Ever deal with bearding?

they have "sweater shavers" for this type of thing on clothing, though I never used it on a quilt.

That's an interesting suggestion, Carissa. I'll even offer to lend my sweater shaver to the aunt. Polly

"Carissa" they have "sweater shavers" for this type of thing on clothing, though I

Yes, Roberta. Alien fungus is exactly what it looks like. The aunt who made the quilt believes that the cheapest batt you can find is 'just right'. Perhaps a few hours of beard control will aid her in learning that this is not so. This adventure is going to be what I think is called 'tough love'. We're going to have to let her deal with it herself and *maybe* discover that a cheap batt is a cheap batt. Polly

"Roberta" IMO the least frustrating solution would be to rip out all the

Polly wrote>>I'd heard about bearding but never saw it or have it happen to me. A friend

Our local quilt shops got some batting samples and gave a bunch to me. This batt was unusual because you could Wonder Under a fabric directly to it and the batt didn't distort at all. I was making some angel ornaments that were appliquéd separately onto an appliqué sheet and then fused onto the batting, appliquéd the edges by machine and then cut out. Really cute, I think it was a Renee Plains pattern.

Anyway, I needed a small piece of batting for a table topper and grabbed one of these squares of batting. When I took it out of the washer, I thought it had dog hair all over it. I used my rolly thing and it didn't come off. That's when I realized it was the dreaded bearding.

The sweater shaver helped, but didn't totally get rid of the "hair".

In researching this particular batt, I read that it has a "right" side and a "wrong" side. You have to quilt with the right side up. I did notice there was very little bearding on the wrong side of the topper. I just figured it was my luck.

It's weird, I know, but I guess you need to check if you batt has a right side to it.

Cindy

Have you checked the point of the needle, it just might be bent and pulling the batting up on top of the quilt. A dull needle will push the batting to the back of the quilt and cause the bearding.

Yep even brand new needles could be damaged in the manufacturing process.

Kate T. South Mississippi

Now, Kate, I did ponder that possibility - but the bearding is coming 'up'. I suppose a new needle might improve things. We'll give that a try. We are busy just now having the first tropical depression of the season come in. How I wish drying my toes made me feel as rejuvenated as it does for a Yorkie. Splattering around in the rain and drying off turns him into a greyhound. Wheeeeeee. Polly (now on towel # 7)

Kate wrote>

Well, needles do come up as well - and so, if there was a tiny barb, they could bring batting up with them? . In message , Polly Esther writes

How it does puzzle me when someone comes here with a problem and they're never heard from again. So I do want you to know what worked. We changed the SM needle to something truly awful - I think it was a Schmetz Jeans needle blue/band size 100 or 110. A really tough rascal. The bearding stopped. Never had one more fuzzy alien pop up. We're thinking the needle killed whatever was growing. Yes. How wonderful. Thank you Kate T and Patti and everyone. Polly

Excellent! A result! . In message , Polly Esther writes

OK, I'm bit lost/confused here. (I know, nothing new there!). Is bearding when the batting comes up through the fabric/piced top DURING the quilting process? Then what is it called when you suddenly find little tufts of batting coming up through the fabric of the pieced top after washing? I made a simple trip around the world quilt for each of my daughters a few years back. I used cross stitch fabric for some of the squares, being careful to line each of these with a square of quilting fabric before putting them together, as the holes in the cross stitch fabric are quite large. All three quilts looked great. But now, after washing one of them for the second time in its existence, I notice that there are tufts of the batting creeping up through the fabric. True, I used poly batting on these quilts. THat was before I acquired a little bit more experience, largely thanks to this group! Now I don't use poly batting anymore. So, any thoughts?

Claudia

I think both are called bearding, although until this thread I never heard of having it happen during quilting.

Kind regards, Hanne in CPH (watching the marathon out the window in between working on the computer)

Claudia, I think either one can be called bearding (although I've also heard it referred to as "pokies" when it happens during quilting). My guess is that the poly batting was the problem with your quilts for your daughters. I've had bearding on only one quilt (unless some quilt recipients just haven't told me about it!), and on that one I used both a poly batting AND a polyester blend in the quilt top. In my defense, it was in the early 80s when I made that one, and there just wasn't a large selection of cotton solids at the time! I'm not even sure there was anything but poly batting available - at least in my price range. That one was for my mom, and she loved it anyway. Now that I think about it though, maybe it's time for a new one to replace it. Nearly 30 years of living with bearding is probably enough!

I like polyester. Go right ahead and throw rocks at me just please don't hit the puddles and splatter mud. The batting favorite just now is Mountain Mist Gold 50 / 50. We are very good friends. It behaves nicely while I'm working with it and produces a sweet quilt. Two of them are washed every week (they belong to the Yorkie) so I'm sure that they don't beard, lump or anything dastardly. The batting my friend lost her head over was a very high loft poly 'bargain' from Wally. Not exactly a bargain. Polly

I won't throw rocks - just small pebbles! I do use the battings that are poly/cotton blends, but I think what I experienced in the 80s was probably poorer quality than what I would buy now!