Originally Posted by
selm
Feline Fanatic you said the placemats were quilted sparsely. Perhaps they were quilted less densely than the batting company recommended? .
I quilted the batting recommendations, by machine (walking foot straight line). When I started quilting I followed the directions on packaging for everything because I didn't know any better and by nature I follow manufacturer recommendations. I was completely unaware until I saw them years later. My mom told me they looked like that after she washed them the first time. They got crammed in a closet and never saw the light of day again and quite honestly I can't blame her. I told her to toss them and I would make new ones.
To address the lasting quality of the quilt, here is a great article. Scroll to the bottom of the page, the section titled "How will the quilt be used". The author explains how less dense quilting puts strain on stitches under normal use, both quilting and piecing stitches.
https://www.generations-quilt-patter...h-density.html
Here is another article, discussing both sparse and dense quilting, scroll to the section titled "durability"
http://quiltingdigest.com/wp-content...-Should-Be.pdf
Finally I point to antique quilts pictured in the book "The Essential Quilter" by Barbara Chaney. This book focuses on hand quilting and she shows pictures of antique quilts where the author points out the only reason these quilts survived was due to the dense hand quilting stitches. To emphasize this point she had a picture of an antique quilt from the 1800's where much of the fabric had disintegrated except where it was quilted.