Quilters Dream 80/20 Batting

QUILTERS DREAM 80/20 BATTING

 

Quilters Dream 80/20 is our newest Dream Batting, which debuted at Spring Quilt Market 2016.  It is made with 80% high grade long staple USA cotton fiber blended with 20% fine denier poly microfiber for a soft, silky batting that drapes beautifully and breathes well.  The long staple cotton fiber reduces shrinkage and adds stability so that the stitches can be up to 8” apart.  The poly microfibers add a loft and resistance to creases/wrinkles.  

There are no scrims, glues, or other binders to resist the needle, so this fine batting can be hand or machine quilted with ease.  It is available in natural, white, and our exclusive “Dream Pink!”

 

Dream Pink is an 80/20 Dream Batting made with pink poly microfibers to support breast cancer.  Quilters Dream Batting donates 10% of the wholesale sale of Dream Pink to late stage metastatic breast cancer research.  Our pink poly microfibers are extruded pink so the color will not run or bleed, and the pink fibers lends a fabulous blush pink coloring to batting.

Advantages:

• Minimal shrinkage (1-3%) for the slightly puckered look
• Available in white, natural, and “Dream Pink” to support late stage breast cancer research
• Can be stitched up to 8" apart! 
• Soft and silky, with an excellent drape that hugs and flows
• Excellent for both hand and machine quilting. (Not recommended for tied quilts)
• Wicks moisture away from the body to keep you cool in the summer
• Breathable – there are no scims or other barriers that would inhibit airflow
• Fine denier poly fibers bend when in contact with fabric, so they resist bearding

 

All of our battings are proudly made in the USA. 

Each batting is hand cut and hand inspected to insure superb quality is consistency.  Quilters Dream is not sold in big box discount stores and always encourage our customers to support their locally owned quilt shop or quilting business!  There are a lot of advantages to using Quilters Dream Batting and with the wide variety of lofts, fibers, colors& sizes available, we hope that you find the choices to be to your advantage when choosing the perfect type of batting for your quilted treasure!

Also try:

Dream Cotton, 100% cotton batting with no scrim glues or binders

Dream Poly, 100% poly microfibers that mimic cotton in feel and breathability

Dream Angel, made 100% from flame retardant fibers

Dream Blend, 70% cotton and 30% poly with a light scrim stabilizer

Dream Green, made 100% from recycled bottles

Dream Orient, a luxurious blend of cotton, bamboo, botanic Tencel, and silk

Dream Puff, a warm and cozy polyester with 1/3-1/2” of loft

Dream Wool, a thermally bonded cuddly wool batting with 1/3-1/2” of loft

Dream Fusion, a one sided fusible batting excellent for small quilts and crafts

The City Quilter & Grand Central Station Centennial Quilts

Quilters Dream Batting is found exclusively at independent quilt shops and specialty quilting businesses! Please join the #BattGirls in celebrating and supporting our local quilt shops. They are the heart and soul of the quilting industry.

Nestled In the heart of Downtown Manhattan, you will find a rare jewel!

An oasis for New York City quilters and tourists alike, with over 150 classes a year, 4,000+ bolts of fabric, and a gallery displaying beautiful art quilts for sale. City Quilter's dedicated shop owners, husband and wife team, Dale Reihl and Cathy Izzo epitomize the entrepreneurial and creative spirit of NYC small business owners. 

In addition to the overwhelming duties of their shop, Cathy and Dale have taken it even a step further! With Cathy's design concepts, they have developed a fabric line inspired by 'all things New York'. Be it the spired architecture, the famous skyline, the city lights, clock towers, the lines and signs of the subway system, or the bright yellow cabs; New York City icons are artistically captured in City Quilter's beautiful unique fabric lines.

So when Dale, discovered that 2014 is the celebration of the 100th year anniversary of Grand Central Station, he knew the City Quilter had to be a part of this historic event. With creativity and inspiration flowing, Cathy went to work on designing a line of fabric that captures the grandeur, history and beauty of Grand Central Station, even down to the detail of matching the Pantone color of Grand Central's famed aqua dome celestial ceiling!

Coincidentally, Dale noticed that American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine (APQ) was celebrating their 20th anniversary. Realizing this was a perfect fit, Dale presented his idea to APQ of honoring Grand Central's Centennial with a national quilt challenge. APQ embraced the idea as did the NY Transit Museum and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. With everyone 'on-board' the Grand Central Station Centennial National Quilt Contest began.

Using City Quilter's newly designed stunning Grand Central fabrics, eighty quilters from 20 states, submitted an array of beautiful impressionistic quilts that pay tribute and idealize Grand Central's Centennial in ways that only quilters can!

Of the eighty unique quilts entered, the top thirty finalists' quilts are on display from now until July 6 in the Grand Central Station museum.

 

The quilts made such an impact that NYC news, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal wrote articles featuring the event (don't you love when quilting makes the national news)!

So, if you are in New York City or planning a NYC trip, be sure to take time to add Grand Central Station's quilt exhibit to your itinerary.

From there, a shopping trip to the City Quilter quilt shop is a must. City Quilter is the only shop in the world that sells their exclusive fabric lines.

While shopping at the City Quilter... don't forget to purchase your favorite quilt batting ... because you guessed it - Quilters Dream Batting is available at The City Quilter.

Meet Dale, Cathy and their amazing staff at the City Quilter located at 133 West 26th St in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, NewYork. In addition to classes, fabrics, quilt gallery, gifts, patterns,notions and Quilters Dream Batting... City Quilter is also an authorized Bernina and Handi Quilter dealer.

Can't get to New York City? Don't worry, the fabrics are available for sale on the City Quilter website at www.CityQuilter.com and a link to City Quilter's and APQ fabulous Grand Central Quilt Exhibit is below!

www.Cityquilter.com

More Photos of GrandCentral Station Quilt Exhibit

Wall Street JournalArticle: Piecing Together a Grand History

#cityquilter #grandcentralquilts #battgirls #quiltersdreambatting #bernina #handiquilter #AmericanPatchwork

 

How to make an Easter treat bag

Do you have lots of batting scraps left over from your quilting projects and don't want to throw them away, yet don't know what to do with them?

While looking through the many Easter projects posted on Pinterest, I saw this cute bunny bag made of felt.

Bunny Bag by Merrilee - @mer-mag on Instagram

Immediately I thought of all the scraps I have of Quilters Dream Fusion Natural Cotton Select and decided to give it a try.

Dream Fusion is my favorite batting because I tend to do small projects, including quilts, on my domestic Singer sewing machine.

The Dream Fusion allows me to secure the batting to my backing material and simply pin the four corners of my quilting projects and quilt away without having to worry about any pleating or puckering of my backing. You do not need to spray baste or thread baste your quilt top to your batting/backing material once the Dream Fusion is secured to your backing material.  [If you like paper piecing, Dream Fusion is wonderful for securing the seams of your finished pieced quilt top!]

For this project I found a sweet spring print and fused the batting and cotton fabric.  The fabric will actually be the inside of the bag and the batting will be the outside of the bag.  [If you have scraps of the Quilters Dream Cotton Select, Deluxe or Supreme loft you can make these bags without of fabric lining!]

To fuse - use the Cotton STEAM setting on your iron, place the Dream Fusion on the ironing board with the fusible side up and then place your fabric right side up on top of the batting.  Steam is your friend.  Take your time and slowly iron the two pieces together.  Once your piece cools the Dream Fusion is secure to the fabric.  

Next - make your template.

I took a half of a sheet of regular typing paper and freehand the outline of the face of a bunny.  Yes, the first time I drew the outline I realized the space between the bunny ears (which will not be sewn) was not going to be wide enough to place any candy in the bag when finished, thus the additional lines.

To ensure both sides were equal, I folded the paper in half and cut.  I did remember to cut a 1/4" seam allowance around the the outline for sewing purposes.

When I opened up the paper template it looked much better.

Because I had a long, narrow piece of fused batting I decided to fold it in half and save myself from having to sew a bottom seam.  

I placed the bottom of the paper template to the folded edge of the batting, pinned the template in place and cut.

Looks good, except I wanted it a little wider at the opening between the ears.  

No problem - just trim the template and batting from the inside of the two ears.

Much better!

Remove the pins and paper template and open up your fused fabric piece.  

Take a piece of your scrap fused fabric and cut out a triangle.  With a zigzag or decorative stitch sew the triangle piece of fabric on the batting side as a nose for your bunny's face.  You will also want to stitch a solid line about 3/4" of an inch from the bottom point of the nose to act as the mouth.  If your machine has a decorative stitch that looks like a filled in circle, use that to sew two eyes just above the fabric nose or add buttons for eyes.

You are almost done!  Fold the piece in half with the batting facing right sides together.  This will mean your fabric is on the outside.

Start at the inside edge of one of the bunny ears and sew all the way around the template.  You will want to back stitch your first few stitches and your last few stitched to secure your sewing.  While I had folded the fabric at the bottom and didn't need to stitch, I was on a roll and just kept sewing until I reached the inside edge of the second ear.

You will leave the space between the ears open.  Now, turn the bunny bag right side or batting side out.

Give the bag one more good steam press with the iron.

Fill with candy.

Take a strip of your fabric or some ribbon and tie a bow at the top and voila!  A fun Easter gift to share with others.

I made two, one for our sweet U.S. Postal Service man, seen here with one of my fellow #battgirls - Neva...

...and the second for our wonderful UPS man.  

So grab your scraps of batting and give your hand a try at making several of these bags.  It really is a quick project and sure to bring a smile to your family and friends (or even your Postman/woman!).

Wishing you and yours a Happy Easter!

#battgirls and Pinterest team up!!

Do you love Pinterest as much as us #battgirls do?!!  Here's your chance to show off your quilts using Quilters Dream Batting and be entered to win prizes.

We want to see your quilts and hear from you which kind of Quilters Dream Batting you used in your quilt - and why you love it.   Are you a show quilter and enjoy the Dream Poly because it doesn't hold a crease, or are you a fan of the Dream Cotton because it gives that instant heirloom look to your quilt.

Maybe you like the Dream Poly and the Dream Cotton and then use an extra layer of Dream Puff, Dream Blend or even Dream Wool on top for the added texture and definition it gives your quilting.  We know others would enjoy looking at your quilt works of art and hearing from you why Quilters Dream is your batting of choice.  

Here's how you can share your quilts using Quilters Dream Batting on

Pinterest:

1.  Visit our Pinterest Page and follow all of our boards.  Here’s the link: 

http://www.pinterest.com/hopesndreamsals/

2.  Then email us at QuiltersDreamBatting@juno.com to request access to the “Quilts by YOU!” board.  Please include your Pinterest account information in your email.  

3.  We will then send you an invite giving you permission to post your quilts to this board. After you accept - you can post directly to the Quilters Dream Batting "Quilts By YOU!" board.

REMEMBER:  Since you have the photos and use Quilters Dream Batting, you can also be one of our featured #battgirls in a future blog post!  

Need more info on being a #battgirls - check out this blog post:  Quilters Dream Batting #battgirls

We look forward to seeing your quilts and sharing your Quilters Dream Batting story on Pinterest, as a featured #battgirls blog post, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Happy Quilting!

Quilters Dream Batting

Batting University (Part 2) Dream Green and Dream Orient Batting

This week we are delighted to continue Batting University with a look at Quilters Dream Green and Quilters Dream Orient battings!  We hope you enjoy a closer look at what makes each batting unique. If you have any questions or you would like free samples, call us toll free, 1-888-268-8664, or email: QuiltersDreamBatting@juno.com 

QUILTERS DREAM GREEN BATTING

Dream Green batting is a soft, cozy, and cuddly batting that is 100% made from recycled bottles.  Each pound of Dream Green rescues 10 bottles that could be added to the landfills! The polyester microfibers are indistinguishable from virgin poly fibers, so it has all the advantages of Dream Poly with added environmental benefits.

Dream Green Batting
The green coloring comes from the recycled bottles - there must be a lot of Mt. Dew drinkers!

Advantages:

• Made 100% from recycled bottles for the environmentally sensitive quilter
  
• Needlepunched poly microfibers mimic cotton fibers, so you get the look and feel of cotton
  
• No shrinkage, so quilting will look the same after washing
  
• Excellent for both hand and machine quilting
  
• Will not hold a crease, even if it is folded up for months
  
• Does not absorb moisture, so it dries very quickly and will not hold a stain
  
• Breathable – there are no scrims or other barriers that would inhibit airflow
  
• Fine denier microfibers bend when in contact with fabric, so they resist bearding

Disadvantages:

• Green in color, so test when using under white or very light colored fabrics
  
• Does not shrink, so you will get no puckering
  
• Does not wick moisture away from the body like cotton
  
• Is not a natural fiber (man-made)

QUILTERS DREAM ORIENT BATTING

Dream Orient is the softest, drapiest batting available! East meets West with this elegant blend of sustainable bamboo, luxurious silk, botanic Tencel® and strong, stable cotton. One touch and you will be hooked!

Freshly quilted Dream Orient Batting. Lovely drape that begs to be fondled.

Teal quilted pinwheel block is a single layers of Dream Orient Batting. Purple quilted pinwheel is a double layer of Dream Orient batting - even doubled it keeps a wonderful drape.

Advantages:

• The very softest and best draping batting there is, even when stitched very closely
  
• Slight shrinkage (1-3%) upon washing/drying for the slightly puckered look
  
• Excellent for both hand and machine quilting
  
• Wicks moisture away from the body to keep you cool in the summer
  
• Breathable – there are no scims or other barriers that would inhibit airflow
  
• Fine denier fibers bend when in contact with fabric, so they resist bearding

Disadvantages:

• Slight Shrinkage (1-3%) after washing
  
• Cost compared with other battings
  
• Not recommended for tied quilts
  
• Bamboo fibers are short, so can be a bit linty if over-handled
  
• Fibers are not 100% from the USA, however, Dream Orient (like all Dream Battings) is made in the USA!

Please come back next week for part 3 of our Month Long Series: Batting University.  We will continue with Dream Angel (flame retardant batting) and Dream Blend for Machines!

 

Happy Quilting!