Sewing is Cool Again (NYT gift link)

WayOutWestMom
Thu, 11 Sep 2025 18:20:33 +0000

Be cautious using sheets. Percale, used in sheets, has a denser weave than clothing fabrics or the fabrics used in many duvet covers and quilts. Sewing through percale will dull your sewing machine needles very quickly and lead to frequent broken threads. Hand stitching through sheets is just about impossible.

I used a flat bedsheet as a backing for a quilt once and regretted it. I ruined several machine needles quilting it. Plus sheets shrink differently in the wash vs less densely woven fabric so you get an uneven and bunched texture after several trip through the washer & dryer.

Using sheets for clothing is tricky because the more tightly woven fabric doesn’t “hang” the same as regular cotton fabric.

Flannel sheets might work, depending on the project, but flannel on the bolt is less expensive than a new flannel sheet or two.