backwards batting?
 

Hello!

on fons and porter the other day, a guest long armer was talking about the different 'sides' of batting. She said as it was made, it had two different surfaces. one side is sort of 'pre punched' and the other isn't. Turns out, you need the prepunched side UP to your top, to keep tufts of batting pushing thru to the back.

I have the kaleidoscope quilt pin basted and ready to quilt. You wonderful ladies helped me with the pattern, and I started before I hurt my hand. I did have trouble with seeing the batting on the back, but I also had trouble getting my tension smooth. I worked on a sample, and didn't really get it resolved.

My hand has improved, and I am anxious to try again. But you guessed it, when I checked how I have my sandwich layered, I do have the batting 'upside down'. Sigh.

How important is this for my finished product? Could the batting issue be confusing me with the tension? I have never had such a hard time with quilting layers, and tension. Have I just used the batting (warm and natural) the right way and been lucky?

Suggestions are SO welcome.
Thanks
Lara

I made many quilts before I even heard of the batting having a right/wrong side. I would not have known if I hadn't heard it here. Never had a problem with the quilts I made. Most were made with Warm & Natural batting. I wouldn't worry about it since you already sandwiched it.

I agree with Katie--I've never looked at a right or wrong side of batting whether I'm machine or hand quilting. I wouldn't take apart the sandwiched quilt.

I have had this issue rear its ugly head with Warm and Natural batting while Longarm quilting. It did not affect my tension but what happened is little tiny tufts of batting were being forced through with the needle (and yes this was a brand new needle) through the backing. I later learned these were often referred to as "Pokies". I searched the internet and found a great posting on the APQS forum about it with pictures showing right side and wrong side:

http://forum.apqs.com/index.php?/top...arm+%2Bnatural


I ended up cutting the batting and flipping it over and the pokie problem went away. I do not know if this is an issue with quilting on domestic sewing machines. The needles are much smaller on domestic machines so this would be why the previous posters may say they never checked and never had a problem.

The wrong side/right side up issue would not affect your tension. The only probelm with wrong side up is you can get pokies of batting show up on your back.

I, too, was recently informed of the right and wrong side of batting. I've made many quilts using warm and natural. Only one of them has white dots on the back. Unfortunately it has midnight blue fabric, so I could and still can tell. Apparently you and I have been lucky in the past. Your quilt will still look stunning, no matter if the back has issues or not. It will still keep someone warm. If you've already started it, then only you can decide if it will be worth it to un-do it or continue on. Good luck with your quilt.

I have use a much smaller size needle than a longarmer does , so I have not run into this issue of batting pocking through. I knew there was a right and wrong side to Warm and Natural , but could never remember which was which. Thanks for posting.

Someone on the board once wrote that to remember which way to put on the batting use the phrase "bump it up".This mean that the bumpy side goes towards the top. This helps me remember, though I still have trouble finding the 'bumpy' side, and I've made MANY quilts before knowing there was a right and wrong way. Good luck!

This is called bearding and used to be prevalent with polyester battings "in the old days" (may still be, I don't use poly any more).

I read the same 'right side/wrong side' thing here, but I feel that if it were truly a "worry about this" problem it would be noted on the batting packaging, like quilting distance apart information is, and it would be appearing in articles in all sorts of quilting magazines. Anyone seen articles on this in multiple publications? Me either.

Jan in VA (who really doesn't want or need another "got to" to worry about:rolleyes:)

Jan, I have been quilting a long time and can remember the polyester batting that bearded and even had this happen to one of my earlier quilts. What I had happen didn't lookor act anything like bearding that us "old timers" know of and think of when that term is used. It was actually tiny little bumps of batting. It looked different than bearding and only happened at the needle holes so I would say this is a slightly different problem. As to why the batting companies don't put a disclaimer on the packaging I couldn't say. It is a known issue amongst LAQ but not all LAQ have had it happen to them. I can tell you one thing, you would most definitely worry about it the first time it happens to you. Kind of like, "I wouldn't worry about prewashing or pretesting fabric because I have never had a fabric bleed on me". You would change your tune the first time a bleeder ruined a quilt on you. Once bitten twice shy. I will always makes sure I load W&N bumpy side up from now on.

let me tell you my simple little story. Made a simple string lap quilt out of beige, brown, dark brown and black fabric, used a dark brown backing. As the lap quilt was on the small size, I went into my box of pieces of batting, found two that would give me the size I would need, sewed then together and sandwiched my quilt. During my FMQ 'heard' my needle at times not sounding real happy, then it would stop.....when finished, looked at the back on half of the backing I had 'pokies' and half I didn't....you guessed it, when I sewed my batting together, I sewed one piece up side down......So yes it does make a difference and I have the backing to prove it.

I definitely see your point, FelineFanatic.

I missed two points......I don't longarm, and I rarely use Warm and Natural batting. I *have* noticed it has "bumps" though. I can't remember whether anyone working on those Barracks Quilts for the battalion in Afghanistan 2 years ago had trouble with W & N as they used it, but we also used a lot of another brand that was bought at significant charitable discount and some that was donated from the same company.

Jan in VA

Well who knew..NOT me..about right & wrong side...Isn't life full of surprises! But I must say I have never had a problem, but I do not long arm.

I prewash my batting, wonder if the little bumpies still show.....
I didn't realize it has a front and back, maybe lucky or maybe it hasn't shown due to the fact that the backings have been light in color so far. I use a regular home machine too.

piney

Well, who knew? Thanks for the link!!! It turns out I've been purposefully using Warm and Natural UPSIDE DOWN. I did notice the difference in the two sides, and put the nice smooth side up under my pieced tops. No wonder I haven't been too fond of it (because of its tendency to leave little "pokies")! I use a domestic machine for quilting and vary the needle size to suit the thread I'm using. I guess I'll give Warm and Natural another chance...:p

Gosh....I've made at least 60 lap quilts and hundreds of donation quilts and have quilted all of them with warm and natural and have NEVER had anything but good looking quilts both front and back. I can't chalk that up to just luck. I don't long-arm them. Besides.....some quilts reversable to be used so that both the front and back could be used. Hmmmmmm.

I did not know there was a difference and have never had any problems.

Is there anyway to tell right and wrong side as it comes off the bolt or out of the package...i would probably assume that the batting would come off the bolt right side up....but again that's just my assumption...any more info would be helpful.thanks

That is what I had happen. It doesn't mess with the tension at all but it does leave pokeys showing. I don't like the pokeys. I always check to make sure I have the right side up with warm and natural. I've never had an issue with anything quilted on a domestic machine(usually just making mug rugs or table runners).

hey i'm doing well to "see" the different sides of Insul-bright!

I have a related question.....on another thread (can't remember which one) they were talking about batting having a scrim and said that on the W&N site they explained and showed it. I couldn't find it anywhere on their site and am wondering if the issue of having a scrim or not is related to this issue. I did check the link to APQS and saved the pics they have there but I gather that it's not as much of an issue on a dm rather than a longarm? Thanks!

Never heard of batting having a right or wrong side. I also have never had a problem with any of my quilts.

You just made me feel so much better! I've been purposely facing the smooth side up also. Never knew there was a right or wrong side, either. Yet another great lessoned learned from the QB! I'll definitely be passing this along to my other quilting friends who might be unsuspecting as well.

It makes sense since the needle punches down, but comes straight up. So whichever side you have facing down (usually the backing) would have the tufts and the other side wouldn't.

Here is the information from Frequently Asked Questions at the warm & natural website:

Is there a top and bottom side to Warm & Natural?
Yes. The side with "flecks" (plant and leaf particles) is the top side. The whiter side is the bottom side. If you iron a quilt or wearable made with Warm & Natural, press with the top side toward the iron and make sure your iron is on a low setting. If you make a white quilt consider quilting with Warm & Natural bottom side up.

http://www.warmcompany.com/images/divider.gif

I have learned another good tip today, thanks so much to all for your input.

Ladies, thanks so much for the thoughts and info. I have used w&n before for smaller things, and just got lucky, I guess. I will be re-pinning the kaleidoscope quilt. it has a dark red backing. =/. It is a gift for a guy that was a (financial) guardian angel for my family, and I don't have any other way of expressing how much I appreciate him, and his associate. At least when I start fmq'ing the second one, I'll know better.

I am definitely having 'pokies' on the kaleidoscope!

I just hope I can pin it as well the second time! lol

thanks again

Learn something new every day. But I just spent days pinning my full size quilt and I am not going to even check to see cause then I would just drive myself nuts . But I will watch out in the future.

Yes, the scrim has everything to do with it. With W&N and W&W, the scrim side should be next to the back of your quilt. It's the flatter, whiter side (even on W&W it's slightly whiter and definitely flatter). 'Bump it up' is what I've always used to remind me which way is up and it DOES make a difference on DSM's, at least for me...possibly because I usually have black backings.

When quilting with the scrim side down, you are duplicating the way the batting was needlepunched and the batting fibers remain secure in the scrim. With the scrim side up, you are actually 'unpunching' the batting fibers and pushing them through the backing fabric.

One other thing to remember if you permanently fuse fabric, like with Wonder-Under, directly to your batting...fusing fabric to the scrim side can result in a permanently 'less than smooth' surface.

I agree, I didn't know that there was a right and a wrong side to batting or wadding as we call it in Great Britain.

I have heard of this but I had forgotten. I don't use W&N or W&W. I Mostly use high loft polyester batting. Some does the bearding thing. Some have a finished side, sometimes it is hard to tell.

Thanks so much, ghostrider, for responding. I felt a little guilty sticking this in the middle of this thread so I appreciate your response! This is yet another thread to save....I have so many saved that they may just kick me off!

As I understand it, the scrim is what they put on the batting so you can quilt every 2" or 4" or 8" and the batting won't wad up but will stay spread out throughout the quilt. I had not known that if you machine quilt from the side where the scrim is, it would poke out of the other side. So it makes sense which side you should have down. thanks for bringing this subject up.

I hadn't heard that. I need to look at my batting and see if I can tell the difference.

There was an excellent fact sheet on telling up/down sides on cotton/cotton blend batting in the ACQS (American Professional Quilting Systems) newsletter dated Nov. 2010 which I found somewhere on the internet some time ago.
To make things interesting, they indicate some battings "don't have a right or wrong sides" which explains why some folks never have a problem. They do give this hint : often, a pin inserted into the cotton batting will go into the fabric much easier from the "up" side than the down. I have found this to be a good indication....

Hulalulu, that is a neat trick. I will definitely be remembering that one!

Thanks

bumpier side up - smooth side down - got it!

(Seems counter-intuitive, though)