Product Review: Mountain Mist White Gold

Do you ever find things in your studio that you don’t remember purchasing? This week I went to my stash of batting and found a crib size roll of Mountain Mist White Gold batting. Since I am in “use it up” mode, I decided that my latest quilt would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try. This is a fusible, 100% cotton batting. Of course, it is very appealing to be able to quickly baste a quilt so you can get to the fun of quilting sooner. The idea of not having to deal with pins is pretty nice, too.

Since this product is new to me, I actually read the directions. It seemed simple enough. Fuse from both sides with a steam iron on the wool setting. The label said it was ready to use, and it recommended cotton fabrics for the quilt top and backing. So far, so good. I carefully layered my backing, batting, and top, and got to work of fusing it, but I couldn’t get it to fuse at all. I tried misting my quilt to create more steam, and I tried increasing the heat. No success. The label said, “The bond will be stronger after the layers cool” so I went to bed. The next morning, the layers were still not holding together. The label also says, it is “repositionable.” I’d say that part is true since it didn’t bond at all! I could keep repositioning to my heart’s content.

I went to the Mountain Mist website, but was disappointed that there was no email address that I could send a question to, and there were no helpful FAQs. I also tried calling the phone number listed on their site, but it was disconnected. I turned to the QuiltArt list to see if anyone had an answer. Many experienced quilters rushed to my aid with ideas, but I still could not get the product to fuse.

My fabrics had all been prewashed, so there were no factory finishes to interfere with fusing. However, I do starch my quilt backing to help eliminate unwanted tucks, and at one point I wondered if that might have interfered and prevented fusing, so I did a test on unstarched fabric. The bond might have been slightly better, but certainly not one I could have trusted to keep an entire quilt, even a small one, in place while pushing it through the machine. When I gently lifted one corner of my sample, the bond was instantly broken with no effort whatsoever. Not only was the bond so weak that it separated from both the top and bottom fabrics, the batting itself split in two.

Now, it is true that I have no idea when I got this particular batting, so I suppose it is possible that it is too old to bond correctly, but if age is a consideration, I would expect a “use by” expiration date on the label.

The batting itself seems fine: nice and thin. But, I gave up the idea that this product would fuse, so now I was faced with the problem of what I should do next. I do have fusible spray, but I never use that inside my house due to allergies, and it is below freezing outside, so fusible spray is not an option. I ended up using straight pins and my Pinmoors. Simple and effective. Time to quilt!