on a small patchwork wall hanging and I am yet to try it with a quilt (and making sure there are no ripples or puckers when ironing both a larger patchwork quilt top and quilt backing together) but I really like how this one batting does the basting work for you.
It is 100% polyester which can be machine washed up to 30°. It isn’t suitable for heavyweight fabrics but it quilts beautifully with light to medium weight fabrics – perfect for patchwork then!
It has a low to medium loft and is a really fabulous batting to work with. I’ll definitely be using it again!
So, there we go! A look at a range of the battings Vlieseline offers! Don’t forget to head to their website to see the full range!
This dress has buttonholes. I’m not going to lie, cutting buttonholes scares me because what I always worry that my hand could slip, cut through the buttonhole itself and ruin what I’ve spent hours/days making!This weekend I have been using the Clover Buttonhole Cutter whilst making my vintage shirt dress.
I used my Janome sewing machine to sew the buttonhole and it never fails to amaze me how clever the machine is at making a buttonhole to the size you need simply by placing the button at the back the foot!
Then, I placed the cutting mat underneath my buttonhole (making sure the rest of the dress was well out of the way) and used the cutter to cut through the fabric with an ever so slight rocking motion forwards and backwards.
I was surprised by how effective such a small cutter could be and also how clean the cut was!
Using a seam ripper to cut the buttonhole is good too but it doesn’t give anywhere near as smooth a cut as the Clover buttonhole cutter!
I can’t wait to start making lots of new dresses with buttonholes now!For Clover stockists information or if you are a retailer and want to stock Clover items then please contact clover@stockistenquiries.co.uk
