Thursday Tidbit - The Joy of Fusible Batting

Do you quilt your own quilts, table runners, or wall hangings?  Do you pin or spray baste?  Have you heard of fusible batting?

We carry Hobbs Fusible Batting in 3 sizes:  Crib (45x60), Queent (90x108) and 96" wide by the yard on a roll.  This batting is an iron-on batting made the same way as Hobbs Heirloom Premium 80/20 batting, except it has a fusible resin added in the spray bonding process, on both sides. This resin eliminates the need for pinning or basting,

Here's how it works.   Trim the batting to 4-6" wider than your quilt top. Lay your quilt top centered on the batting and take the whole thing to your ironong board.  Set your iron on cotton (hot) and use steam if possible.  Simply press your quilt top from the center to the outer edges, making sure to keep your iron moving and pressing approximately 3-4 seconds in each area. Use a pressing cloth on the outer edges of the quilt top; you don't want to touch your iron to the batting or you'll be cleaning up a mess!

Once you have ironed the entire surface area of the front of your quilt, center the quilt top/batting sandwich on your backing fabric and repeat the ironing process with the backing fabric right side up on your ironing board.  If any places feel loose, you can repress either the front or the back of the quilt. You can quilt this batting by hand or machine up to 4" apart, and can expect a 3-5% shrinkage rate just like regular Hobbs Heirloom.

There are several reasons why I love this batting.

• No more crawling on the floor to baste a quilt - using pins that poke me or a basting spray that oversprays or smells.
• I don't have to stop the quilting process to remove a pin.
• The "fuse" is NOT a permanent fuse like fusible webbing for applique; if you get a wrinkle, you can peel back your fabric, reposition it, and iron it again.  If the fabric comes loose during the quilting process, just iron it back in place.
• It doesn't gum up my needle, and the fusbile component washes out.

I think if you try it you will like it.  Brenda is our in-store expert; she uses it all the time on all sizes of quilts and prefers it over any other batting.

There are other fusible batts on the market, and I will admit that I have not tried them.  I cannot vouch for their quality, but I can highly recommend the Hobbs brand.