Quilting Using Warm & Natural Batting
 

I used W & N batting which I preshrunk as I did my quilt fabric. I completed the quilting which involved some straight lines, X lines in big squares, and wavy lines in the border. (Still have not mastered free motion quilting) Used a walking foot and had no bunching front or back. Just washed the quilt on gentle wash and low dryer. The distance of quilting on my quilt is about 5" since W & N notes that you can quilt 10" apart. There seems to be some bunching after washing, which I smoothed out with my hands, but I am wandering if I need to add more quilting, especially to the squares which are 7" fin. or am I being too particular. Do not know how to send a picture to the board for your analysis. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Did you wash/dry your fabric, before cutting and sewing? Sometimes fabric is stretched a bit out of shape, when it's put onto the bolt. Washing returns it to it's 'natural' state, which can often cause distortion if it's already sewn into place.

Other than that, I almost always use W & N and usually quilt at about 5" - 7" apart (straight stitching). It always puckers a bit when washed, but the puckering is always uniform, across the entire quilt.

How did you you preshrink the batting? From what I understand it has to be handled
very gently. How did it look after preshrinking? I've never preshrunk any batting.
I use W&N all the time and don't have bunching problems. I don't quilt too close either.

I just re-read the original post and noticed the fabric was washed beforehand. Gonna have to work on my reading-for-comprehension skills. Sorry. :p

IMHO- any quilting will cause the quilt to pucker/pull up even if the fabric is prewashed. also any heat from the dry can cause the cotton to shrink even it is prewashed. I usually lay my quilts out to dry instead putting them in the dryer.

I prewash my fabrics but not the batting and use W&N all the time. As others have stated, I get 'crinkled' results but no 'bunching'. I don't always quilt very closely either. Really hoping that the 10" apart as advertised by them is going to be sufficient on the quilt I'm currently doing!

I agree. Just add some more quilting. I always think that when someone quilts 8" or 10", the quilt kind of sags without more support.

My only suggestion is something i learned way back when...and that is to try to maintain an even balance in quilting .....that is, avoid quilting some areas more heavily than others as this can make the quilt a little wonky after it's washed. Don't remember where i heard this from - but i've done my best to follow it with good results.