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What exactly causes batting pokies ???


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I am quilting a quilt with a 100% cotton wadding and there are some wadding pokies on the back of the quilt.

Does anyone actually know what causes these, is it tension related? I have tried tightening tension which does improve the pokie situation, but is too tight for curves and brings the bobbin thread up, so I want to loosen the tension again.

I have a new needle in so it isnt that, I think it just cant be helped, but dont really want to go poking them back in again when off the frame.

Has anyone else found a solution to pokies?

Thanks

:)

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Well I thought I had the batting right way around. I have the scrim side with the needled holes up, and the fluffier side down.

The backing is moda cotton fabric so dont think it is that, I will loosen up the sandwich on my next pass of the panto and see what happens.

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Originally posted by Janette

Well I thought I had the batting right way around. I have the scrim side with the needled holes up, and the fluffier side down.

i was told that the scrim should lay against the wrong side of the backing fabric...i accidentally 'flipped' a scrimmed batting (warm and natural with the scrim laying against the wrong side of the pieced top) and i noticed i got alot of pokies.

also, i've noticed that i get pokies with the looser, cheaper fabrics when used as a backing. you are using moda, so it shouldn't be that...cheap batts will pokey also...i do believe that using a larger than necessary needle will cause pokies

it is called bearding and it is caused by fibers of the batting 'sticking' to the needle/thread and being pushed out the backing fabric and then stays there when the needle comes back up the batting stays sticking out...i've even had it happen when i hand stitch the binding down.

it just happens sometimes....i have seen the back of a quilt done by a very famous quilter with numerous "best of show" quilts, and she had some pokies going on...i stopped being hard on myself after i saw that....

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Thanks, I havent used this particular cotton wadding before, so am guessing that I could have it upside down, although I needled it first and it did seem to needle easier the way I have put it on, but next time I use this wadding, I will try it the other way.

Thanks for all the good advice !!

Hope it goes better tomorrow !!

And if it is good enough for a show quilt, then it is good enough for my customer (hopefully!)

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Janette,

That is so aggrevating! I hate when it happens. All have given you good advice as to what could have caused the problem. Another thing to think aobut is the thread. In a class with Sue Patton, she explained that sometimes your thread will grab the batting and pull it through. It has to do with the type of fiber and how they react to one another. Slow down and see if it gets better. Since you have already started you probably don't even want to think about changing threads and I don't blame you!

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Well I am using glide thread which is a poly, and the magna glide bobbins, so I would hope that it would not catch, but the whole sandwich does feel kind of thin if you know what I mean. As it is only happening now and then and some larger than others, I will poke the big ones back in again, and hope that when it relaxes off the frame most of the smaller ones will disappear or when it gets washed even.

I will also slow down a bit and see if that helps too.

Thanks all !!!

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Janette,

No I would not expect poly to do that but run your finger down the thread and see if you feel any kind of indentations. You'd have to look at it under a magnifying glass to see if there are fibers that could grab the batting. I would have expected it to be cotton, since cotton clings and grabs to other cottons. Probably just one of those irritating sandwiches that has a mind of its own! It happens.

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Lumpy side up, smooth side down. I think its inherent that we all will get them sooner or later--like a cold-LOL. I recently had a batting that didn't with one backing fabric and did with another-everything else was the same. Both were quality cotton too! Oodely-one more for Shannon-ROFL

I think just the accidental right combination of thread, material/batting, needle size, and tension, is gonna get ya sometimes. Washing does seem to cure 90% though.

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On the APQS email tips, just today, Dawn addresses this problem. Dimples up, pokies down. Smooth side up, fluffy down. (sorry Dave, the opposite of what you said)

Also, there was a discussion about how Moda fabrics are doing something like this. They are snagging and it makes the batting poke out. I guess several longarmers brought it to their attention; but Moda insisted it was their machines! Huh? Even when there were 5 different machines used?? I don't remember if the discussion was here or on MQ Resource. It was last year I think. The remedy was to use fabric that had high dye saturation. If it was a dark brown fabric, make sure it looks pretty dark on the back too.

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I could be wrong! I just seems like the more you read the muddier the water gets. I heard that lumpy side up thingy somewhere and don't remember where, Upon trying to find it again I see this on a web site:

Patricia Magaret and Donna Slusser respond:

Scrim is a very open piece of netting-type fabric that is added to batting during the manufacturing process to help support the fibers. Battings that contain scrim are generally more stable and have less stretch than those without scrim.

Feel the batting to determine if the scrim is near the center of the layering, or closer to one side than the other. If you cannot tell, then it will make no difference which side of the batting is placed next to the quilt top.

If the scrim is closer to one side than the other, we recommend that this side be placed closest to the backing.

The skrim being the smooth side??? The I saw one that says ?"pepper side up"? I think I needs help! LOL What do ya think? No about the skrim, not me needing help< Ha Ha---Dave B.

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:P:P:P Dave, you are too damn funny!!:P:P:P

Ok, I called Quilters Dream (not sure if theirs is scrim or not) But she said dimples up, pokies down. Not sure what to do with Hobbs 80/20; but I have a roll and use it the same way as QD. Actually, on the Hobbs it's hard to tell there is any diff. I don't care for W&N. Have you ever hit one of those "seeds" with your needle?? :mad::mad::mad:

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Well, I think it may be the backing fabric as it does appear to snag a bit. Although I put a new needle in, I may try another one just in case it has a bur or something. Then I am going to clean out the bobbin area, as I may have seem a stray thread behind in there somewhere, perhaps that may help too. Havent had any quilting time today - work got in the way today !!

Interesting about the Moda fabrics, and interesting that different opinions on which way up the batting goes. I didnt even know there was a right or wrong way until l got my Lenni and read on this forum !

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Ok ya'll -- don't scream at me but I rarely have pokies. I lay my batting down the same way it is punched. Think of how the batting would be on the needle punching machines and all of those needles going up and down. Imagine how the batting would look. The "fuzzier" side would be facing the floor. Some battings are easier to see what is "up/down."

I change my needle for every project. Sometimes when I am quilting on batiks I change it more than that. In the big scheme of things a needle is an inexpensive item. Also, you can get a bad needle in a pack and I have had bad packs of needles.

Sandra

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Sandra,

That was also my philosophy with this batting, and the needle holes were in the top, so assuming it was punched from the top I therefore put the holes facing the top. I am hoping I had a bad needle and when I change it all will be well in the pokies world !!!!

:P

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Oh! Gosh, now even the manufacturers are complicating the side. HeidiM told me which side down and I forgot, so I contacted the W&N folks and they said to put the "dirty" side down. It is seldom I get pokies, but when I do they are bad.. haven't found anything that helps from flipping the sandwich to snap, all sides in hands one at a time.. seems to help the most but there are still a gazillion pokies on the back. The smaller the needle the better it is.. meaning less pokies. I think my smallest needle is a 3.5.

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  • 1 year later...

Just found this forum while looking for a solution to my first ever pokies. I changed the needle ...no luck. I finally concluded that it was the backing fabric....so I just won't use it again on the back. Good to know that washing will help them go away.

I didn't know there was a right and wrong side of batting. You learn something every day....

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