Greetings,

I have this beautiful wool batting that says hand quilting, but I want to use it for machine quilting. I can't imagine not being able to use it that way; if there is a will, there is a way, right? So how do I get around it?

:?: What sort of adjustments should I make or what should I be watching out for when I sew it with my machine?

Thank you

wool is wonderful for hand quilting and is also good for machine quilting, just be very careful if you wash it,DO NOT put it in the dryer!

Yes. I bought it from a mill in MN. I like to buy US made stuff when I can afford it. They said to put the quilt in the washer and to fill up with water, then to hand agitate it (not with the machine), do the rinse in the same way and spin to get the excess water out naturally. Finally, hang to dry. Lotsa work, but I have allergies and dust mites don't like wool so it works for me :)

I almost forgot, I have a felting project, knitting, and you shrink the wool by agitating it in the washer, not so much the dryer. Agitation is the shrinker :)

Thanks

well my wool batted quilt was perfectly fine untill it came out of the dryer, drawn up like youe mouth after biting a green persimmon!

Wool also dislikes drastic temperature changes.

And being overdone in the dryer.

I was wondering if any of you used hand quilting batting and sew it though. I'm not concerned with the wash really.

Thanks :)

The one thing that I might look for would be bearding on the back. Bearding is when a small part of the batting gets pulled out when the thread exits the fabric. Other than that there shouldn't be any major problems.

Most batting manufacturers list the information about shrinkage of their batting when washed. I use Hobbs Heirloom Wool most of the time and according to Hobbs it shrinks 3% to 5% with the first washing. I don't wash my fabric so my batting and top and bottom shrink about the same percentage and it works for me.

The wool should be great if you are not going to wash it.

I'd probably test a small quilt sandwich to make sure that the machine needle doesn't punch the wool batting through in the back. If it doesn't do that, it should be fine for machine quilting.

It's very important not to agitate wool batting or expose it to temperature extremes in the wash. Wool fibers have lots of little hooks on them. Agitation (such as in a washing machine) and temperature change (as in a dryer) cause these hooks to find each other. The result is that the batting "felts", shrinking drastically and becoming much denser in the process.

great idea. I'll make a test.

I had forgotten about the burs... makes sense :)

Thanks