katquilter Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Hi everyone - I'm writing to see if anyone else has had this problem. I quilt a lot of charity quilts on a sit-down George machine. I'm a very good quilter, George works great, and all is happy... Until someone sent me five quilts to sandwich and quilt. I did them like all the others, with the same kind of batting, thread, tension. Same sandwiching technique. The first one came out sort of ok, bearable, but ripply... The second one looks like the Rocky Mountains - ripples,peaks, mountains. It stretched out so bad the rows of the quilt are nowhere near straight... every block is poofy , EXCEPT on the border fabric, where everything is fine. It is INCHES out of square. So - there's the clue - the fabric. The fabric that stretched looks lovely, is very soft like a polished cotton. Another quilt I quilted the day before this one came out fine, so I know it's not something with the machine. It's the quilt. Anybody had this happen before? My kitties are gonna get a nice blanket, cause this is now trash... But I have three more from the same lady, and I hesitate to touch them until I figure out how to quilt them. Thanks anyone for ideas. Kathleen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busy Quilting Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Obviously the fabric is not cotton. Try spray starching the whole quilt top ( a couple of times) before sandwiching. You could also iron a stabiliser/interfacing to the back of the stretchy fabrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katquilter Posted November 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Thanks, Lyn. I have some great lightweight stabilizer; I will try that. Never occurred to me it wasn't cotton, but I did notice it felt softer than any cotton I had ever felt before - that should have been my warning, I think! thanks for writing in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Are they by chance not cut straight, but more to the bias side of the fabric? That also will cause distortion. It can be avoided by squaring up after every piece is added, and then the blocks added and squared. Makes for a nearly perfectly squared quilt. I'm seldom more than 1/2" off, and it can usually be worked out while quilting. Rita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Not knowing how you prep the quilt sandwich to quilt on your George, I can only give the general advice to over-stabilize the whole thing. Adding stabilizer to the problem fabrics is a great solution. But can you use fusible batting to achieve the same result? Another thought is to nail it all down with pre-basting the whole thing with a walking foot on your DSM. Sounds like a tedious job but it might do the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iquiltit Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 I bet the fabric is microfiber.A customer wanted me to make curtains out of 2 king sized sheets for her, they were microfiber. I have never had such a hard time making curtains. It stretched so bad. I had to sew 1 panel 4 times and it still looked crappy.No more microfiber for me. Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Like Linda, I was going to suggest basting the heck out of it to keep it square before you quilt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daviesla Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 Sounds like a nightmare. Sorry you are having so much trouble:( Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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