Dream cotton batting/quilting question

15 years ago

I am a fairly new quilter and have a question regarding how far I can space my quilting. I am using Quilters Dream Cotton Select batting and it says "Stitching may be up to 8" apart".

The blocks are 12"x12" and I have already stitched in the ditch there. This next part may be hard to put into words... If I proceed as planned and do my quilting design inside each block there will be 2 places where there is an unquilted rectangle about 3" high by 12" wide (width of block). This is where I wonder about the 8" recommendation on the batting instructions. The quilt will get a lot of washing (child's bed) and I don't want it to get ruined in the wash, but I also can't spend any more time than needed on this project.

I am quilting a modern design quilt that does not have nice neat rows or angles and therefore my quilting design choice has me perplexed. While each block is 12" they are all flipped different directions and nothing falls into an easy choice. The quilt is quite large and I do not feel comfortable doing FM quilting on it.

(I'll see if I can post a picture)

Thanks for any advice!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (10)

greenmtn
Original Author
15 years ago
Here is a picture of the top only as I was testing the size on the bed prior to any quilting. Please ignore the mess and my son's artwork/taping spree.
teresa_nc7
15 years ago
That is a great design! I would definitely quilt more heavily than just quilting in the ditch. I see irregular designs in the large block - you could even do a different design in each block, scattering them around the quilt, i.e. a snail-style concentric circles in one, various zig-zags in another, Greek-key in another, star burst in another.

Here is a Greek key design:

{{!gwi}}
Related Discussions
Maybe Using 2 Battings in 1 Quilt along with an Adhesive question
Q
Comments (7)
Thank you Marsha I will check out the web link you posted. I think I will not use an adhesive or a 2nd poly batting. Another good quilting friend on FB said if you use too much spray adhesive it can gum up your hand-quilting needle. And I really don't want the smell of glue in the middle of this quilt. And I think if I use 2 battings that it will be so thick that my bottom stitches won't look nice. I think if I use the 80/20 cot/poly batting that I bought yesterday on sale for $30 at Hancocks that it will be easy to quilt through. Spoke with my mom on the phone earlier in the week and she strongly said that she does not want a heavy quilt. Mom wants to be able to use the quilt in the summer too, all year round, so am thinking if I added flannel that it would be too warm and make it harder to dry. We live in Louisiana and is a very high humidity state, and I don't want a quilt that will still be damp when removed from the drier that could mold. I think I am talking myself into just using the 80/20 batting and dad will just have to love it for its colors and pattern. When I hand-quilt it, since it is already a busy pattern I think I may just be doing utilitarian hand stitching on it outlining the seams/colors in each block - I think that is kind of what ya'll are calling "stitch in the ditch" - I don't usually quilt directly on top of the seams, but rather about a 1/4" to the side of existing seams in the blocks. I know I have enough fabric 9 yards of forest green to do the backing. I think I will use the white floral print for the 6" border around all sides of the quilt, and then do a Leah Day binding in forest green or country blue - will have to see which one I have the most fabric of after I sew the backing together. Thank you all for your feedback and input, I really appreciate it bunches! Best to you and thanks bunches, Sandra This post was edited by quiltingfox on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 14:18
...See More
Wool batting question
Q
Comments (2)
Thanks, Sandra. I really hate bearding. One of the quilts I am considering using the wool is rich deep colors, the other is medium colors. I only ever made one pastel quilt, long ago. Sandra has encouraged me, but the bit about light colors gives me pause. Any other experiences? I've also heard of putting a layer of cheesecloth in the quilt to retard bearding. This sounds very odd to me, but I suppose I could do it, if I could find bolts of cheesecloth. But cheesecloth is so loosely woven it doesn't sound as though it would do much of anything. I suppose the intention is to not interfere with the quilting process. I used to do a lot of quilting but for the past couple of years have been sewing clothes instead. (so many hobbies...) I am really looking forward to some nice sessions of hand quilting once again. Rosefolly
...See More
Quilter's Dream Wool Batting
Q
Comments (5)
I did a baby quilt with the Quilter's Dream wool. It needles very easily for hand quilting. To me, it comes off as loftier and lighter than cotton. It's warmer, and wool is fire resistant, so good for baby blankies. The stitches stand out more, and the drape is less fluid. I wouldn't say it's stiff or anything, but slightly more comforter-ish. It's compressed in the bag/on the roll when you see it in the store. When you get it home and laid out it will puff up a bit, to about 1/4 inch anyway. Hobbs Heirloom wool batts puff up a bit more than QDW, too much for me. The Hobbs was still easily compressed with the stitches, but somehow I disliked quilting it so I picked out and started over with Quilter's Dream Cotton. I haven't seen the baby quilt much since my niece lives in another town, so I don't know how it's been washing.
...See More
Batting type for King Size Quilt
Q
Comments (12)
Hi Marsha, sorry I'm late posting to this question! On the recommendation of my long arm quilter, I had the 80/20 cotton/poly batting used in my king size quilt. I love it! I was so reluctant to have any poly involved but it could not be more perfect. The loft is nice enough to show off the quilting; I like the look of it much better than Warm & Natural. It's also cooler and lighter weight. We've used it all summer with just a sheet and both of us were comfortable. I'm about to switch to a slightly heavier quilt for winter (or what counts as winter in Orlando) but I hate to take this one off the bed. DH Jim even suggested we just add a blanket under this one and keep using it! I think your ideas about 1/2 and 1/2 quilts are interesting, but not sure I would do that. I keep a large nap quilt beside the bed and if one of us gets chilly, we can use that on top of the regular quilt. Let us know what you decide to do! Kate
...See More
nana24
15 years ago
Your quilt is really nice and will serve a young man for a long time.
Just a comment: I have been afraid of FM but recently did a piece and am determine to do more.

TFS
Sally
damascusannie
15 years ago
While you would be safe quilting the 3" x 12" sections based on batting specs, I agree that the quilt actually needs a bit more quilting than that. You could just add some echo quilting inside of each shape.

Annie
grammyp
15 years ago
Love the quilt, great pattern and colors, especially for a guy's quilt. I like the echo quilting around the smaller block idea myself. The room looks great to me.

beverly
bluebars
15 years ago
You could do minimal quilting, and then find that you need or want to add more quilting to look finished. The most important thing is to have a consistent AMOUNT of quilting across the quilt.
BlueBars
nanajayne
15 years ago
It is a great quilt. I like the design and color choices.
It is too bad that you don't feel up to FM as I think stippling in the large blocks would be very nice and would satisfy the need for more quilting. I agree that it need more then what you mentioned. Good luck. Jayne
calliope
15 years ago
Wow, that is a very dramatic quilt! That neat room belongs to a boy? LOL. No need to excuse it. I wish you could have seen what my boy's room looked like.

That is one beautiful quilt. No suggestions, just 'listening', I might learn something here.
greenmtn
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the kind words and advice. I have started doing some cross diagonal (like large diamonds) stitching in each color; however, it is slow going. I think I'll do that part and then decide how to tackle the nonquilted areas mostly in the navy blue.

I vow to next make another Linus quilt and promise myself to free motion quilt. Improving that would really help my quilting go faster. This walking foot quilting is slow going on such a large bed quilt.
calliope
15 years ago
Having the smaller blocks off-centered on the larger ones might discourage this......but I have a double nine patch top I shall get to quilting on soon, and it has similar problems. That's way I was listening for suggestions. The smaller patches would be a piece of cake with SITD or echo quilting, but that still leaves the quite large blocks needing some reinforcement against the batting. I do not want to do tying on this one in the large areas and think with a square being completely symmetrical, I may do, in the center of each, an easy design off a stencil. Something like a celtic cross, or four hearts, with the bottom points touching in a circle, a large star......flower, whatever. Mine is a functional quilt for my own bed, and I'm not interested in investing months of hand quilting for an utilitarian use.

Dream cotton batting/quilting question

Comments (10)

greenmtn
Original Author

teresa_nc7

Related Discussions

nana24

damascusannie

grammyp

bluebars

nanajayne

calliope

greenmtn
Original Author

calliope

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Dream cotton batting/quilting question

Comments (10)

greenmtnOriginal Author

Related Discussions

greenmtnOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

greenmtn
Original Author

greenmtn
Original Author