cfarrinford

Hi,
I am about to make my first quilt and had a couple of questions. I am not doing a patchwork quilt, I am planning on having one piece of fabric on the front, one on the back, with bias binding around the end with polyester wadding in the middle

1. I was planning on using polyester wadding, will I need to change any setting on my sewing machine, like the tension, in order to be able to sew through this?
2. Should I pre wash the polyester wadding?
3. I am going to sew straight lines through, to hold it together, how far apart should these lines be?
4. Do I need to use the baste spray to hold it all together or is pinning better?

Anything else I haven't thought of?
P.S. This is for baby play mat so will be washed lots

Mkotch

You will need a walking foot to sew straight lines across your quilt. You shouldn't have to change any settings on your machine, but make a small "sandwich" and test it until you have it right.

Polyester wadding is fine but keep in mind that it is puffy. Do not wash it first. Cotton works well and I think it's easier for a beginner to quilt through.

The package will tell you how much room you can leave between lines, but I think an inch or so is about the widest. I use painter's tape to make guidelines. Make sure you baste your three layers very, very well. I use large safety pins and remove them as I go. When I was just beginning, however, I used fusible wadding - you iron it to hold it tight. There are lots of you tube videos online to give you hints. Good luck!

Iceblossom

Mkotch gave some good stuff, I'd say you don't really need a walking foot, it will help and is nice to have, but I went without for about 30-40 years myself.

As said, follow the instructions given with your wadding/batting. It will be unlikely with most batting to have less quilting than about every 4-6 inches apart, but it varies greatly. There are structural reasons for quilting, I can tell you from my own early quilts, it is not the seams that fall apart but the big areas of unquilted fabric rots out. I personally prefer puffier batts with less quilting than is currently popular, but that is still more quilting than I did at first. Do not wash first, but if it has been in a bag lightly air fluff it a bit (couple minutes) first on air/with minimal heat to get the creases out, or spread out and let it rest for a day or two.

Always test your stitches first on a separate layered piece of fabric/batting/back to get your stitch length/tension correct. You will need a reasonably large needle for the quilting part, probably at least a 14. You might want to use a top stitch needle, I typically just use universal needles.

I prefer to spray baste. A lot of people here recommend glue basting, I keep saying I'm going to try it and people keep giving me old cans of spray baste to use up. I have a small house and it is not ideal but my queen sized bed is my largest available space. I take off the blankets and pillows and cover my bed with kraft (heavy brown) paper to use it as a work surface.

cjsews

I agree to check the batting pkg for quilting distance recommendations. I have 2 in the closet at the moment. One says quilt 2 - 4 inches apart. The other says no more than 5 inches. As per spray basting, try this on a sample piece. I have heard some have issues with poly batting. This may depend on the brand of spray. I have never used it, just pin baste mine. Have fun with your new project

Watson

I have a hard time spray basting poly. This might be a good time to try glue basting. Pins would drive me insane(r).
Don't pull your backing tight before you baste it. Just the same tautness as your front.

Painter's tape is a good idea or I usually just use regular white chalk lines drawn lightly on every 6-8 inches and sew depending on what the batting suggests. Be sure when you get near the edges that they aren't turned under on the backing.

I also would suggest a walking foot, if possible.

Start in the middle and work out to both sides

Let us know how it is going.

Watson

Tartan

Welcome from Ontario, Canada. The quilt batt package will tell you how far apart your quilting lines can be. Polyester batt doesn’t spray baste well. I recommend thread basting or lots of pins. Start with quilting a line straight down the middle and work your way out to the one edge. Turn the quilt and then stitch straight lines out to the edge on the other half.

cfarrinford

Wow, thank you so much for all your help, hugely appreciated.

batting/wadding- I just bought it off a roll from a fabric shop so no instructions about distance between sewing lines. I was planning on doing about every 5 inches because I think that looks nice, I didn’t realise there was a recommended distance depending on the type of wadding. The lady in the shop told me that polyester wadding was the best at being washed, I am making a quilt for my baby to sit in the garden on so am anticipating needing to wash it quite frequently. This looks like fairly dense, this wadding. Will 5 inches be ok do you reckon? What happens if you don’t sewing the lines close enough together?

spray- I will try it on a sample piece first as I have made Roman blinds in the past and had problems with the underside going a bit baggy, pinning it didn’t seem to work that well. The problems you’ve experienced with polyester has it been problems with it sticking or problems with the look of the finished quilt?

walking foot- I had never heard of these so thanks for the advice. I will try this quilt without buying one and see how I get on, I’ve looked them up and they’re quite expensive so will give it a go without and see how it goes.

Thanks again so much for taking the time to give me so much advice

Tartan

Five inches should be okay and the problem with spray basting polyester is that the fibres move, so the layers move. If the batt is dense, hopefully it will be more stable. Polyester does wash very well and makes a light fluffy quilt, will you get some puckers on the back? Maybe but since that side will be on the ground, do the best you can.

Lee in Richmond

When I first was quilting I bought poly batt that was too thick. My go-to now is 1/4" poly, as I love the way it drapes, and I am not a fan of too-dense quilting. I do not like spray baste, but put a sheet of plywood on my dining room table and tape my backing down with painters tape, then I pin baste [and yes, I also hand baste with a long stitch and remove the pins before sewing].

Your "floor quilt" will probably need a thicker batting than 1/4", but don't get a 1" one or you will have massive trouble quilting it. In my opinion.

How about using one of those 1/4" feet that have a sort of arm where you can set the distance apart in quilting straight lines?

juliasb

First off let me welcome ;you to the QB from SE Michigan! A walking foot is recommended but you can make your quilt without it. You will get a much nicer finish with the walking foot they run around $15-20 USA With the being your first quilt you may not want to make that investment yet but it will make things go much smoother.. It doesn't sound like your quilt is going to be much larger than a twin to full size quilt. Go easy on yourself. I want to see you grow in your love of quilting. Again welcome to the QB!