This Wrinkled 100% Cotton Batting Thing
 

I was asking on Google about what to do with a wrinkled cotton batting, whether it can be ironed out flat or not. After reading some threads on different sites, I found this one and decided as a new quilter to join. I followed the instructions on the batting bag to pre-soak for 20 minutes and then dry on low heat in the dryer. I did this. I took the batting out and even right out of the dryer, it is pretty wrinkled being a king size piece of batting. Can it be ironed to get the wrinkles out, with a wet cloth between the iron and batting? This is the first quilt I am making, so far good, except now with this wrinkled batting thing going on. HELP! Everything I have read says yes, no, let it rest, don't pre-wash, if you don't want it to shrink up, pre-wash etc. So here I am, pre-washed and wrinkled! :)

As long as it's not fusible batting (batting with adhesive on it), you can iron it. I've done it many times.

I don't advise ironing. I would not have wet it at all. I am not expert but have gotten out the bag-wrinkles this way:

I suggest you put it in the drier for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour on 'wrinkle-release' so it is just gentle warm air. Put a damp linen dishtowel in there with it just for a little damp air. Then spread it out on the sofa or on a bed, gently so as not to pull it out of shape but firmly enough to give it a reason not to wrinkle up. Then let it be for a couple days and see if it relaxes.

This is what I did with my warm and Natural. After fussing over it, I was usually able to smooth it out and the wrinkles go away as you press it against the backing of the quilt - cotton-to-cotton friction.

Good Luck!

I may be breaking some HUGE batting rule - but i've always ignored the soaking instruction....All i have ever done is put the batting in the dryer with a wet towel and turn it on high....give it about 10 minutes and take it straight out of the drier and lay it out flat or with as few folds as possible. I do this right before i am going to sandwich the quilt. The steam takes all the wrinkles out of the batting AND it shrinks a little. I wash all my quilts before i give them away - so it gets washed then. I've never had a problem - so i am either really lucky, or it works.
PS... I always use the Warm & Natural product that allows 10" between the quilting.

Hi, and welcome to the board. Normally the dryer thing works well with cotton batting. The problem here I think is the size. A king batting is probably too large to be able to get the wrinkles out in a household tumble dryer. You could try to dampen it a bit and use one of those really big dryers at a laundromat. If it's a cotton batt, you can iron it (be careful though, it may have a very thin polyester scrim that may melt with too much heat). Before going thru all that work, I would lay it on a bed or carpet, lightly mist with water, smooth it out & let it dry.

You mentioned that it is a king size batt, but what brand of batting is it? If it really is an all-cotton batting, then it's fine to iron it as it will hold up similar to cotton clothing. It will compress, but that actually makes it easier to quilt. In the first wash, that compressed cotton will spring back to its original loft.

My concern is it may not be 100% cotton. Polyester can melt under a hot iron, so I do not recommend ironing a polyester batt. 80/20 batts (80% cotton/20% polyester) can be ironed, but with care (and not too hot an iron).

Assuming it's 100% cotton so you can iron it, I would have a spray mister handy to give it a little steam as it is pressed.

The problem with soaking and then placing a king size batt in a home dryer is that the dryer isn't big enough to dry the batt without wrinkles. A laundromat dryer would be fine.

There are multiple ways to get wrinkles out of batting. There is no one "right" way. The right way is the one that works!

Some wrinkling is actually okay. I have quilted at times with some wrinkles in a batting and the quilts came out fine. These weren't huge, deep wrinkles; just not perfectly unwrinkled batts. The first washing of a quilt generally takes care of any wrinkles in the batting.

I have been able to get the wrinkles out of even king-size batts by putting them in the dryer with a damp towel. You may need to rearrange the batting and towel a few times so it doesn't tie itself in a knot, but it can be done.

I did something similar but just misting the batting and putting it in a LOW heat drying cycle.

I have never soaked batting and usually don't iron it prior to sandwiching. I'm no expert by any means but I've never had wrinkles that didn't come out when pressing the sandwich together. I always starch and iron the top and bottom and then when it's all together I iron the whole thing from both sides. Guess I've never had the kind of wrinkles you're talking about.

Thank you to everyone for the pieces of advice. It is 100% cotton, I looked at the 80/20 and again, went to the internet with the question and from different sites garnered that using 100% cotton would be good for a first quilt because of how it quilts. I am going to try some of these suggestions until I have it pretty much wrinkle free. I washed all of the material, pressed it and rotary cut it so that it wouldn't shrink or run after it was sewn together (it takes time to put together a quilt and I didn't want to screw it up!) If I can't get the majority of the wrinkles out by various methods I think I will try "pressing" the batting as a last resort. I will let you know how it comes out! Again, thank you for your experience on this, I greatly appreciate it!