JenelTX

Last year, I pieced a king-sized top for a Christmas quilt. I planned to hand quilt it with high-loft batting. I was going trace snowflake cookie cutters onto it as the pattern for the hand quilting. I did one snowflake and frankly, I don't like how it looks. So I put the quilt aside and let myself get distracted by several other projects.

It would be nice to finish it in time for this Christmas season. The only way that's going to happen is if I machine quilt it, which I love doing. A couple questions for those of you who are more experienced:

1. The quilt has been folded/squished into a basket for the past year, so I'm sure it needs pressing before I start. I think I should remove the hand quilting I've done so far, separate the three layers, press the top and back, and then re-pin. Does that sound right to you?

2. Is there anything I need to watch out for when machine quilting high-loft batting with a home sewing machine? I have the Brother PQ-1500S. Since I'm separating the three layers anyway, presumably, I could use different batting.

Any other advice you have about this would be most welcome. Don't assume I know anything - I still consider myself a newbie and am very grateful for the knowledge shared on this board.

Crqltr

I think the batting is still ok, if quilting on a small machine a king is pretty hard to handle. I would indeed start over and make sure all is pressed well and I use tons of pins. It makes it heavy but you will be doing a lot of pulling and pushing and you don't want the quilt and backing to shift. Good luck and be ste to post pictures!

Holice

I don't know hoe you can successfully home machine a quilt with high loft batting. I believe you are inviting grief and frustration. Even trying to quilt such a large quilt on the machine with limited space will be a chore. There will always be quilters who have successfully been able to do it. Take stock of your ability to do it with the limitations you have which are natural with your situation. One point tho is ..and this is based on my reading...high loft batting in a quilt is nearly impossible to quilt on a home machine. Replacing with lower loft is easier but if you have only 9inches space on your machine then. a king is also difficult....this is rambling but my point is look at your situation and consider how you might do it with the equipment you have.

PaperPrincess

Yes, I would take the sandwich apart and press. I would also go with a low loft batting, like warm and natural. I would also quilt in sections: Cut the batting into thirds (leave the top and backing whole). Sandwich the middle third of the quilt, and quilt this section staying about 1" from the ends,being careful that you don't catch the parts of the top and backing not in the sandwich. Then take your next piece of batting and butt it up to the edge of the previous piece. Secure the 2 pieces of batting by zig zag ing or using the fusible tape made for this purpose. Sandwich this section and quilt, making sure that you quilt over the 1" section that you skipped on the middle piece. then repeat for the other side.

JenelTX

Thank you! This does seem like it would make it much more manageable. I've never tried anything like this before, but you make it sound very easy. I appreciate the idea.

QuiltNama

If you are going to take it apart to iron by all means use a lower loft batting. The high loft creates a lot of grief on our home sewing machines, just trying to feed all of the top, batting and backing under that small throat space is quite a workout. Go with a lower loft poly if that is your choice or a nice 80/20 will be so much easier to do.

JenelTX

Thank you. I appreciate your help. By the way, QuiltNama, I grew up not far from you, in Hayward, WI.