Ask Wendi - Why Is My Softie Growing a Beard?

I recently made a little stuffed toy out of cotton fabric, and also a couple of neck pillows. After I finished these items, I started noticing the stuffing fibers migrating through the fabric. I'm using a Fairfield poly fil and I think it's called Silky Soft or something like that. Am I using the wrong filling? Is there any way to keep the filling from coming through the fabric like that? I made a cute little red ladybug for a baby but it didn't look so cute when it started sprouting white fibers! I tried to remove them with a lint roller but I think I would have emptied the stuffed toy completely if I kept doing that.

Ugh. It's called bearding and it's a pain in the neck. It happens to quilters too and it's even worse for them. Can you imaging finishing an entire quilt and then noticing those ugly fibers starting to "grow" through the fabric? You can restuff your toy without too much effort. A quilter would have to pick out all the quilting and then start over again.

There's nothing you can do to fix it once it happens, but you can take steps to prevent it.

The problem is the way some fillings react with some fabrics. Quilters can easily avoid bearding by using cotton batting. Polyester and wool beard, cotton doesn't. Cotton batting is more expensive than poly, but it wear well, quilts beautifully, is machine washable, and is totally worth the extra money. It's an easy solution.

For softie makers the answer isn't so easy. I like using polyester stuffing because it's light and fluffy, doesn't compact, and lofts back up really well even after repeated machine washing. It's also inexpensive.

So - since I want to keep using polyester stuffing I need to look at my fabric. I think the only time I've had bearding in my toys is when the fabric I use is a cotton/poly blend, or has a somewhat open weave. That's not to say cotton fabric will never beard - just that bearding in soft toys is way more likely if the fabric also has some polyester in it. I wonder it it's the polyester in the fabric reacting with the polyester stuffing? I don't know. But eliminating all polyester fabric from my softie-making has meant no bearding for a long time.

And if you use cotton fabric and still have bearding, you can always pick open your stuffing opening, unstuff the toy, and restuff it with cotton stuffing. I suspect, though I can't say for sure, that bamboo and other plant fibers would also be good choices. It's annoying - sure. But at least you aren't undoing hours and hours of quilting.

Got any other sewing or embroidery questions? Send them to me here.

Happy Wednesday!

Best,
Wendi