Sewing Help: Fleece Fabric

• Density: "Is it dense and thick, or thin enough to show threads under the fuzzy surface? The denser the fleece, the better the quality."

• Recovery: "How good is the memory: Gently stretch the fleece and let it relax. Does it quickly bounce back to its original dimension or does it wave and ripple? High quality fleece has quick recovery."

• "Rough It Up": "To give yourself a preview of how will the fabric will wear, rub the fleece roughly against itself, in a circular motion, on both sides of the fleece. If it looks a bit rugged, starts pilling, or distorts, it is a lesser quality fleece. High quality fleeces go through multiple shearing and velouring processes to reduce piling."

Sewing.org suggests the following in their Sewing on Fleece Guidelines:

Sewing.org tells us that it is important to know the difference because the Face, or right side, will wear better and look better longer. Pile fabrics and single-sided fleeces have a plain knitted backside and so are easier to tell. But fleeces are not so easy, but here's a hint:

If you stretch fleece on the crossgrain they will usually curl to the wrong side. To avoid errors, mark the right sides of each garment piece as you cut it out.