meyert

For the first time last month I sent a quilt out to be long arm quilted. Well actually I sent 2 to 2 different ladies. I wanted to compare and see what was out there

They both did beautiful work. I am very pleased with both.

My question is that one of the quilts got "crinkly" after I washed it. All of the fabric had been washed before I made the quilt and I was wondering if the batting does this

Is this a batting thing? If so what batting types do this?

The other quilt did not get the "crinkly" look - and its interesting because that one was made from jelly rolls which were not washed.

Any thoughts?

Prism99

Batting. Cotton batting will shrink. Wool also shrinks. Polyester batting does not shrink. It is the batting that is the primary determinant of crinkly vs flat.

joe'smom

I always pre-soak my batting to minimize crinkling and it still crinkles somewhat. What batting did you use in the quilt that didn't crinkle?

quiltingshorttimer

poly doesn't shrink, wool will but not as much as cotton. not sure about bamboo.

Prism99

Now that I am at my desktop computer, I wanted to add a little more info. Once fabric is quilted to batting, it is the batting that controls whether the fabric can shrink or not. With moderate to heavy quilting, basically the fabric cannot shrink more than the batting allows it to. If the batting is polyester and the quilting stitches are an inch or two apart, for example, even flannel (which is notorious for shrinking a *lot* when washed and dried as fabric) will not shrink. If your quilting lines are 12" apart, then there is room for fabric to shrink between quilting lines. However, with moderate quilting fabric will not shrink more than the batting allows.

Batting manufacturers usually post shrinkage information online, and often also on the packages (if you buy batting pre-packaged).

Bree123

It's the batting & the amount of quilting. More densely quilted quilts crinkle more & quilts with 100% cotton batting crinkle more, especially if they don't have a scrim. I also think that the thinner the 100% cotton batting, the more it crinkles but I haven't done enough testing to say that's absolutely the case; it's just something I've found to be true in a couple cases.

meyert

Thanks for the information everyone

Since I sent the quilt out to be quilted I don't know what type of batting was used on this quilt - there was no receipt for her work when I paid. I didn't think to ask her at the time.

The quilt that did not get the "crinkly" look had Dream Cotton batting - I know that because I did receive a receipt with this one.

Of the two, the quilt that got "crinkly" was quilted a little more dense than the other.

Always learning something!

nativetexan

boy i sent two out to be quilted and hated the batting chosen. even when i asked for 80/20 thin batting she used the fluffy one again. haven't washed quilts so will be surprised I guess. I'm sure part is poly.

ManiacQuilter2

Interesting question.

Onebyone

Many in my area buy a LA and then think they can go in business the next day buying the cheapest batting and biggest cone of neutral thread they can and think it is fine.