Wool Flannel

[Beansmom]

I have some wool flannel I was going to make a cover out of. Do I wash the fabric first? If so, do I wash it on hot to shrink it or something first? Sorry, I am kind of clueless to sewing, but someone offered to help me, so I am going to give it a try.

[gabysmom617]

if you wash it first, it will felt it up and make it nice and dense. I always like to wash my wool before using it. Sometimes if it denses and shrinks up enough, I can get by with using one layer of it. The only time I don't prewash my wool is if it's either merino wool or shetland wool. Both of those wools tend to shrink a WHOLE LOT for me. But it's usually labeled such. If yours is not labeled merino or shetland, you'll probably be ok.

Some people say that they don't like to prewash/felt their wool becuase it makes it less stretchy. This won't be a problem for you because what you have is flannel, which isn't stretchy anyway. So I'd say, if you wanna felt it, felt it.