Machine Embroidery on Fleece

Awhile back, I purchased a number of lightweight fleece blankets at JoAnns at a very good sale price.  It was such a good sale that I bought a carload of these blankets, with the intent of embroidering on them for charity projects.  They came in luscious colors.

For this project I picked out a bright blue fleece to embroider a lightweight machine embroidery design on.  While I used a lightweight tearaway stablizer as a backer, I wanted to play with two different stablizers on top (aka toppers) for comparison purposes.  But if you look closely at these two photos you can see how the fleece fibers pop thru the ME design differently.  This is one reason why you need a good topper, as it helps to hold down the fleece fibers (or towel fibers).  It is a stablizer that you don't want to wash away, as you don't want these fibers to pop thru the ME after washing.  For this fleece, this project also needs a heat away stablizer that can easily be removed without damaging the inexpensive fleece.  Thus, I have a good reason to do some market research.  And, I'll share my findings later!  The hunt is on.

While each of these stitch outs used different brands of heat away, I've concluded that I want to do a broader comparison of stablizers on fleece, before I share my findings.  But if you have recommendations for stablizers on fleece, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Still, this fleece blanket is cute and very cuddly.  I will embroider a similar design on a onesie and find some other baby items to go with it.  There is a local group called "The Champagne Quilters" that makes quilts and creates baskets full of items for newborns. These baskets are given to women whose husbands are away on Military assignment in the Middle East.  The baskets are distributed thru a program called Operation Homefront.  This program has certainly caught my eye, as it sounds like one that more help would certainly be appreciated.  Thus, I try to look for ways I can help.  And this simple fleece blanket is an easy one for me.