kennan100 Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Ithink I've read all the posts here. What about preshriking? Putting it in a full washer, no agitation, letting it spin out and hen putting it in the dryer. What brands, amount of shrink, felting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindy Skinner Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 I use the Hobbs washable wool batting more than any other batting. I sell it to my customers and I am guessing that 80% or more never go back to cotton after using wool. I track all my business on QuickBooks and can tell you that my wool batting sells 3 to 1 over my cotton (hobbs 80/20). I charge my customers 2x my wholesale price (cost plus shipping) which is pretty standard. I have samples made up of large quilts with each of the various battings. All have been washed repeatedly, HOT water, HOT dryer. I NEVER lay a quilt flat to dry. I have a few rules in my house and one is if it can't go in the washer and dryer then it shouldn't be in my house. These samples are very helpful when choosing a batting because the customer can then hold a large quilt in their hands and feel the difference in weight, it is quite noticable. Some people like heavier quilts and some don't like the weight on their feet and bodies. Wool does not have a memory. Creases do go away. I buy it on the roll and go through several rolls per year. The one center crease is generally gone before I even get the quilt done. I don't know about other brands but the Hobbs wool is also advertised as having no shrinkage. I ask my customer several questions when determining which batting is best for their quilt, one question is whether they like the old fashioned puckery look (lean towards cotton that shrinks) or a more contemporary puffy look (wool or poly)? Who is the quilt going to be given to and who will be washing and caring for it? In other words, is it going to be puked on and washed every week (poly) or gently cared for (cotton or wool)? Where will it be used, throw, bed, wall, table? This helps to determine the best loft, personally I recommend a thin loft for a table treatment so items can sit flat without wobbling. I recommend a stiffer batt like QD poly with no memory and a thick loft for wall hangings so the piece doesn't flap in the breeze when you walk by. I recommend cotton or wool for beds and throws depending on how they ansered the other questions. What climate will it be used in, poly doesn't breath will and will always be hotter, cotton breaths but wool has be benefit of working in all climates, holds in heat in the winter, breaths in the summer. I ALWAYS leave the decision up to the customer after showing them many samples. Bottom line is, all my personal quilts have wool in them. 80% or more of my customers use wool and generally only go cheaper if they plan to give it away to a non relative , and I don't do anything special with the care of my quilts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenslug Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Mindi, Do you prewash and dry your Hobbs wool in the washer and dryer? Have put wool in a large quilt and love it. Have not laundered quilt yet and did not preshrink wool - any more info you can share, I would appreciate. Am thinking of ordering a roll of QD wool. I make mostly large quilts and love the 122" width of QD wool. Used a packaged Hobbs Tuscany wool and it quilted up beautifully. Marilyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindy Skinner Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 I never prewash any of my battings. If a customer brings a packaged bat for me to use I do put it in the dryer to fluff it just for a couple of minutes. I hate packaged bats, they are sooo wrinkly. I make mostly queen size quilts. I use the Hobbs washable wool in all my quilts. Sometimes I prewash my fabric and sometimes I don't. If the colors are bright with light backgrounds and I'm afraid I may have an issue later then I prewash. If they are all similar in the amount and color of dye then I don't prewash. I hate getting a ton of wadded stringy balls out of the dryer that have to be pressed. About 80% of my quilts have been washed. I have a lot of quilts as do most of you I'm sure. Because my fabric is sometimes prewashed and sometimes not (I am consistent with in the same quilt, either prewash or not) I can't really tell you if the shrinkage and puffyness is due to batting or fabric. Sometimes I put in heavy quilting and sometimes I use larger overall designs. The main intent of most of my quilts is to show customers what different quilting techniques look like on different quilts. The thing about wool is that it is puffy like poly and very light weight making it drape nicely. Poly is much stiffer so it doesn't hang over a bed near as well as wool. If you plan to do any quilting where you want the raised and lowered effect like faux trapunto (there is probably a technical term for that) then I recommed you try the wool. I really like the look when you put heavy quilting around a motif and then leave another aspect unquilted, like say the star points or a contrasting narrow border or some element of a decorative sashing. With the heavy quilting right next to it those unquilted areas just pop right out at you. I did one personal throw this way and have had numerous customers want that same look when they see it. I just loaded some photos of it on my webshots after it was laundered. This throw measures 60x76 and weighs 3.4 lbs. Here is a link to the first photo, before washing http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2056646970054244993igCdvW Mindy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesternWilson Posted April 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 Mindy, your quilting is beautiful! What techniques did you use on that class sampler quilt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindy Skinner Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 I quilted the same motif in each of the 12 blocks. I meandered the background to make the motif "pop". I put a complementary motif in the open plain squares with heavy mendering behind those as well. The setting triangles have a complementary triangle in each of them and the outer border also has a complementary feather in it. There is heavy meandering behind all of it. I did not SID (I hate it) and no quilting in the red portion of the sashings. I wanted the red sashings to pop forward. Because I used the wool batting it made the red part pop forward and the feathers in all the motifs pop forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesternWilson Posted April 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 Well, it is magnificent! Did you do the quilting all freehand, or was there panto/computer work as well? Lost in admiration, Janet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindy Skinner Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 I have the intelliquilter computerized system. Only the meandering was freehand, all the rest was computer;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodgie Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Your quilting is excellent, I want the Intelli quilter!! Is it difficult to learn? Bodgie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindy Skinner Posted April 24, 2009 Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 It is not hard to learn at all. There are numerous youtube videos to watch on just about every aspect of it, help screens throughout the system and then there is just practice, practice, practice. My husband finally said, just buy it, you are either going to complain about your back or complain about the payments. He was right excepte that I never complain about the payments. I can get the next quilt ready to load while the one on the machine is stitching away. Business is UP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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