meyert

Hello... this may be a silly question, but I have never really thought about it before. I FMQ about 95% of my quilts - practice, practice, practice is how I look at it.

At work we are going to adopt a few families for Christmas and I am going to finish up one of my quilt tops that has been sitting around to donate, so my question is not for a quilt to go into a show. This will be just an every day use quilt. I picked up some Morning Glory brand polyester batting at Walmart. The package says to quilt 2" to 4" apart.

Right now I have this quilted with straight lines at a 45 degree angle, 3" apart from corner to corner of the quilt.

Will I need to quilt in the other direction to crosshatch my quilting (into 3" squares) or do you think just this one direction of quilting lines will be fine?

Please let me know what you think. Thanks

feline fanatic

Quilting distance on batting packages refers to all directions. So, yes, you should cross hatch or apply some other quilting so your quilting is no further apart than 4" in any direction.

some people have also gotten away with quilting narrow furrows (like 1" apart). I myself have not risked it.

PaperPrincess

The quilting instructions on the package do refer to the quilting distance in all directions. I personally would quilt in both ways. You don't know how or how often the quilt will be used or laundered, so in this case, more is better.

Neesie

I would crosshatch it. That will keep your batting from shifting, along the open areas.

NJ Quilter

Agree with the others on the requirements issue. Besides, I think it would probably look better with the cross-hatching instead of just one direction.

meyert

Thank you for your replies!

Daylesewblessed

If you look closely at some poly battings, it almost looks like they have a "grain". If you tear along the "grain", the batting comes apart very easily. I would definitely be quilting across that grain for stability with the closeness recommend on the package. On the other hand, some battings seem almost impossible to pull apart on the cross grain and on the diagonal. I am not as concerned to have quite as close quilting those directions.

ManiacQuilter2

I agree with Neesie. I would cross hatch it. You always want to do your best for charity quilts.

meyert

I did the cross hatch and I am glad I did. Now I won't have to worry and it actually looks better Thanks ladies!

QuiltingByFiona

OMG! You met Jenny Doan! I am sooooo jealous.