Would you ever . . . ?
 

I am hand quilting a Dresden Plate top made with 30's fabrics by my great-grandmother. I decided to use a wool batting for the first time, as I'm a spinner and knitter, and I love wool. However, this batting is slick and even with careful basting the fabric slides around and is threatening to pucker on the back. So far I've avoided any disasters by being very careful, but this isn't much fun. I wish so much that I had used my old standby, 100% cotton, as both the top and the backing would have clung to it better, making my job easier. As I stitch, I've considered getting out the seam ripper and removing all the quilting, putting in a cotton batting instead, and starting all over again, At this point I've done about 1/5 of the quilting. Would you ever consider doing this? Have you ever?

Probably not. I think I would figure out a way to baste it better so it doesn't slip around as much. I'd put more basting stitches into it and do them in a grid. I'd make those basting stitches no larger than 1/2" and do a 2" grid. Are you using a hoop at all? If not, you may wish to try one, it also helps to tame the slip and you can regularly inspect the back but with a hoop, things are pretty smooth. You are also dealing with considerably more loft than you are used to which also gives the impression that it is going to pucker.

Yes, I am using a hoop and you're right, I do check the back frequently. I didn't realize a wool batt would be so much loftier than cotton. Now I know that, and indeed from experience!

I have two thoughts here. First, I would try to find a longarmer who would be willing to baste this- as is. If unable to locate said quilter I would probably rip out and start again. Making quilts, I learned a long time ago that if it's not working in the beginning it's not going to get easier or better the further I get into my project. I don't quit; I just force myself to figure out what I'm doing wrong and make the necessary corrections/adjustments before I go any further. Good luck and please post a picture when you're done.

I have picked things apart that "maybe" could have been finished as is.

But if I disliked it at a "fixable" stage - the odds of liking it later were not good.

I learned that from one of Doreen Speckmann's books!

I've found that proceeding with something that I'm not happy with never ends well.

Once I picked out an entire quilt's worth of quilting because I decided I didn't like it as I was getting to the end. Even though I'd had some hints that I wasn't going to be satisfied with it earlier in the process, for some reason I thought that I'd like it better once it was done--Not. Lesson learned. If I don't like it while I'm doing it, I'm not going to like it when it's done and I try to make that decision as early in the quilting process as possible. Saturday I ditched 3 of the four blocks that make up the center medallion of my Around We Go quilt. The top looked great, but I'd used a matching color in the bobbin and it looked horrible on the back, so I took it all out, changed the bobbin thread and re-quilted. Didn't take that long and I'm much happier with the result.

OTOH- as several folks have pointed out, wool is very lofty and as a result while quilting it can sometimes look like it's going to pucker even if it doesn't actually do so. I'm a machine quilter, so your results may be different, but I've found that as long as I've got it securely basted so that the backing doesn't move around it doesn't actually pucker even though it may look alarming early in the process.

Rob

I had to laugh at this. I remember when I was painting our living room (and hall with two closets), and I saw right away that it looked awful, but I said to myself, "I'll like it better when it's all done." Where does that come from, I wonder. So much work I could have saved myself!

Is wool batting normally slick?

I’m with Rob. If I don’t like it now, I won’t like it later.
Rip it out while it’s only 1/5th finished.
The only time I used wool was with flannel top and back, on a long arm. It stayed put.

Is this on a domestic machine? Can the pressure foot tension be loosened?