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How to Quilt>bearding batting
Why Does Quilt Batting Beard?
When is a quilt like Santa Claus? All kidding aside, bearding can be a serious problem for quilters. What exactly is bearding? It’s when little fibers of batting pull through to either the top or bottom (sometimes both sides) of a quilt. Bearding tends to occur in quilts with polyester batting. It seems logical that batting with more loft, or fluffiness, would be more likely to beard. But a bat doesn’t have to be thick for it to beard. Even flat batting can beard in some situations. For instance, you might also run into a bearding issue if you use a very blunt tip needle for your quilting. A sharp needle will penetrate the fabric and batting in your quilt sandwich. The sharper the needle, the smaller the hole. The reverse is also true: the duller the needle, the wider the hole. Bearding occurs when the batting sneaks out into the hole in the area that is larger. Maybe the bearding problem is not tip related. Maybe it is related to the width of the entire needle. Perhaps the needle’s width might stretch the fabric, allowing an opening through which the batting can peek. Maybe the quilting stitches are too tight. If machine quilting, run a sample before hand using the same fabrics and batting . If you notice any bearding in the sample, adjust your tension and stitch length until the bearding ceases. If you detect bearding in one of your own quilts, there’s little you can do to correct it. If the strands of fiber fill are large, you can snip them even with the fabric. But be careful. You will create an even bigger problem if you snip into the fabric! Sometimes, bearding does not develop right away. Instead, it gradually happens, through use or laundry cycles. To avoid bearding, use natural fibers for batting, like wool, cotton or bamboo. While these may also beard, they are less likely to do so due to their lower loft and the more natural distribution of their fibers. Many battings now have a scrim. That is a very thin layer of fiber that keeps the batting together and virtually eliminates bearding. Batting with a scrim is difficult to hand quilt, and is perfect for machine quilting. Likewise some batting is bonded. That is a process which adds a glue-like substance to keep the batting together. If using polyester batting, be sure to use a nice, sharp needle that is thin. Remember, the thinner the needle, the smaller the hole is that it makes through fabric. The problem with using a super sharp needle in polyester batting is that a blunt needle seems to penetrate it better. Sharps are great when pushing through natural substances, but blunts tend to separate manmade fibers better. So, your quilting may take a little more effort if you are accustomed to using a blunt needle then switch to a sharp one. The good thing about polyester batting is that using it over, say, cotton, your quilt will naturally require fewer quilting stitches. Fewer stitches means fewer opportunities for bearding to occur. Polyester needs less quilting because, as a manmade material, the fibers do not separate as much as natural fibers do. So, if using cotton, bamboo, or wool batting without a scrim, your project will need to be more heavily quilted to keep those batting fibers from separating. With polyester, you could get away with simply tying your quilt – especially if using a high loft polyester. Don’t let the threat of bearding keep you from using polyester batting. Technically, bearding can occur with any type of batting, it’s just more typical in polyester. Sometimes polyester is the best choice for your quilt batting. Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren www.How-to-Quilt.com
©2010, Penny Halgren This article courtesy of http://www.How-To-Quilt.com. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.
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