I have never had that problem. I quilt on DSM.

I too was wondering if it could have been the backing fabric that was the culprit. Was it washed? Is it light/white on the backside? I was thinking it could have been the actual fabric weft that was being exposed by quilting it. Maybe the needle hole was causing the backside of the backing fabric to show through? I hope you can figure out why/how this happened and maybe when it's washed, it won't hardly be noticable. Such a shame that this happened to you.

I took a closer look at your photo and it does seem to me that the weave on that backing fabric is unusual.

I just heard a saying on batting about "show the dimples and hide the pimples".... I think it was on Fons & Porter but I'm not sure.

What she meant was have the bumps (pimples) pointed towards the backing...away from the needle going in and out.

Show the dimples (indentations) since that is the way the batting was made and it works best for it to be next to the top.

Here's an article too: http://www.apqs.com/blog/2013/01/22/...n-up-and-down/

I use W&N and have never paid attention how I layer it. I have also never had problems with bearding and I have used A LOT of Warm products over the years. I wonder if it was the weave of the fabric combined with a dull-ish needle.

I'm sorry that this happened to you, after its washed it might look different

sometimes even new needles have a burr

Was there also an unbalanced tension problem also? It looks like the quilt was being moved faster than the machine could handle and the batting was being dragged to the surface by the needle between stitches.

This is ONLY an issue with longarms. A longarm needle compared to a DSM needle looks like a harpoon. So there will be many people who have used W&N and never had a problem because they are not quilting on a longarm.

The only time I have had that happen is when the batting is upside down. There is a right side and a wrong side to it...