Tuesday, 23 March 2004

I had a bad experience with fusible batting this past weekend. I will never buy that stuff again.

On advice from the quilt shop, I was convinced that fusible was the way to go with this quilt. The glue would give the wall-hanging additional firmness that would make my quilting look nicer, and since this was not intended as a blanket, my squeamishness about the chemicals involved was easily overcome. Plus, I wouldn't have to the baste the layers of the quilt sandwich together -- I hate basting, so this seemed like a good deal to me.

After I had everything laid out as described below, I started ironing the layers together, exactly as instructed by the package. It went well at first, but then the lovely straight lines of this design became sine waves -- they curved and distorted. The more I ironed, the worse the situation became. All my hard work to get everything just right was evaporating right in front of me. And worst of all, a big glob of glue melted through the fabric of the center yellow star -- it looked like a giant smear of snot on my lovely quilt.

About one-third of the way into the job, I realized how bad things were. The package said the batting was repositionable, so I ironed over it all again and gently lifted the top off.

I guess it looks ok, but seams that were straight before are wavy now, and some of the fabric looks a little worse for the wear. Luckily, the snot-like smear on the center square stayed on the batting, not on the top, so at least that problem is resolved. I'm afraid to iron it because I can feel some of the glue still on the back, and i don't want to glue it to my ironing board!

I'm hoping that if I let it rest for a few days it might relax. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I might snap it back into shape? I'm tempted to lay it out on a sheet on my bed and iron it with some sizing. If I can keep it warm, it won't glue itself to my bed.

I'm never using fusible batting again.

I got a small sample of fusible batting a couple years ago and hated it. I don't even remember what I used it for. I just remember disliking the stuff.

Were you planning to wash your quilt? I think the stuff is supposed to come out in the wash....

And do you know about pin basting? I love pin basting:)

My favorite batting to use is Quilter's Dream. (no affiliation, just like the stuff).

      Quilty comment by Joni on 25 March 2004

Joni -- I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one. I do know about (and have used) pin basting. That's probably what I'll do once I buy another batting for this quilt.

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 26 March 2004

Yick! Sounds very not fun. Fusible batting always sounded a little 'wrong' to me, but then I like the idea of my quilts being all cotton, through and through. I tried a fabric stiffener spray once and didn't really like it at all. Too many chemicals and I start to get nervous. Although, supposedly fusible stuff is supposed to help with applique if I ever get around to trying applique.

I use Warm and Natural batting; it's worked fine for me so far. Although I'm still torn about whether to pre-wash it or not.

Glad you were able to bring the top back from the brink, K!

      Quilty comment by Lyn/Uncorked on 27 March 2004

Lyn, I think you are confusing fusible batting with fusible web. Now, fusible web I love for machine applique and could not live without. I probably have some lying around if you wanted to "borrow" a little to play with:)

RE: prewashing batting -- I did it once and ended up with a wrinkled rumply batting. I vowed never again. That's not to say it can't be done; I just think it's not for me. Plus, I like my quilts to be a bit wrinkly when they are all done:)

      Quilty comment by Joni on 27 March 2004

Probably. Note my very vague wording "fusible stuff." :)

Not ready to try applique any time soon. Whole bunch of quilts to finish before that. My batting also comes out wrinkly and rumply when I pre-wash and it's not really ironable; I'm beginning to think I might stop doing that.

      Quilty comment by Lyn/Uncorked on 27 March 2004

I picked up a new (non-fusible) batting this weekend and am going to give it a try tomorrow -- keep your fingers crossed for me!

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 28 March 2004

So, what's the verdict? I'm curious to know how things are going.

My quilting project is humming along except for the fact that I decided I *need* to do more piecing. Sigh. I was thinking I could rip the quilt out in a few more weeks. Now I'm just hoping that I can finish it by the end of summer.

      Quilty comment by Joni on 29 March 2004

K- what a terrible experience you had! I hope you are able to successfully switch over to new batting and get to the quilting part. The top came out terrific.

      Quilty comment by Cher on 29 March 2004

I had a chance this past weekend to finally put together the quilt sandwich for the quilt I'm making for my brother.

To make the sandwich, I followed the instructions from A Video Guide to Quilting that I discussed in this entry and its comments.

First, I spread the back out on the floor, stretched it so that it was flat but not tight, smoothed out the wrinkles, then used duct tape to hold it down.

Next, I spread the batting out over the back and followed the same process.

Finally, I did the same thing with the top.

At this point, you would baste the layers together with whatever manner you like. I made a baby-sized quilt this way that I hand-tied -- it worked fine, but I had to be careful that I didn't sew the ties to the carpet! I assume you could pin it or baste it with thread or do whatever you normally do.

Katxena..if your going to use non-fuseable batting in a quilt...DONT!!! It will fall apart once it is washed..you will have a bunched up mess of batting...I used it once when i was 1st learning to quilt..and you WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!!

      Quilty comment by Deb on 12 April 2004