Thread: To Batt or Not to Batt, That Is The Question

Just cute as can be, great job and thank you for sharing. no batting
Have a Blessed day
Ellen

I use a lot of fleece mainly on the backs of denim quilts. I never use batting with the fleece, but I do, always, use basting spray. It keeps the fleece from shifting when you quilt it. Never used the minkee yet, but seems like it would be, more or less, just like the fleece. Basting spray is my best friend as I use very little pinning with it. Holds all the layers together perfectly for me.

Originally Posted by Halo

I use a lot of fleece mainly on the backs of denim quilts. I never use batting with the fleece, but I do, always, use basting spray. It keeps the fleece from shifting when you quilt it. Never used the minkee yet, but seems like it would be, more or less, just like the fleece. Basting spray is my best friend as I use very little pinning with it. Holds all the layers together perfectly for me.

This is what I do also with all backings. I have made several quilts with fleece and a pieced top - no shifting. Minkee with a pieced top - no shifting. Flannel with a pieced top - no shifting. With fleece and minkee no batting.

Makes me wonder if it was the foot you were using. I use a quilting/walking foot. Also have automatic pressure/tension on my machine.

One thing to consider when not using batting... Is the color of the backing going to give you the effect you want on the front. I almost made a terrible mistake by not using batting. I'm glad I realized it soon enough. The mango colored Minky backing would have darkened the light cream color in my quilt top and the seams would have shown - not what I would have wanted. You could always just use white flannel in a situation where batting would be too thick.

Originally Posted by pollyjvan9

After reading the first 4 or 5 answers to question about batting or no batting I decided to go with the NO BATTING. Unfortunately, I should have gone the other way. I expected the Minkee to strech so I pinned a whole lot, even basted (which I never do) and I still ended up with a mess. I am not going to post a picture of this, it is just too distressing, but I am going to take it completely and start over because this fabric was all so expensive. BTW I had it almost finished before I decided I had a disaster on my hands. Also, I ignored just about my only rule...always start quilting in the middle and work out.

When you quilt a quilt with minkee, quilt with the minkee down. (on the bottom of stack)