The 'crinkly' look
05-29-2013, 11:21 AM
#23
Super Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Folsom, CA
Posts: 1,548
Welcome. You are going to love your quilting journey. I started in 07 and have learned so much. This QB is the place to learn and be inspired. I love crinkly quilts too and doing a meander stitch seems to help with that. The meander looks much like a puzzle in size of shapes I create in free motion. We look forward to seeing your next project. Enjoy.
05-29-2013, 12:22 PM
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,824
Crinkles are a result of the batting shrinking more than the top fabric. So first, prewash the top fabric and dry in dryer to get the most shrinkage before it's pieced and quilted. Then get batting with the most shrinkage percentage. The % shrinkage is listed on the label of the batting. http://battylady.com/batting_information.php This link has information on many of the batts. Go to the list of batts, then open the box of specifics on each batt.
05-29-2013, 12:44 PM
#28
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
My favorite "crinkly" batting is Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon cotton. It is a batting that was used for decades in this country (U.S., not U.K.!), so many of the crinkly vintage quilts you see were made with this batting. In the past it was usually hand quilted, but it machine quilts just fine. Quilting lines need to be no more than 2" apart because there is no scrim and it is not needlepunched. This batting gets softer with every washing, which is one of the reasons I love it. It is harder to find these days (I usually have to go online to purchase) because so many people are into the needlepunched and scrim types of batting that allow quilting lines to be far apart.
In my opinion you are taking a risk washing a new quilt with un-prewashed fabric in a front-loading domestic machine. If you ever have a fabric that bleeds, a few color catchers will not be enough to absorb all the dye. I have a front-loader at home, so I take my quilts to the laundromat for their first washing. I still prefer the front-loader because it is so much kinder to the fabrics, but the laundromat front-loaders use enough water to dilute any dye bleeds thoroughly. I also use Synthrapol in that first wash as it prevents free floating dye particles from settling into the wrong fabrics. Synthrapol requires hot water, and the hot water helps shrink the batting. I get additional shrinkage from drying in the tumbler dryer at the laundromat, as the dryer heat also helps shrink the batting and fabrics.
Edit: I should add that I do not normally preshrink fabrics I use in quilts. I let all of the fabrics shrink together with the batting in that first wash and dry.
In my opinion you are taking a risk washing a new quilt with un-prewashed fabric in a front-loading domestic machine. If you ever have a fabric that bleeds, a few color catchers will not be enough to absorb all the dye. I have a front-loader at home, so I take my quilts to the laundromat for their first washing. I still prefer the front-loader because it is so much kinder to the fabrics, but the laundromat front-loaders use enough water to dilute any dye bleeds thoroughly. I also use Synthrapol in that first wash as it prevents free floating dye particles from settling into the wrong fabrics. Synthrapol requires hot water, and the hot water helps shrink the batting. I get additional shrinkage from drying in the tumbler dryer at the laundromat, as the dryer heat also helps shrink the batting and fabrics.
Edit: I should add that I do not normally preshrink fabrics I use in quilts. I let all of the fabrics shrink together with the batting in that first wash and dry.
Last edited by Prism99; 05-29-2013 at 12:47 PM.
05-29-2013, 12:45 PM
#29
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Long Island
Posts: 798
Look at the quilts done by Weeks Ringle. They are deliciously crinckley. She pre washes her fabrics and uses cotton batting. Quilting closer together will also help. The bigger the gap between quilting the less crinckley the quilt will get. I prewash nothing and I still get quilte a bit of crincle due to the density of quilting. Meandering/stippling, bananas, flowers and pebbles will produce excellent crincling. Make sure not to do micro stippling because it will depress your batting and make your quilt too stiff. I use whichever batting is the cheapest, either Pellon or Warm and Natural/White. I wash my quilts on cotton setting, with warm water and spin them on medium high setting. I dry them in the drier on Cotton setting. I used to have a drier when I lived in Italy and European driers are different than American driers. Our driers are vented to the outside, European driers have condensers, so make sure to empty the accumulated water at least once when drying your quilt to reduce the level of moisture in the drum. If you can find an American style drier that vents to the outside, jump on it. It works much better and the drying time is much shorter. Good luck!
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