Have You Quilted Just Batting?
 

I was wondering if anyone has quilted or sewn the batting before they put it into a quilt. I am going to use Hobbs 80/20 and it says to quilt up to 3 1/3 inches. Could I do that just one the batting and when I sandwich the quilt not have to quilt it so close??
Thank you.

If you want to quilt further apart, I recommend choosing a different batting. Many Quilters Dream products allow quilting up to 10" apart as does W&N products.

It is the integrity of the entire quilt sandwich that keeps the batting from lumping and shifting and migrating. It needs to actually be stitched to some sort of foundation. So if you are dead set on using 80/20 and not quilting the necessary distance then you can probably stitch the batting to a layer of muslin or inexpensive sheet. But I don't know how nice that would turn out and could be a sandwiching nightmare.

My advice to you is buy a batting that the recommended quilting distance is something you are willing to do or change your quilting plan to match the recommended distance of the batting manufacturer.

Ditto . After all that work it would be a shame to have it fall apart .

Thank you both, when you put it that way it makes sense so I will use W&N , and use the Hobbs for something else.

I have always used Hobbs 80/20 and have never had a problem. I don't really care for quilts left unquilted 8" or more. They have a tendency to sag and look unfinished.

The only stitching I've done on just batting is to zig-zag stitch 2 pieces of batting together, you can't quilt anything with just one layer? Maybe I'm not understanding this?

Latrinka, I just thought it would hold the batting together as I was not going to quilt that close.but have now decided to use W&N

I think this is a really cool solution to a problem. Plan a test sample and see how it works for you. I would use a very light weight muslin/ cotton (pre washed) as a skrim, even a light weight iron on fusable to hold the batting and pre quilting together. I just might have to give this a try myself. What can it hurt?
peace

When I was doing the pillow case method or birthing of a quilt I used to sew the batting to either the front or back of the quilt. It was a problem and I would use a paper to sew over the batting, otherwise it was in the machine foot. It was the main reason I learned to do the binding method, it is a lot easier to me than birthing a quilt.

I know people who have quilted the batting and the top together closely, but not completely finishing it. They then but the backing on and finish quilting so there is less stitching on the back. They used a batting with a scrim and put the scrim on the outside, drew the quit pattern on the batting scrim and stitched that with the batting side up. I have not done that but the quilts were beautiful.