Blob Batting Monster

[micajah]

This would be funny if I had plenty of room for storage, but I don't. Recently purchased a roll of hobbs polydown batting. I like the batting because it quilts up very well. I did not need it right away so just opened it this past week. It was double wrapped in plastic. I carefully eased the bags of plastic off the roll- wanted to reuse one of them to store the batting roll later. Unfortunately, I did not rebag it right away, just tied it and stood it up in the corner. The next day, I noticed that the wrinkles in the batting had relaxed. Great! I thought, because I really was worried about those wrinkles -guess it was just being stuffed in the bag that made the wrinkles. The day after that, I noticed it appeared fatter. Still not really worried at this point. And by the 3rd day, when I realised the bags would not ever hold the roll of batting again, I was getting very concerned. The batting had expanded to fill the entire corner! My longarm sits about 2 foot away from that corner and it was already expanded enough to almost cover the table on that end. 

Yesterday, day 4, I tried to reroll the batting to condense it down some...found out that it does not have a cardboard roll in the center, just batting. 

Looking around, I found a 1 x 6 plank that was long enough to use to wrap the batting around. Got about halfway through the rewrap, and could not get any more to roll up tight enough so it would not be as large as the original roll. Finally cut it and made two rolls out of one roll of batting. Fortune finally smiled on me because I  was able to rebag each roll. Now, I have two huge rolls of batting. One went back in the corner, and the 2nd one, was thrown up into the open attic space in my sewing room. 

 

Is it typical for batting to come with a cardboard roll in the center? What does everyone else do with rolls of hobbs polydown and why are there no warning labels on the roll?  I do think that if I  had waited another day to reroll the batting, it could have popped the door off and flowed out to the yard, like in the old 50's movie, "the Blob"

 

I don't think I will be buying this batting by the roll again............

[barbm]

Debbie, I buy Hobbs Polydown on the roll and it has always had a cardboard core - maybe the place you bought it took it out to help with shipping costs? And, yes, it is kin to "The Blob"! I do like to keep it on hand, though, for " cushy" quilts and for demo pieces. And it's less expensive than 80/20.

[dpsquilter]

Debbie, I use Hobbs Polydown and it always has a cardboard tube in the center when I receive it. When I get it it "grows" slightly when plastic is removed but it has never been a problem for me. I only unroll what I'm going to use. If it is ever unrolled I can't imagine how it could ever be rerolled into a manageable size. I use it in about 25-30% of my customer quilts. It quilts up very nicely.

[micajah]

Perhaps, the roll  I received, was the end of the run, and was rolled up by hand to package it, because it definitely did not have a cardboard tube in the middle. It expanded so much, I could not reach around it. Good to know that this is not the "usual" way it comes as I will definitely let the seller know about this. Sounds silly, but it is a problem as I don't have the space for a lot of batting. I like it for t shirt quilts. They look nice and are not as heavy as with other battings. Thanks for the information on how it "should come packaged". With my luck, my requests for t shirt quilts will drop off and that blob monster will be with me forever!

[s.waits]

Hi Debbie,

I can't help but laugh at your description of the batting monster! Yes, I've had this experience before, but I guess I was luckier than you. My super large roll of poly batting had a cardboard tube through the middle, but it was 96 inches long. I had to do something with it, so I ran a length of conduit pipe through the tube, and suspended it from the ceiling. Like yours, mine expanded.....a LOT.....to the point it nearly touched the ceiling. It worked out pretty well, though. When I needed batting, I just rolled off the amount I needed and cut it. The rest stayed nicely in place, hanging above my cutting table. I tried the same idea with a roll of warm and white, but every time I cut a piece from the roll, the whole thing wanted to unroll. Then it became a game of cut the batting, hold the roll still long enough to put a couple pins in it, and stand on a footstool without falling, all at the same time. With any luck, your T-shirt quilt requests will pick up, and you'll be rid of that roll in no time. Good Luck!

[cblevins]

Ohhh Debbie I remember a time like that!!  Mine wasn't Hobbs but was poly.  I made the mistake of opening it in the living room....it took on a life of it's own!!  There was no way it would go down the basement stairway to the quilting area.....lesson learned.

[Barbara Conquest]

I think a lot of us have had a similar experience; I have.  But your account of it is priceless -- I'm still laughing!

[Bekah]

Thanks for the chuckle today. I am glad you got it all tamed.