Finally Pinned

My Indigo and Lace quilt is FINALLY pinned to my satisfaction.  Last Monday I took it in to the Quilt Guild meeting an hour and a half early and some ladies in my guild met me there and we pinned the quilt together.  It got done really quickly and I am so grateful for the 4 ladies that showed up to help me.  One lady said "I don't do floors" so we laid out the layers on 3 big tables.  I regret that I didn't take a picture.  Anyway, we were done before the meeting started and I was happy.

Indigo and Lace, All Pinned, Ready to Sew

Now, the thing I did differently this time was that I used POLYESTER batting.  NEVER BUY THAT STUFF!!  Always get the cotton batting (I typically use the 80/20.)  When I started to actually quilt the quilt, the pinning was so loose.  I tightened up the pins, smoothing it out and it looked good on the front, but when I flipped it over, the back was so loose and horrible.  Wrinkles and creases everywhere.  So I smoothed out the back and repinned.  This was the third pinning, and that should have done it right?  NO!  Now the front was a mess!  I tried to smooth it out as I quartered the quilt, thinking if I just got started, I could smooth it out as I went.  NO!  That polyester batting did not stick to either the backing or the quilt top, just slid around in the middle causing havoc.  HAVOC!

Finally, I had enough!  After 3 days of fighting this quilt, I knew it wasn't going to get any better!  Last night I removed all the pins, ripped out my quilt stitches, and un-layered my sandwich.  I was starting over!  Today, I made the sandwich on my kitchen floor, using 80/20 cotton batting! It pinned beautifully, and I could tell the difference immediately!  I flipped it over when I was done, the back is nice and tight, ready to sew!  I'll give myself a couple hours to recover (Advil!) and then start sewing again!  I feel so much better about this now.  The quilt measures 98 x 98 and this is about as big as I can go!  No room to spare, as you can see in the picture!

Let me reiterate the lesson I learned:  Polyester batting belongs in a doll or the garbage, not in a quilt!