I just read an article the other day about bearding. I can't remember where now but it said all battings have an up and down. Oh, I did find the article. It's from APQS. http://apqs.com/blog/2013/01/22/batt...an-up-and-down
Hope this helps.

This might help. Google right side wrong side of batting and a wealth of informational sites come up. pumpy side up is my rule. Why because it has been needle punched or most battings have. Take a look at this site http://centraljerseymqg.blogspot.ca/...d-to-know.html

MaggieLou, I found the APQS article very interesting and bookmarked it. Thanks for the link.

Exactly what I was thinking, LOL

Yesterday I posted about my experiment: I made two sandwiches with Dream wool and with a low thread count cotton fabric. One sandwich had two layers of Dreamwool with the good sides together so the bad sides were facing the top and bottom cotton fabric. The other sandwich had the two wool layers with wrong sides together so the good side was facing the cotton on both sides.

BOTH BEARDED LIKE MAD!

I also rubbed the good side of the wool onto some fabric and then the wrong side. The wrong side bearded more from rubbing, but the good side bearded plenty.

Lainey

This is interesting. My question for you guys who use the wool batt--does the rubbing of the sheet below or blanket below help cause the bearding on the bottom of the quilt? It just seems to me that anything that gets friction should possibly get bearding. If your quilt was used as a blanket, with a coverlet on top and a sheet on the bottom would you have the same bearding on both sides?

I'm having a TERRIBLE problem with bearding using Quilters Dream Select batting. Is there a right and wrong side to this batting also? I'm a hand quilter but that shouldn't make a difference. I've got a quilt "on hold" using the QD wool batting and am not having any problem with bearding. Did I accidently get it with the right side next to the top?

You know what really frustrates me - none of the battings that I have mention anything at all about a right or wrong side on the packaging. Even when you go to the websites, they don't address bearding.
Recently I found out that you are supposed to put the "dirty" side of W&N up and thankfully I have just been lucky and have done it this way probably 99% of the time. After hearing that I lloked at the packaging/strip of paper that comes with it on the roll and don't see any mention of this. Am I missing something - sometimes I can look and look and still overlook it. If I am not maybe we all need to start emailing the manufacturers that this needs to be on the packaging!
If you buy batting - you aren't going to go to their websited each time you use something else to see if there are any special instructions.

I went to my LQS yesterday and the shop owner suggested I use muslin, or I am thinking batiste? inside the batting on the wool quilts. Has anyone tried this?

I made some sandwiches with muslin and I felt that the bearding was still coming through although much less - but totally still making fuzz right through the muslin and cotton layers.

Would batiste work any better?

Lainey

I just wanted to update everyone:

I had three quilts that were bearding terribly, filled with Dream Wool batting. I took them apart, removed the Dream Wool, replaced it with Hobbs Tuscany wool, washed and dried the daylights out of the top and bottom (somehow I was careful enough that the edges did not unravel but the wash dry had to be repeated several times to get the bearding out), inserted the Hobbs and resewed. I have completed two now and they clearly are not bearding. Same fabrics top and bottom, the only change was the batting.

Also, when I originally made these quilts with the Dream Wool, they were entirely bearding by the time I finished sewing on the binding, so I truly don't anticipate a problem with the Hobbs down the road.

How's that for advertising?

:)

Lainey