How To Make An Applique Quilt?

Can you make a quilt without batting?

• hey i am making my first quilt and i really like the look of this quilt http://www.pennyleavergreen.co.uk/pictures/quilts/1630746 it looks quite thin and i wondered if it had any batting, i am a novice and can't tell just by looking at it, any experts out there able to tell? Do you have to use batting in a quilt? would it be easier for a first timer quilter to forgo the batting? i like the look of a thinner quilt. also as a side note i read that not pre-washing fabric can give a quilt an older look, i like the soft wrinkled appearance of the quilt in the picture do you think it was prewashed? if i didn't pre-wash what kind of look would the quilt have? thanks for the help!

• Answer:

  Just a few other things... If you wanted to make a bed covering or a light "blanket" without any batting at all, you *could* do that. You would still need two layers in the "sandwich" though (the top and the backing) because you'd need some way to hide all the seams on the back of the top which were created by sewing the blocks and/or borders together, etc, and also to give a smooth surface on the back side. Many thin-looking quilts do have "batting" of some kind though, it's just a very thin layer like perhaps a sheet or a lightweight blanket, or a thin polyester batting that has gotten beaten down (from wear and washing which is common) or a cotton batting (those tend to be thin). Most cotton and polyester battings will need to be quilted or at least "tied" in various places though (which varies by the batting used) to hold the 3 parts of the sandwich together, and usually also to keep the batting from separating into pieces or bunching up in areas. ("Tying" is easier and can be done with ties or even bar tacks on a sewing machine or buttons/etc.... "quilting" can be done by hand or on a sewing machine and is much more time consuming. It looks like the quilt in your pic has 4 large "buttons" as the only ties and I don't see any obvious quilting in the central area.) Btw, the simplest way to make a first quilt would be to use the turn-inside-out method which avoids having to add a binding all the way around the quilt sandwich to cover/hide the edges. It looks as if the one in your pic may have been done that way, then had something decorative added to the edges, or it could have been done without being inside out. There are lessons online for doing the inside-out method ... http://www.google.com/search?q=turn+inside+out+quilt ...If you decide not to use a batting at all, you could still use that technique for the 2-layer method. As for the wrinkling and "older" look, that can be affected by several things. In this case, it's mostly just that the fabrics purchased were "old" looking in color (not bright and saturated, for example) plus the fact that the quilt wasn't tied or quilted (can't tell) very *closely* so larger pieces of fabric are free to lie anyway they want. This quilt appears to have blocks which are unpieced too (whole), and if there is quilting or tying it must be just at the corners of each block. As for actual wrinkling, most 100% cotton fabrics (preferred for quilts but not absolutely necessary) will wrinkle after washing if they're not ironed. That won't usually look like that pic though... the wrinkles would be "harder" looking probably. Quilt wisdom has always said to wash any fabrics before making the quilt since cotton can shrink and dyes can not be fast, but nowadays most of the "better" quilt fabrics are both preshrunk and dye-fast. And actually many quilters prefer not to pre-wash their fabrics nowadays because the sizing left in them from the manufacturer makes them a little stiffer and therefore easier to sew to other pieces since they're not as limp (the first washing after construction will then remove the sizing). As for making the colors softer, since dyes are better now than they were in the past, genenerally washing shouldn't make them fade into softer colors. But sunlight will over time (especially for cheaper dyes), so it's best just to buy the actual colors you want to end up with. HTH, and good luck! Diane B.