Bearding problem
 

Hi Everyone -

I like to use wool for my bed quilts and I have been using Dream Wool for about five bed quilts over the past year.

I see now that there is major bearding happening on the BACKS of these quilts, but not on the tops. The backs are all dark cottons like navy, maroon or black.

I called the Dream Wool company and they said there is some kind of sulfur in the darker fabrics that draws the wool out like a magnet - but honestly I am finding this hard to believe?

Can people shed light on this problem for me and also, is there anything I can do? The fibers are getting onto my sheets and it's just nasty overall.

I'm so crushed over this!

Thanks,

Lainey

I am also wondering what might be an alternative to wool IF I don't like cotton or poly or synthetics? Is there a natural and warm type batting that has the fluffy feel of wool? Bamboo or silk or something similar?

Lainey

No help here, sorry.

In the "olden days", quilters would encase wool batts in cheesecloth to prevent bearding. I think in your case, for future quilts, I would simply provide an extra layer of fabric between the dark backing and the wool. With machine quilting, I don't think cheesecloth would be enough. I would probably shop for thin muslin and -- even though I don't normally pre-shrink I would pre-shrink thin muslin -- spray baste a layer of muslin to the backing before layering. This should be enough to prevent bearding on the back.

Certain types of cotton batting are the closest thing to wool batting that I can think of. Bamboo and silk would both be much more limp/soft than wool.

I use wool batting only and never have had it beard on me. I just buy what's in the quilt store. I bought some from JA's and it didn't beard either. I wonder if it's the brand you're using. I bet it is. I've been using wool for many years. Try using a different brand. I wash my quilts often, also and no bearding at all.

I've used a lot of wool batts and have never had this problem---most of the quilts I've made with wool batts do have flannel backs- not plain cottons but I've never had this happen- I've used the dream wool batts and the hobbs wool batts I love them both- maybe it has to do with the size needle/thread you used? were your backs pre-washed? I used my first dream wool batt 7 years ago- and the quilt still has not had this happen- it's been washed a dozen or so times (at least) ... but it does have a flannel back---the top is regular cottons though---no bearding anywhere. did you by chance not quilt it as closely as you are supposed to? I would *guess* if you are supposed to quilt every 2"-4" and actually have 6+" between quilting lines there would be the possibility of fiber migration & bearding. I hope you figure out what happened/how to fix it

What size needle so you use for your quilting?

OK, I talked to Carrie Hargrave and she said something that might explain things. She said that the thread count on the cotton backing might be a big factor. There is one quilt that has by far the most bearding and this one is clearly a lower thread count as it is stretchy.

Does this make sense?

But here is what does not make sense.

ALL FIVE quilts, if you look with a magnifying glass you can see the entire surface of the backing is covered with fuzz. You would not see this without a mag glass, but I'm wondering if some of you guys who say you have wool quilts with no bearding would mind double checking for me with a mag glass?

The reason I am wondering about this fuzz is that there is ALSO a bunch of fluffy linty clumps you can see with the bare eye and I am assuming this clumpy stuff is coming from the tiny fuzz?

I would never have checked with a mag glass if not for the clumps, so just wondering if maybe you guys are using high thread count and lighter colored backings, and just have never noticed all the tiny fuzz?

Thank you all!

Lainey

IMHO I was using bamboo batting and had beading. Then I was told, there is a right side and a wrong side to the batting. Yup, ehen I used the shinier side (not real noticeable), it did not bead. Hope this helps.

I just watched love of quilting today and they talked about this bearding she suggested if the fabric is dark on the back and you can use black batting you should

I have been primarily using wool batting for the last few quilts I have done. I use either Dream Wool or Hobbs Wool and I have yet to have a problem. Except for the last quilt I did. The fabric I used for the background on the top was EXTREMELY loosely woven. It was a dark charcoal (not that the color matters).Before and immediately after I washed it I had bearding. No bearding on the back though, which is a fabric from Free Spirit, so very nice quality, higher thread count and tighter woven. The background, terrible quality. I attributed it to the loosely woven fabric which did not tighten up at all after washing.

I looked at the last quilt that I did with Hobbs and it has no fuzz or bearding at all. Another case for not only buying the best quality fabric that you can afford but also using common sense when selecting fabrics. I knew when I picked up the charcoal that it felt rough and loosely woven but I ignored those facts because I liked the color, texture and I thought that with washing it would improve. This fabric was purchased in my LQS.

This is interesting, regarding the thread count of the fabric.

As a "save" for the quilt; on sweaters with pills, I've used a safety razor and cut them off. I think it might work on a quilt with bearding. I'd try an electric razor and shave the quilt.

I had this happen with one quilting job I did, I was mortified. Weeks later I read somewhere that wadding does indeed have a right and wrong side. Try with the rough side up and the smooth/shiny side down, facing the backing. It's hard to tell which is which with some battings. I often use an inexpensive sheet from Spotlight [that's Australia] , which is 80%cotton/20polyester, fine threaded, for the backing, and have no trouble with bearding, so it's not caused by the fabric.

Interesting thread. If the bearding is caused by not putting the correct side against the backing (in battings with right and wrong sides) wouldn't the problem be transferred to the top?

I've not used wool batting so this is totally a guess on my part - could you be using a needle that is larger than necessary for your thread or that has a slight burr? I would think either of those could contribute to your issue.

I'm thinking (and I might be wrong) is that since the needle is punching down, that the bearding would be on the back side and not the top.

Are you using dark colored batting? Are you using the same brand of fabric for you backing?

I have been doing all kinds of experiments today.

There is a clear difference in the fabric thread count: the lower the count the more bearding I see.

Other than that, it's a bit hard to see what is going on.

I have the Pellon wool and this stuff is a nightmare! Rubbing it even a little onto cotton causes massive amounts of wool to slough off. My black pants got wool all over them. I would never use this stuff now. The Dream wool does not come off like this onto my black pants and only somewhat when I rub it onto cotton.

I do see a possible difference between the two sides of the Dream Wool - one seems more bound and the other seems more friable. But I'm not sure!

Can anyone confirm that the Dream Wool has two sides that are different? If it does this could make a big difference.

Thanks

Lainey

What I am wondering is:

If the Dream Wool does in fact have a less-beardy side and a more-beardy side, then I could put two layers together with the less-beardy sides facing out (touching the quilt fabric).

Is this too wishful thinking?

I think I will go do this right now with two wool layers to make some small little quilted sandwiches made from low thread count cotton and rub them vigorously...

I will say that needles and needle size has nothing to do with this - the wool comes straight through the pores of the cotton fabric.

Lainey

I just looked through the hobbs's website and see absolutely nothing about right side/wrong side of any of their batts.
I've never seen it on labels either. I'd really appreciate some documentation, until I do, I'll consider it myth.

The only quilt I've had beard is now about 20 years old a scrappy gift. Over the years I've picked off a ton of bearding, which only occurrs on some of the fabric. Visual tells me it is the looser woven fabric bearding. Many expensive homespuns are loosely woven and they cost plenty so 'cheap' isn't the problem :)

I am researching wool bat construction online and apparently the Dream Wool is bonded on one surface side whereas the Hobbs Wool is bonded throughout so there would not be a good and bad side with the Hobbs...

I will call these companies on Tuesday to get more info.

But for now I am off to do my double layer wrong sides together experiment with my Dreamwool.

Lainey

"wrong sides" out or "right sides" out, makes no difference, they both beard like mad:(

I have had bearding on a quilt using polyester batting. The quilt was comprised of darks and black on top and black on bottom. Utilizing black batting might have made it less noticeable. Possibly very tightly woven fabrics might have been the answer. Sure, one wants to be proactive in their planning, eh?

Same here. I used a fabric shaver on this quilt two months ago to remove the pills and need to do it again. Both sides of the quilt have pills. One side is med/dark and the other side is light. It was hand quilted, and the lady insisted on using her own batt because "the needle goes through easier." AUGH!

It seems to me that Dream Wool company could WARN about bearding with wool batting and dark backings. Telling you after the quilt is complete is like closing the barn door after the cows get out.

I have decided to redo three out of my five Dream Wool quilts and switch to Hobbs...

Yikes!

Lainey

Lainey, you might try anti-static spray on the quilts to see if that helps with the bearding. It sure beats redoing the quilts.

Janet

Can't help here! Don't use wool because of allergies to it. Makes me itch. What about taking a vacuum sweeper to get the excess fibers out. When I do have to use wool, I prewash the material on gentle and toss in the dryer on low and use couple dryer sheets. I prefer light weight flannel or light loft for my quilts.

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