Batting composition - wool, cotton, poly blends - can play a large part in whether your quilt is stiff-as-a-board and great for hanging, or is a supple, draping quilt.
She explained that thread weight also plays a part. The more lightweight the thread the easier the drape even with lots of quilting. High density quilting with heavy thread will yield a stiffer quilt.
This quilt (draped above, close up below) has 60wt thread top and bottom, cotton
batting, and cozy flannel on the back. Quilted with a bit
of dense freehand overall feather, there are very few air pockets. Thin thread, washed flannel and broken in
cotton will have a great drape over time. Notice very little on the air pockets
though.
This quilt (close up above, draped below) is a bit newer and has been washed
a couple of times. The overall quilting is much less dense so it have more air pockets. The wool batting that gives it a nice loft and great drape. The Minky on
the back is so soft and helps with the drape. Thread is 40 weight glide on
top and 60 weight in the bobbin.
The Hobbs wool batting on this Mills Girls BOM
gives great definition to all the quilting
and really makes all the feathers stand out.
With Hobbs 80/20 and minky on the back,
Lucky Emma will have a soft, drapy, wrap-me-up, comfy quilt.
Look at this in-progress beauty! (I hear it's finished now :) )
Hobbs wool again for definition,
this time layered on top of Hobbs 80/20.
So much quilting. Gorgeous, isn't it?!
...and one more pic of this one.
Just because :)
Closing words from Sue: "a lot of people think dense quilting makes it stiff, but that all
depends on the backing, thread and batting. You don't get the air
pockets, which are soft and snuggly but you can get a great drape which
is like a gentle quilts hug." And, unless it's an art quilt, that's what quilts are all about!
AND, before she left, Sue donated this beauty to our comfort quilt collection:
Thank you, Sue, for the donation of the quilt and for the interesting presentation!
All the beautiful quilts Sue used as examples as she spoke about choices were captivating. So much so that I forgot to take pictures! The pictures in this post were borrowed from Sue's website, and provided by Sue after her visit. Visit Sue Daurio's Quilting Adventure to see lots more of her beautiful work or to inquire about long arm quilting
