Wednesday 24 April 2013

Quilting crisis - help needed

So I have managed to finish the sickly sweet quilt top. Finally. The wee man decided to nap today, bless him. It took all of an hour. No photos though. It is POURING with rain in Auckland today so there is no chance of it looking as fabulous as it deserves. I am thinking of calling it "sweets for my sweet". Too naff?

But that is not the crisis. Oh no. I have this lovely thick pink candlewick backing for it, chosen by hers truly. I really did not think this through. It is soft and snugly and so I thought it was a fabulous idea when Princess proposed it for the back in the shop. Who listens to a three year old for fabric choices? I have gotten over the irritation of the fabric being a mere 1.5" too narrow for the quilt top by sewing a strip on to make it wide enough. Grrrrrrr.

But now I've realised I have no idea how to quilt it. It will be so thick there is little chance of it fitting in my machine easily, so it will have to be straight lined. Perhaps around the charm squares. But more than that, should I use batting? Then it will be super thick. Has anyone tried this before? What do you recommend? I need help, my clever quilty friends. To bat or not to bat?

3 comments:

Megan said...

I don't think you need to bat! I think it will be nice and cuddly as is and possibly if you use batting as well it might cause you lots of problems. I notice a few bloggers recently just quilting the top and a backing like minky together. As for quilting maybe just vertical or horizontal lines about 2 inches apart?

kim said...

I guess you don't have enough to do a bit of sample quilting, eh?
I think batting would make it too thick but maybe you could try using some plain flannelette instead. And maybe consider tying instead of quilting?

Jeni B Quilts said...

When I use this kind of fabric I don't use batting and I use the longest stitch my machine will do otherwise the stitches are too tight. The stitches will sink in the fluffy fabric and "disappear" in the backing.