Dont make my mistake...
#1
Dont make my mistake...
I went to a fiber fair and bought alpaca batting...I just finished my quilt and just took it out of the washer. I have to hang dry it...its smells...and I mean smells...I pray the smell goes away once it is dry. My cats are totally scared of the quilt...
#3
Oh no!
I have never heard of alpaca batting - did it needle well? I have an alpaca scarf that a friend got for me in Peru 30 years ago, and it stinks if it gets even a bit damp. (But no one expects to wash their scarf!) Can you contact the batting maker and ask her advice?
Alison
I have never heard of alpaca batting - did it needle well? I have an alpaca scarf that a friend got for me in Peru 30 years ago, and it stinks if it gets even a bit damp. (But no one expects to wash their scarf!) Can you contact the batting maker and ask her advice?
Alison
#5
I used a blue needle (Jean) once I did that I had no problem quilting. The quilt looks great it just is so smelly...hoping once it dries it will not smell. I am not sure what I am going to do with this...I doubt I will keep it. then again it will keep the cats off the guest bed. It was the first time that the cats did not go near me while quilting. if you want to keep your cats out of the sewing room buy a small piece of the batting and put it in the room. They will not go in that room...really.
#6
I bought an alpaca sweater years ago and I always try to wear a silky blouse underneath because it feel scratchy against my skin. I was told by the woman who knit it (and sells other alpaca products) to wash it and then rinse it in hair conditioner. Hair conditioner not only makes it soft, it gives it a pleasant smell.
#7
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Piedmont Virginia in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mtns.
Posts: 8,562
Good grief! Reminds of an embroidered coat made of reverse animal skins that I bought decades ago (early 1970s) in Germany but it was from somewhere in Africa as I remember. Lands, that thing reeked!! Finally threw it out even though it did make me look like the Beatles, LOL! Much later I found out those things were 'cured' with urine, can you believe!! SO glad I grew out of that phase, LOL!
Best of luck with your alpaca batting. Just goes to show that every crisis is an opportunity....no more cats in the sewing room. Stick with cotton and wool and sew away peacefully!
Jan in VA
Best of luck with your alpaca batting. Just goes to show that every crisis is an opportunity....no more cats in the sewing room. Stick with cotton and wool and sew away peacefully!
Jan in VA
#10
I am a spinner and can tell you that most animal fibers smell when wet. The smell will go away when it is dry.
I had never heard of alpaca used in a bat. I wonder if the animal was shaved? Most of the fiber we spinners use is brushed from the animal giving us only the softer parts of the coat. But many animals have 'guard hairs' that are stiffer and can be very irritating in a spin fiber. If the animal is shaved those guard hairs will be in the fiber. The poster who said that her alpaca sweater was scratchy probably got something made from yarn that was shaved as opposed to brushed, much less expensive that way for a commercial breeder to produce fibers that can be harvested in a single shaving vs brushing the animal every week or so.
I had never heard of alpaca used in a bat. I wonder if the animal was shaved? Most of the fiber we spinners use is brushed from the animal giving us only the softer parts of the coat. But many animals have 'guard hairs' that are stiffer and can be very irritating in a spin fiber. If the animal is shaved those guard hairs will be in the fiber. The poster who said that her alpaca sweater was scratchy probably got something made from yarn that was shaved as opposed to brushed, much less expensive that way for a commercial breeder to produce fibers that can be harvested in a single shaving vs brushing the animal every week or so.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Margie
General Chit-Chat (non-quilting talk)
28
05-30-2010 10:21 PM