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Thick and Heavy Wool BLANKET for Batting???


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OK you savvy quilters, I need your sage advice...

A regular customer surprised me last night by bringing over a thick and heavy wool blanket (and it is dark black/gray) and asked me to use this for batting in her quilt that she wants me to custom. Adding more to this already delicate situation, she asked me to add a regular white batting on top of this because the top is white and she doesn't want the dark gray/black wool BLANKET to show through. UGH! I'm not even sure my hopping foot will fit all of this thickness.

Have any of you tried a thick wool blanket for quilting? If so did it work? I'm afraid the fabric will start to bind and pucker. Yikes. Why do people do this to me.  Of course, I do reserve the right to say "No" but I don't say that word unless it's absolutely the only option I have to say... "no" is not a word I use lightly with my customers.

Thanks for your advice.

Shana

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Shana,

Well that definitely sounds like a challenge.  I've quilted up to 3 layers of batting so I would guess that your machine can handle it.   You will have to go a little slower so that your needle doesn't get caught in the batting and of course you will have to make your hopping foot higher to accommodate the additional thickness.  I'd probably load it and just try to see what happens and if it doesn't work you can at least say you tried.  I know these machine have worked through some thick material in the past so I would guess it can handle it.  

By the way it is great to see you posting!  I've missed you.

 

Heidi

 

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47 minutes ago, lindasewsit said:

Yikes!  Let us know if you do it!  I think I would have said no right off the bat!  Whew!!!:o

Me too. I can see the wool blanket shrinking, even a little bit, after it is washed. What a mess that would be. I would think our machines could take it, I just would not want to do it.

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2 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

Me too. I can see the wool blanket shrinking, even a little bit, after it is washed. What a mess that would be. I would think our machines could take it, I just would not want to do it.

Yeah, I just love how our customers "SURPRISE" us with these things sometimes... :wacko:

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6 hours ago, Quilting Heidi said:

Shana,

Well that definitely sounds like a challenge.  I've quilted up to 3 layers of batting so I would guess that your machine can handle it.   You will have to go a little slower so that your needle doesn't get caught in the batting and of course you will have to make your hopping foot higher to accommodate the additional thickness.  I'd probably load it and just try to see what happens and if it doesn't work you can at least say you tried.  I know these machine have worked through some thick material in the past so I would guess it can handle it.  

By the way it is great to see you posting!  I've missed you.

 

Heidi

 

Yeah, great advice, Heidi. I miss you too! :wub:  I see all of your beautiful quilts on APQS Facebook. You are a rock star.

But, I just ain't gonna mess with raising my hopping foot for this silly job... sheesh! 

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Shana, I have quiilted some heavy, thick wools but they were not dense so my machine stitched them beautifully. I think as long as it isn't stiff or super dense you will be fine.  I am not so sure about what white batting to use with it...

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well....I have an old crazy wool pieced quilt with a least one wool blanket inside and an extra backing that my mom added when the original backing frayed....yikes...it is heavy...need two strong men just to lift the thing (just kidding)...It however is tied....don't know how that was managed...probably with a big needle and pliers....I love it....my grandmother made it out of old wool coats...it is rather dark and drab....just crazy pieces...not much fancy stitching....but....she added bits of whimzy into it...there is a bunny made of of a gray nobby wool....and a butterfly....and a silly little caterpillar marching across it....she had very little money....lived in a one room house with a pump outside, a two holer in the back, and a garden.....she saved some seeds from the garden year after year so she did not have to buy seed for the next year....and she saved and used everything....oh and she made the most wonderful breads...all from scratch and all without a recipe...my mom tried to get a recipe from her...but it was..."a handful of these, a pinch of this, if doesn't feel right, add a bit more of this,...she usually had a least three kinds of bread which she kept in a large pickle crock....mummmy.....

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Sewingpup,

Oh.. how ironic.. You really hit me with "Grandma's Homemade Bread" :(  How I miss that too!  Today would be her 132nd Birthday..

One thing she was definitely right about... You have to be able to "feel it' :)  I still make some of the old fashioned "Kolachy's" and IF you can't feel it.. you can't make them!

With today's processed flours.. you will NEVER make Grandma's Bread ever :(  sad

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yep....I get confused when I go shopping for flour....what to get?, what to get?....anyway, I haven't been making much bread lately....trying to lose weight...how come they used to be able to eat wonderful homemade bread and stay thin?  Anyway....I am amazed by old quilts...they made them with needle and thread by the light of a kerosene lamp......yikes.....it must have been way easier to store their quilting supplies....I guess that is why they had small houses.....I need another house for all my sewing gadgets......Lin

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Sounds like someone wants to use a military wool blanket for batting.  If it is a "military blanket" it will shrink.  I would worry about needle flex with the blanket.  I know I'm jumping in here late but I've been out of town for a few days.  I hope you said no to the customer.  Great to see you on the forum, miss some of the "ole gang". 

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On 5/23/2017 at 4:14 AM, Gator said:

Sounds like someone wants to use a military wool blanket for batting.  If it is a "military blanket" it will shrink.  I would worry about needle flex with the blanket.  I know I'm jumping in here late but I've been out of town for a few days.  I hope you said no to the customer.  Great to see you on the forum, miss some of the "ole gang". 

Hi Connie,

I ended up deciding to try this. It appears to be a military wool blanket but I was able to quilt it. It is very heavy and cumbersome. Even though I was able to quilt it with the machine with no problems, it's likely I will not accept this kind of blanket in the future. 

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On 5/18/2017 at 7:40 PM, LisaC said:

Shana, I have quiilted some heavy, thick wools but they were not dense so my machine stitched them beautifully. I think as long as it isn't stiff or super dense you will be fine.  I am not so sure about what white batting to use with it...

Hi! :) this doesn't seem to be too dense... I did load it on my frame to see if it would work. Quilted fine with no troubles. 

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