interfacing laminated cotton

 Since sewing with laminated cotton is all new to me,

I thought I'd post my discoveries here as I go along.

Feel free to comment from your own experience with

this unusual fabric -- I'd love to hear your ideas!

Okay... so, laminated cotton cannot be ironed directly,

as the plastic would melt to the iron or board. That said,

it CAN be ironed indirectly. The pattern I'm currently

using calls for fabric to be interfaced with fusible fleece.

The important thing here is to place the laminated cotton

WRONG SIDE UP, with the fusible fleece ON TOP.

Cover with a pressing cloth (either damp or spritzed with

water) and press. Hold the iron firmly, pressing down on

the fabric, for the shorter length of time given on the 

interfacing instructions. For my sample, this was ten seconds.

 Above is the result when the fabric was placed directly

(face down) on my ironing board. As you can see, the

metal grid of the board is embossed slightly on the

laminate. It doesn't change the finish at all, just the shape.

This is the result of ironing with a pressing cloth under

the laminate as well as on top of the fleece. The extra layer 

protects the fabric from the underlying shapes coming through. 

However, some lumps and even a bit of a crease line still show here. 

My recommendation is to go with one flat piece of fabric under 

the stack of layers if your ironing board is not well padded.

how to remove grease pencil from laminated cotton

 One method of cutting out pattern pieces involves marking
around the pattern (preferably cut from oak tag or thick
manila paper) in chalk or grease pencil (a.k.a. china marker)
and then cutting just inside these lines.
However, if the pattern piece turns out to be misplaced,
how does one remove these marks from laminated cotton?

 Fingernail polish works, but the scrubbing 

it requires can stretch the laminate out, leaving 

permanent puckers in the cotton fabric.

A quick once-over with Goo Gone does the job, though,

and has no effect on the laminate's shiny finish. Follow
this application by wiping down the fabric with a water-dampened
cloth to remove the scent of the Goo Gone as well as any greasy residue.

weighted blanket

 I had opportunity last week to construct a weighted blanket

for a friend whose daughter has some sensory issues.

This article explains the benefit of weighted blankets.

To make a weighted blanket as described here, plastic 

beads are encased in squares so that the appropriate 

amount of weight is distributed throughout. It's kind of like

a bunch of little bean bags all connected to each other.

This particular blanket had six pounds of weight 

sewn into it, so I used a food scale and put 0.8 oz.

in each square. The funny part is that the beads are

added gradually throughout the sewing process,

so the blanket becomes heavier with each pass through

the sewing machine. By the last row of stitching, I

could hardly manage the blanket and all the beads!