Okay I've got that: Keep away from smoldering and horrid smelling naked drunken pikemen and old flames when sewing polyester fleece because although they will not shrink they might stretch a bit.

Seriously though, thanks for the advice Rosemary. Not sure what to do - maybe I should stick to the usual cotton backing and hope for the best. Thanks, Rita.

Modern fleece - blankets or metreage is made from polyester (actually the same stuff as fizzy pop bottles!) and does not shrink in the wash, but being a knit construction rather than woven, can stretch when being sewn. Also keep away from naked flames, as it will melt, as opposed to wool which will smolder & smell horrid before catching light (I know this from watching drunken pikemen playing with campfires )

Hmmm...I hadn't thought about the shrinkability of cotton flannel. And as for wool flannel, I don't think that it would have the cozy effect I am after. I am thinking now about fleece. We have some fleece blankets which I have washed many times and they have not shrunk. Any thoughts on that idea?

Personally speaking I would have hot washed the fabrics individually first, on the setting that the finished quilt will be washed at, but it is a bit late for that now . By the way is your flannel a wool flannel or cotton flannel? most 'quilting flannels' that I have come across recently, seem to be cotton, but I know that there are woollen flannels out there, & this could make a difference as to it's shrinkage.

Margo's suggestion of a trial sample is probably your best option if you are really concerned. Or you could just go for the 'Chuck it and Duck' school of hopefullness

PS Liking the new photo!

Rita, I have a feeling your choice of thread will not affect the finished quilt nearly as much as using wool and flannel together. I have never done a quilt with wool fabric, so I'm not sure how much shrinkage you can expect from that, but I do know that flannel shrinks a LOT! It might be worth your time to do a test sample of your wool, flannel and batting to see how they play together. Quilt up a square sandwich of the three layers, and trim it to an exact size. Maybe 12" x 12"? Launder it like you will the finished quilt then re-measure to see how much it shrinks and see if one layer shrinks more than the others. You might try using different threads and see if there is one that looks better than another after it's laundered.

Please let us know how the testing goes!

Hi everybody, I am just wondering if anybody would have advice as to what kind of thread I should use to quilt a quilt made with wool fabric. The top is made from various tweeds, the batting will be wool and the backing will be flannel. I would love to use Superior Threads Rainbows but it is a polyester thread and I don't know whether that is a good idea as I don't know the effect it would have in the wash. I used cotton thread to piece it together. Having said that I don't know the effect flannel and wool will have on each other in the wash either. And as this quilt is for my son I know that it will be necessary to wash it - frequently! The alternative thread I was thinking of is King Tut quilting thread. Any suggestions? Here's a photo of the quilt so far: