Sunday, April 22, 2012

Basting Fail


This is the border for Christmas Yet to Come. It was last year's Block of the Month. I'm posting the picture here because my original blog posts were lost. I have the entire quilt top together now, but apparently haven't taken a picture of it just yet.

All that I have left to do is to baste it and then quilt the snot out of it. (Technical term.) In order to enjoy the quilting process it will have to be very well basted.



This is not well basted. This is epic basting fail. Afraid of bearding (when the white batting fibers migrate through black fabric to give the quilt an hazy fuzziness), I decided to try a black batting. This batting is a polyester batting, supposedly designed for easy machine quilting.

Balderdash. By the time I was done basting it was so full of static cling that it was impossible to deal with. Full of nasty bubbles and pleats, the only good part was that I had used my beloved basting gun and could quickly pull the layers apart to start over.

So, the project is stalled, again. I don't know when I'll ever get it finished. I need to do some more research into black battings, or perhaps wool batting and how much it beards. Wool would be nice because it's a big quilt (102 inches square) and already rather heavy. Rats.

3 comments:

  1. Beth - Check out Sharon Schamber's method for basting quilts using a baseboard to corral the top and back during a sit down basting process. I switched to this after years of on my knees basting, and will never go back. I ask for time on the lunch tables of my nearby school, and have no trouble getting it...All you need are two lengths of baseboard, and a table (or tables) to match your quilt's width. Check Sharon's video on her website: http://www.purpledaisiesllc.com/Articles.asp?ID=241

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  2. Stella5:39 PM

    Aww Beth, it does my heart good to hear that you also have problems! I have a tendency to put my teacher on a pedestal but after this blog I'm bringing you down to the FLOOR with me, lol. Just wondering if you are still thinking about the POM kit?
    Stella

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  3. Beth, I've worked with wool and it's very light. Maybe give it another look?

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