{"id":1665,"date":"2012-08-20T10:04:27","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T15:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2012-08-20T10:10:53","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T15:10:53","slug":"samples-help-decision-making-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alisonschwabe.com\/weblog\/?p=1665","title":{"rendered":"Samples Help Decision Making 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I have just started a new quilt, with a black chintz background.\u00a0 Although I haven’t put\u00a0a single\u00a0strip of patchwork into it yet, already I am considering the eventual quilting.\u00a0 Last time I used black as a background to a quilt, the wool batting eventually bearded\u00a0out onto the front.\u00a0\u00a0 This fabric is a very different weave and density, so it may not be a problem.\u00a0\u00a0I know,\u00a0I know,\u00a0you can get black or very dark charcoal grey batting, and if I were in Aus or USA that would not be a problem – I’d buy locally or send for some overnight.\u00a0 But\u00a0I am not in either of those places at the moment!!!\u00a0 The batting available here tends to be uneven, not\u00a0very good quality, and\u00a0IF\u00a0 there were time to send for some from the US\u00a0(Quilt National entries close september 14th)\u00a0 I’d have to pay 50% import duties, on top of the rush courier fee.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m not THAT\u00a0 desperate – there’s always another way, and I’m a bit of a goddess of Another\u00a0Way, which tends to go with being a goddess of the Last Minute, incidentally<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

So,\u00a0this quilting sample I did earlier this morning\u00a0(quite a bit earlier – 6-30am, actually) covered\u00a0three possiblilities – wool fabric, poly batting and wool batting,\u00a0 side by side in the one piece, and\u00a0clearly labelled for easy comparison.\u00a0 At this stage, I liked\u00a0the appearance of both poly and wool batting.\u00a0 The fabric gave a much lower loft of course, naturally, and might look OK\u00a0very closely quilted, but on a piece that I plan to end up 2m wide….er, no! But could be great for backing very small pieces, and at that time I will try quilting two layers of it, too, as I’m sure it will be good.\u00a0 I have this length of wool, lovely wool,\u00a0that’s been sitting around for years – gotta do something with it – what was<\/em> I thinking when I bought it?\u00a0 I’m not even the fine herringbone tweed type!<\/p>\n

To simulate what might happen with a lot of handling of a\u00a0 finished work, my next move\u00a0was to put this into the dryer and tumble it around for a while with a couple of towels to see what happens. \u00a0 I am thrilled to report<\/p>\n