Laura Heine project
 

I just finished Laura Heine's Seawell. It was challenging but fun! I plan to have it professionally quilted and need some advice. What batting would you use for a collage wallhanging? I do not want it too puffy but want motifs to stand out a little.
A friend of mine who does fiber art wallhangings uses 2 battings for a loft. The thing about this project is that the Steam a Seam 2 makes the wallhanging pretty stiff. Thank you for any input.

In wallhangings, I usually use a wool on top and an 80/20 on the bottom. That will give you definition without being puffy, so long as you have adequate quilting.

Make sure the quilter is aware of the Steam a Seam. I would make a small piece (16 x 16 or so ) for them to practice on that had the same depth of collaging as my main piece does and batted and backed the same way, unless they are very familiar with collage and working with fused fabrics.

For my art quilts, I find Steam a Seam 2 Lite is usually my choice, just for the reason you mentioned. It is plenty strong enough but a lot lighter, IMO.

Watson

Thank you for the suggested combination of batting. I imagine you are referring to a 1/2 wool loft. If not, what loft do you use?
I will definitely ask my quilter her experience with the Steam a Seam 2. I know she has done a lot of art quilts.

I couldn't name the specific loft. I just use 100% wool batting.

Can we get a peek at your piece?

Watson

Will post a photo of Seawell when it is done.

Review how she recommends the finish quilting 1/2-3/4” usually horizontal stitching and crisscross. There are a few YouTube videos. You must be sure to catch all of those motifs.

I'm not sure I'd want to use a high loft batting on a Laura Heine projects. As you said the Steam A Seam makes it very stiff and I'm not sure you could get the trapunto type look that you seem to want. I'd definitely try it on a sample before trying to quilt the entire thing. As QuiltMaine says, Laura recommends quilting it pretty close together so that you catch the edges and she doesn't use a high loft batting on her quilts.

I made an Abilene collage of Laura's. I used Warm and Natural. It gives the quilt body for hanging straight. I did a custom quilt job on it and I still got some definition, but not poofy. You do need fairly dense quilting to back up the fusible, so it tends to flatten the quilt anyway. Make sure you steam press it well and your longarmer should have no problem with quilting it. I find I get good results using a damp pressing cloth instead of a steam iron setting. No sticky issues when quilting.