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Double Batting & Natural vs. Bleached Batting


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Hi,

So I'm at a point now where I want to try using 2 layers of batting in a quilt and I seem to recall someone telling me for the inexperienced, 2 layers of cotton or 80/20 is a better way to start.  I suspect the reason is there is less or no movement within the cotton layers as there is in a wool batting.  The reason I want to do 2 layers is to get and keep more definition in the quilting and I find after washing, a single batted quilt feels so thin.  I tried doing a double layer with 80/20 and a QD Wool once in a King quilt on my Sweet 16 Sitdown.  It did not go well, I ripped out my stitching and removed the wool batting from the sandwich (no small feat, as it was 505 spray basted) and ended up quilting it with the one layer of the 80/20.  So now that I have my Lenni, I want to try again and have these questions.  

The second question, I have 2 quilt tops nearing readiness to quilt and both have a lot of white background.  I've only ever purchased "natural" coloured batting and primarily used Hobbs 80/20.  Is it necessary to use "Bleached" white batting or is it really noticible when using natural colour beneath white cotton?  I have warm and natural on my design wall and my white cotton looks okay, but thought I'd ask before I proceed.

Tips and tricks for dealing with double batting?  I suspect my machine harp will fill up more quickly once I move down the quilt on a queen or king sized quilt.  Also, is it likely I'll need to adjust my hopping foot height?  Does 2 layers of 80/20 make any noticible difference in density when quilting to give problems quilting?

Thanks in advance for your insight!

 

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Kwilter

Could you please explain why the wool on top of cotton batting did not work well for you?  I have been told this is a great combination for a show quilt.  I am getting ready to start on my first one, so I would like to learn from other mistakes if possible.  

Cagey

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57 minutes ago, Cagey said:

Kwilter

Could you please explain why the wool on top of cotton batting did not work well for you?  I have been told this is a great combination for a show quilt.  I am getting ready to start on my first one, so I would like to learn from other mistakes if possible.  

Cagey

Sure Cagey.  It was before I had my Lenni, and was working with my Sitdown machine.  My process that I always had success with was to make my quilt sandwich using 505 to spray baste, then use my domestic machine with the walking foot, I have a Janome 6600, to do all the straight line ditching before taking it to my Sitdown to carry on with the rest.  What happened for me was that the wool batting layer was shifting within the sandwich (to me wool is a bit like a polyester batting with loft, it has movement within the batting if you know what I mean) and I ended up plowing the quilt top, so that by the time I'd stitched the width of the quilt I was getting a pucker.  I never had that issue before with just one layer of 80/20 and tried various things to avoid it without success.  Probably operator error on my part.  The quilt I was working on had a lot of straight lines to ditch and it was so much easier on my domestic to get it done when managing the big quilt rather than trying to use a ruler and gently manipulate the quilt before any of the layers came unstuck.  It was really heavy with the two layers of batting and the quilt was huge, so it's nice the walking helps a lot.  I had tried separating the wool bat to half its thickness as suggested by Cindy Needham, a method she uses all the time, but my bat wouldn't separate nicely, so it was obviously of a different variety than what she uses.  I probably could have accomplished it on my Sweet 16, but the thought of wielding that heavy quilt around with the extra batting and manipulating the ruler to ditch it as such was more than I was interested in doing.  That was my first and only experience with two layers and wool and pretty much wrote it off unless I got a frame to quilt on.  Hope that answers your question.

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I have not yet tried to use a double batting on my longarm but I think the difference between a domestic walking foot and the longarm hopping foot would make for a better outcome on the longarm.  There is no "give" in the needle bar of the domestic walking foot when you lower the presser foot so it would push the double layers of batting.  With the longarm the foot hops and if it still pushed the layers you can change the height of the needle bar......or at least you can on the Millie's. Perhaps someone who has quilted with double battings will chime it on this issue. 

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The only time I doubled my batting was on a Qnique quilting machine on my frame. I used Warm and natural all cotton and had no problem, it was tightly quilted so bunching could not be allowed. No problem with the quilting, didn't even raise my hopping foot. Quilt turned out fine. Never did it again, because I never really thought it was such more special than a single batting quilt. Hope you love the outcome of yours!

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I too have a Lenni.  I have done hobbs 80/20 on the bottom with wool on top.  The combination has worked great for me (more than once).  I did not need to raise my hopping foot.  However if it seems you are pushing the quilt top and not just stitching it then maybe you'll need to raise it a hair.  This is very easy to do. I just put the wool on top of the 80/20 and off I went, straightened all layers as I rolled along.  I like the definition wool batting gives the quilting.

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Kathy,

if you are wanting more quilting definition, using Quilters Dream Deluxe 100% cotton may be an option instead of double batting.  I have been recommending it to customers who want their quilts to feel like a "real" quilt.  I love the way it looks, it shows off your quilting without the loft of wool batting.

 

Carol

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  • 3 years later...

I am not aware of Wool Batting coming in White ... I would suggest taking a sample of your white fabric and putting it with the Natural color to see if it darkens the white.  That will tell you if you want to continue to use the Natural colored batting.  I have used Natural double bats with white and didn't feel like it darkened the white.  But, it all depends on the White fabric and how tightly woven it is. 

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