my experience is that it's the shrinkage that makes it wrinkly. I us only 100% cotton, quilt store quality fabrics and do NOT prewash the fabric or the batting. For batting I use either warm and natural or another 100% cotton batting or a batting that is no less than 80% cotton. I DO dry my quilts in the dryer since the heat adds to the wrinkly nature. The danger in not pre-washing is that some fabrics may bleed...but since I limit myself to quilt store quality fabrics I've never had a problem with bleeding tho others say they have. I also use lots of reds and purples and deep colors so either I'm really lucky or I shop at the right stores!
I think that more quilting reduces the amount of wrinkling since it binds the three layers together but I've never done a study on it.
Originally Posted by
TheUncommonThread
Hello! I have recently completed my first quilt and have just joined the quilting board
I was wondering about the crinkly look. I really love it and want more of it! My quilt did crinkle a bit, but I was wondering what else I could do to encourage more crinkliness in future quilts.
Are there battings out there that crinkle more than others? I know to avoid poly, but out of the cotton ones, is there a make that crinkles more? I used Sew Simple Super Soft Cotton. As for what you do after the quilt is finished, how much of an impact does that have? I machine washed my quilt on the delicate cycle of my front loader. I don't own a tumbler anymore, so I then draped it over a hot radiator - is that a good substitute or should I take it to the launderette?
And in terms of the quilting itself, does quilting closer together give more crinkles, or does it not matter?
Sorry lots of questions!