1. These are Riley Blake
2: These are from Hobby Lobby – not sure of the manufacturer of all – but one or two are from Brother/Sister Design
3. Michael Miller
5. This one is from Hancock Fabric but I don’t know the manufacturer
6. These are Amy Butler
I tried two different interfacings: Pellon 101 (shapeflex) and Pellon 71F – which is super thick. Both of the interfacings need to be applied using a wool setting with steam, so that is what I did. Guess what? It worked just fine! No melting, no dulling, the sky didn’t fall – it adhered just fine. Below are a few sample photos. In the second photo I tried to tilt the fabric so you could see that the sheen is still there.
I didn’t do each test with every fabric except for a 15 seconds test because I was getting bored and I figured most interfacings will be adhered after 15 seconds anyway. I used a hot iron (cotton setting), directly on the laminated side of the fabric with no press cloth.
Here’s what I found:
After 15 seconds, none of the laminates melted.
After 20 seconds only the Hobby Lobby fabric melted and it was pretty bad. After 30 seconds, Amy Butler fabric was doing just fine!
After 45 seconds the Timeless Treasures started to melt slightly. The one thing you do need to watch for are the holes in your iron because they can leave these:
but you can just iron over them. I had to know if these results were my good luck in choosing the right fabric, or if they could be duplicated. Luckily, one of my wonderful pattern testers, Jamie, posted a photo of about 10 different laminates she had received in the mail. I asked her to try ironing on a little piece of each (nervy – huh?) . She experienced the same results I did.
So, there you go! I have to wonder, why does every source I read say that it can’t be ironed? Does heating it make the laminate give off toxic fumes? If that’s the case, one would hope the manufacturer’s would let us know! Just in case, I am going to iron mine in a well ventilated area!
I am interested to hear of anyone out there who has had similar experiences or if you are aware of a laminate that truly can’t be touched with an iron so I know what to avoid. I am really excited about the possibilities this opens up!
Disclaimer: I did not test on every laminated fabric out there, so be sure to test yours before slapping a hot iron down on it! I also don’t know what the long term affect are, or if heating it releases toxic fumes or some other catastrophic event. Just a girl sharing her experience! Oh, and be sure you are working with laminated cotton and NOT OILCLOTH – they are different!
BTW, if you are looking for rolls to store your laminates on (because they say you shouldn’t fold them – and you shouldn’t!), foam pipe insulators work great! they are available in different sizes from any home improvement store. They are cheap and you can cut them down or even tape them together for wider fabrics. They even have a slit if you want to anchor the end of the fabric in there!
Until next time!
Sarah
Wow that’s great news, thank you to make the test
Yeah, I’m pretty excited about it too!
Wonderful! I had believed the “myth” too, until now! Thanks for sharing!
Sure – I want to use laminated cotton on everything I sew now…I’m addicted!
Thanks Sarah! you provide the best info!
Thanks, Marge, what a nice compliment. I’m glad it’s helpful.
Oh wow this makes me feel so much better. I am using laminated fabric as a lining for a lunch bag and I didn\’t know what to do about the SF 101 interfacing and how to adhere it if I could not use an iron. Sewing around the edges would never work, so you answered my question and thank you so much.
Harriet,
I’m glad you found this useful. Be sure and run a test on the laminate you are using though as they are all different. Enjoy! sarah