Wow thank you everyone for your replies and helpful information, what a mine of knowledge this place is
Toogie - thanks for those pointers, I hadn't starched the fabric so will do that for my next piece. I love the message too. It rings true for me. Appreciate your response, thank you.
Sewing Pup - thanks for your suggestions, I haven't seen batting-type stabalizers but I'm in the UK and we don't have so many resources here, so I'll look that up. I think just leaving the stabalizer alone on the ones I've done is probably the best way forward with those. Thanks for your suggestions.
Gay - thanks for the pointer on the batting. That never occurred to me so I'll give that a go too. Yes, I worry about these things so I don't want threads next to skin, particularly for a little one! Thanks for your thoughts.
doloresbeger - thanks for your ideas. I've never thought of doing that with a cross hatch design first. That sounds good. I'll give it a go and have a look at Kreative Kiwi - thank you for the tip off! Really appreciate it.
Have a great day ladies and thanks again!