Kitty10628

If you do a lot of quilting on your quilt top will it soften up?

How close do you think the quilting should be on a quilt that will get used and abused?!

I quilted my first quilt with stitch in the ditch and have washed it several times and I dont feel it is soft enough. The next quilt I did not stitch as close.

Jingle

I try to do a large stipple or FMQ, not sure what the difference is.

Stitchnripper

Interesting question. I tend not to like a lot of dense quilting, because it is not my "thing", but, my quilts are soft enough. How far apart are your ditches? Also, some of us go by the batting directions of how far apart it says the quilting must be and don't do much more than that. I either stitch in the ditch or do a meander with FMQ and sometimes a combination of both. Could be the kind of batting, or very close ditches which might make for a stiffer quilt? Waiting to hear others chime in.

Kitty10628

I used some batting that I had from years ago. ---not knowing too much about it--- I made sure my stitches were 2-4 inches like the package said.

I am now buying Warm and Natural which says stitches can be up to 8-10 inches apart.

dakotamaid

The stiffness of your finished quilt could be several factors. Type of fabric used, amount of sizing washed out or left in, how many seams in the quilt, the type of batting used, and closeness of quilting. I also find that blocks with many small pieces seem to be "stiffer" than large quick sew type of blocks. Clear as mud?

PaperPrincess

The batting you use will determine how far apart you can safely quilt. Look at the label. Some you can quilt as far as 10", some need to be quilted every 3 or 4.
Also the fiber the batting is made from also has an effect on how soft your quilt is. By soft, I'm assuming that you mean how it drapes? I like wool batting and bamboo is also drapey...
What batting did you use and how far apart was your sitd?

Kitty10628

It is a pinwheel pattern with 12 inch blocks so the stitching is 2-4 inches apart.

I am hoping it will continue to soften up.

lakekids

In my experience the closer the stitching the stiffer the quilt. Different battings recommend a maximum difference between the quilting stitches.

I also feel that different battings have different levels of stiffness in them. I have found Hobbs 80/20 cotton blend and Hobbs wool to be some of the softest battings that I have tried. I have used Warm & Natural, and some other pre-packaged brand from Joann's. I have also recently used Quilters Dream Blend and Quilters Dream Cotton. I have ordered a roll of Quilters Dream wool - mostly because Quilters Dream is the only batting the LQS will let me use on their longarm machine. So far I have not been enamored of the Quilters Dream battings. I found both the Blend and the Cotton to be stiffer than I like.

Sewnoma

I tend to do minimal quilting because I think that makes the quilt drape better. I do a lot of SITD; and when I do FMQ I tend to leave lots of open space. I like to do FMQ vines (loopy lines with random leaf shapes) and I will do them in a big wide spiral starting in the middle of the quilt, and I like to leave space between lines of vines roughly equal to the width of the vine. So if my vines are coming out six inches wide, I'll leave a six inch gap between each row of vines. Assuming the batting accommodates that spacing, of course. Or I'll blend SITD with FMQ - do SITD around large block shapes with a small FMQ medallion-shaped whoozit in the middle of each block to make up the minimum quilting requirements for the batting.

I avoid buying batting that requires quilting closer than 6-8 inches.

Buckeye Rose

I do not like close quilting for bed quilts as they get stiff and lose their air pockets (which is what keeps me warm). But for a wallhanging dense quilting would be fine.