# the middle of the quilt sandwich?



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

eeek! i tried the bamboo batting in 2010 on my 10th Anniversary quilt and 2 short years later it feels terrible in the middle, it feels like it is bunched up on the binding and clumpy in the middle. has anyone else had this trouble? 

what do you all use for batting? i tie most of my quilts and love my warm and natural, i was trying to be a greener quilter but if i just have to re do it anyway...

theresa


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Uh-oh, I've been using bamboo lately. But my quilts are machine quilted or haven't been washed yet.

Most of the battings say on the package how far about the quilting can be - in my experience, tying is usually farther apart than that. What happens is in washing, the batting shifts with the agitation, and you get that bunching up.

I don't know if any batting really stands up well with tying. Have you thought about stitching in the ditch around your blocks? That would help stabilize the batting.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

I haven't tried bamboo, but the one time I used a cotton/ poly batting on a small lap quilt, it bunched into what felt like little balls after a couple of washings. This was tied on 6" centers. I just purchased "green" batting made of plastic soda bottles which says it can be quilted on 12" centers. When I make up the 6" 9 patch we are currently swapping, I'll try this with 6" sewn in the ditch centers and hope it will work OK.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

For me it completely depends on what I want from the final product. If it's a lightweight summer type quilt (or I want the antique-y look) I use cotton. 
If I want some loft so you can see the quilting, I use poly. I've never tried a blend and my quilt batting is one area where I simply don't care about "green" more than I do the final results. 

I machine wash everything and I only have shifting/bunching issues with quilts I've tied. (So I quit tying lol)


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

warm and natural is 10 inches apart and i usually tie more closely together than that. this is the only quilt that i have had trouble with... so i guess i will stick with the warm and natural. i enjoy piecing tops and hand binding but i have little patience for moving a huge quilt through my little ole machine trying to quilt it.


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## Katskitten (Aug 5, 2010)

I'm reading and learning. My wife (this is her username) made a jeans quilt and posted it here last year. No batting on that one, just denim and fleece.

I'm making one from strips of various cat and critter oriented prints with a poly fill batting and fleece on the back. This is a cover for my #2 Singer treadle machine to keep the cats claws off the wood.
I've machine quilted it in 4" Â± diamonds on my #2 treadle. Was a PITA but turned out pretty decent. This will need to be washed occasionally due to the cats loving to curl up and sleep on it, so I really don't want it bunching up.

I'm also making a queen sized denim quilt from 6" squares. And have not decided what to use for batting. As heavy as denim is I just might use a flannel blanket with fleece on the bottom or visa verse. 
I've also thought of just using a heavy flannel backing and skipping the batting. Haven't made up my mind yet.
But I will be quilting it by stitching in the ditch between the squares.
Way easier than diagonally. Besides I bought a SITD presser foot and need to use it. 

Joe


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## huzzyjr (Apr 21, 2005)

I used bamboo batting in one of my grandson's quilt's and it has held up just like the warm and natural. They were made the same time with the same fabrics, decided to make 2 smaller quilts instead of 1 large quilt, I quilted them both by machine. They have been washed dozen's of times.
Carol


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