Fusible batting and tension
Have a weird problem with batting and tension
A king size duvet cover was cut up to make 3 wholecloth Linus quilts (it was brand new from the local charity shop). It is an opportunity to practice FMQ and ruler work on a HQ Sweet 16.
The batting in the first quilt was really top quality cotton batting from my own stash, poly thread and a using a size 16 needle. Tension was spot-on and the quilting a joy to do.
The second has fusible batting that my local guild provided; same spool of thread and same bobbin thread as above, but new needles. The tension is rubbish, erratic and will not hold. Thread is shredding, skipping stitches with a 16 needle. Here and there are tiny little thread loops on the back which I can pull through later (boring!). I have already gone up to a size 18 needle and the same problems happen.
The machine is just back from servicing and so I tested some duvet off cuts with my own batting - tension is perfect, so it isn't the machine.
When quilting through that fusible batting, the needle piercing the fabric sounds funny... sort of a thwap thawp like sewing cotton padding then snap snap snap like sewing through plastic. The fabric was only lightly fused as I had already marked it up for quilting and didn't want to heat set the marks.
Any ideas what is going wrong? I don't have much experience with fusible batting. I have a lot of unpicking to do and I don't want faff about on the third quilt using this batting. Is this just duff batting?
Many thanks
HettyB