Fabulous Fleeces

Introduction to Sew the New Fleece:

Iditarod sled dogs wear it booties made from it. Shuttle astronauts wear underwear made from it. Surfers and divers wet suits made from it. Babies are bundled in it. Patterned with totem faces celtic knots and graphics reminiscent of Klee, it's electric blue, vibrant plum, "celery", and "spinach," friendly, cuddly, and warmly practical. It's the new fleece.

The individuals involved in developing Polarfleece and ultimately Polartec probably had only a small inkling of the range of uses and the ultimate popularity of the revolutionary fabric. Research and development was spurred by the demands of baby boomers discovering the outdoors and by a community of die-hard outdoor enthusiasts of all ages. This was a market ripe for garments that were warmer, easier to care for, and less allergic than wool and that would retain their good looks long after the trek to Nepal was over. Who knew that the aesthetics of the resulting fabrics would be so amazing?

Malden Mills, a textile mill in Lawrence Mass., staked its economic survival on its belief that it could produce a fabric that would serve this incredible market potential. Using its knowledge of fabrics, yarns, and yarn finishes, Malden Mills produced it's first such fabric in the 1970's. It was called Polarfleece, a name which is widely used as a generic term for all outdoor polyester fleeces. The fabric was revolutionary. It wicked moisture away from the body, and it was warm and dried quickly. But its long-term drawback was an unattractive pilling on the surface after only a few uses.

As other mill owners recognizes the success of Polarfleece, it only took a short time for the competition to start building. Fortunately, Malden mills continued to develop its new fabric into even better forms, ultimately improving it's long-term performance. Polartec, which in the mid-80's had a beautiful pile surface that did not pill, although its appearance changed to a more nubby appearance after prolonged use (much like a sheep's fleece). It had a greater flexibility for range of motion, different weights for a variety of uses, and in general had a much nicer hand.

Patagonia, an apparel manufacturer in Ventura, Calif., was an important company to surf the wave of this new area of high-tech fabrics. Owned by Yvon Chouinard - a serious climber, a craftsman by sensibilities, and an entrepreneur by accident - Patagonia was developing sportswear apparel for a strong contingency of hard-core outdoor sportspeople. This market-specific company field-tested garments made from and new fabric under the most extreme condition before endorsing the fabric's use by it's customers.

At Patagonia's request, Malden Mills developed a double-face fabric that had a nonpill texture similar to sheared pile. The new fabric, Synchilla, was Patagonia's version of what would eventually be called Polartec. The Development of Synchilla set off an avalanche of sales during the 80's, when the company's sales almost doubled from one year to the next over a period of two to three years. (Patagonia retained an exclusive on the product until 1987; since then Malden Mills has marketed it under the name Polartec.)

Fleece-type products still account for the majority of the company's sales and are regularly featured in as many as 12 to 18 different types of construction, including recycled fibers, microfibers, and different staple-length fibers, with as many different uses. New generations of these fleece fabrics may include different surface interests, new yarns, and different cross sections, including multi-chambered fibers that insulate more effectively.

The cooperation between Patagonia and Malden Mills to produce Synchilla reaped financial rewards, but perhaps more important, it was also a stepping-off point for a new category in fabrics. Competition has driven the development of new forms of synthetic fleece and more recently, pile in hundreds of ways and uses.

The purpose of this book is to introduce you to some of the many forms of fleece and pile that you can buy; to show you how to identify the forms for specific uses; to furnish you with information about patterns that give you the best results and techniques and notions that give a beautiful finish; and to provide examples of creative imagery with fleece that may surprise you.

Give yourself permission to make some thing unique, be it a cocoon of saffron-colored fleece with orchid binding and stitched spirals in Prussian blue or imperial purple socks that reach thigh high. I know, for some, going wild may mean making a black jacket that has red zippers and binding, and that's okay too. Look at it this way, making handmade gifts during the holiday season won't be nearly as difficult as it used to be; the difficult part will be the shopping!

Low quality fleece (from Chapter one):

The pilling effects of the early Polarfleece fabrics live on in some on the lesser quality fabrics available. By looking at the surface of the fabric, you can see that the fibers lie against the surface instead of standing up and away from the core. It looks like a felted surface. As the fabric is worn, the fibers will continue to be rolled up with the other fibers and lie on the surface. This is called pilling even though we don't see the little balls typical of pilling.

Lesser quality fleeces appear in apparel in mass market discount stores (Penny: and in many fabric stores) for prices that seem less expensive than the cost of the fabric alone. Take heart in knowing that their life expectancy and their performance level are much lower than something made from a good choice in fleece fabric. You as a consumer can determine what types of fabric are available by refusing to purchase poor quality fabrics for the same price as first-rate ones.