Sheri.a

I have been hand stitching a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt for over 2 years. It's time to quilt it and I would like to do that by hand also.

The problem is the white shadowing. The white Heci's around the flowers really show the fabric from the back. I'm thinking if the batting is super white, it will be less noticeable. Any suggestions on a good batting for hand quilting?

Thanks in advance!

Geri B

do you mean the "flower" fabric is showing on the white "path"? I'm "working on one too, but the hexies that are the flowers are turned onto themselves, so no peeking on the white...but my Hexie fab is cut using the acrylic template w/3/8" seam allowance...so not a lot of fab in back.....I guess I would suggest ironing the seam allowances into the Hexie ...if large seam allowance then trim ........jmho

NoraB

Yikes. No suggestions on batting. Just wanted to say I'm proud of you for doing that quilt! Please show us a picture when you can. I haven't done one yet, but have all the stuff, fabric, hexi shapes cut out, etc. Just afraid to dip my toe in!

Sheri.a

[ATTACH=CONFIG]583032[/ATTACH] I hope this picture helps. It's the white behind the white.

Peckish

I'm not a hand quilter, but my friends who are tell me that Quilter's Dream batting is wonderful to hand-quilt through. Their wool is not a bright white, more of an off-white, so maybe check to see if their cotton or poly is WHITE white. I'd avoid anything with the word "natural" in the name.

Prism99

I can tell you that Hobbs 80/20 is not a pure white; however, it is easy to hand quilt and shows the stitches well.

For hand quilting, stay away from any batting that is needlepunched through scrim because it is harder to push the needle through.

100% cotton in general is harder to hand needle than wool. This is because cotton is "sticky" to the needle. Compared to cotton, wool is described as like "quilting through butter". If you want cotton, however, Quilter's Dream needlepunched cotton (it is not needlepunched through scrim) is, I think, a pure white and has a good reputation for hand quilting. Their thinnest weight does not show hand quilting stitches very well, though. When you are going to all the work of doing hand quilting, I think it is important for the hand quilting to show well. For that reason you probably would want to do their medium weight. Their heavier weight cotton will show stitches better, but it becomes more difficult to hand needle.

Wool is the best batting for both ease of needling and showing off the quilting stitches. However, the only wool brands I would trust are Hobbs and Quilter's Dream, and I don't think any of those wool battings is pure white.

The other possibilities are polyester or silk. Some polyesters are too see-through for what you need, but some would be sufficiently opaque. Poly is easier to needle than cotton and shows the quilting stitches well, but not everyone likes to use it. Silk is very easy to needle and very luxurious, but does not show the stitches particularly well, plus the drape is extremely soft. Silk batting is also quite expensive.

Jane Quilter

I used Quilters Dream (Request), on my hand stitched , hand quilted , GFG. It turned out beautiful. Yours will too.

Gannyrosie

For any hand quilting I use a med loft poly batting. I tried using a 80/20, and hated it. I'll leave that for machine quilting. When its all done you won't notice it

luvstoquilt

Wool batting is wonderful for hand quilting and is my preference. Hobbs 80/20 is my second choice and I use it if my grandson will use the quilt since he is allergic to wool. I love to hand quilt and find it relaxing.

toverly

Shadowing does disappear a little if a white white batting is used. It will disappear even more if you quilt in the traditional style in the shape of an inside hexi in the hexi's. At least it is less noticeable.