shihtzulover

I'm an a fairly new quilter and I've made a couple of baby blankets and I'm ready to quilt them. What is a good brand (or kind) of batting to purchase? Can the stuff from WalMart or Joanns work? Also, I see there is different thickness of the batting.

I would appreciate it if one of you "Quilt Experts" would give me (and possibly others) a low down of batting. What type to use for what? baby blankets.... queen/full size quilts.....lap quilts....other projects. Guess I've never seen this type of question out here before so I would sincerely appreciate any input.

Big THANKS and a warm HUG for input.

ManiacQuilter2

I like using Hobbs 80/20 batting that use to be sold at Walmart but no longer. I want to use a good quality batting in my charity quilts. I have used this batting since it first came onto the market. I have had no problems. Stay away from any fat polyester batting. That is used when one ties a quilt.

Tartan

It depends on how you plan to quilt them. If I am FMQ ( free motion quilting) them I use Hobbs 80/20 batt since it is more stable with cotton fabric. Polyester batts from Walmart have a nice loft but the fabric tends to slip around on it and I get wrinkles in my backing fabric. There are a number of 80/20 batts on the market and I recommend them for your first effort since stuffing a quilt with polyester batt through your machine can be difficult also.

If you are hand quilting, use the batt you like best for the loft you want.

PaperPrincess

There are a lot of different types of batting, and usually your choice for a quilt is just based on preference. There's really no best batting to use as determined by a particular size quilt. Other projects, like home dec or quilted garments, do have batts that are preferred one over the other.
Some of the things to consider are:
-batting content: do you want a breathable natural fiber or poly? Cotton or cotton blends are the most popular and reasonably priced. Wool, silk and bamboo are all wonderful batting but pricey.
-loft: do you want a puffier quilt or something a bit flatter and antique looking. Cotton is a flatter batt, but it does come in different lofts, Warm and Natural vs. Warm and Plush. Wool is fluffier. Poly is probably the puffiest.
-Quilting distance. It is very important that you understand this term and the requirements of any batting that you finally choose. The packing will tell you the farthest distance apart your quilting lines can be. There are some batts that need to be quilted as close as 3 inches apart, some that can be left unquilted for up to 10". Make sure you measure in all directions.
WM & JoAnn's both carry several brands. See what brands are available at your store, then do a bit of research on the company's web site for more specifics. Here's a link to the Warm Company. Lots of info: https://warmcompany.com/

Bree123

For baby quilts, I always use 100% cotton batting. Polyester doesn't breathe so the baby can overheat (babies are not very good at regulating their own body temp) and in addition, some parents worry about the fact that polyester melts into molten plastic instead of burning up like natural fibers. It can mean the difference between 2nd and 3rd degree burns in case of a fire. Rayon and bamboo (a type of rayon) fibers tend to have lots of chemicals in them because of the processing involved in making those materials & the batting can off-gas into the baby's room. Wool can be too warm for some babies and some little ones are sensitive/allergic to wool, but it is breathable & is better at wicking away moisture. In addition, wool is generally much thinner and lighter weight than cotton. Silk batting typically is part polyester.

Those are the reasons why I choose 100% cotton batting for all my baby quilts, but obviously there are thousands of people around the world who wrap their babies in woolen bedding, including quilts, without any problems. If I weren't going with cotton for a baby quilt, my next choice would be either a wool/cotton blend or 100% washable wool. I would only use polyester if I were making a wall hanging for a nursery. The risk of overheating just isn't worth the cost savings to me.

As far as what brand, that just depends on what type of quilting you plan to do & how puffy you want the quilt. I am making my first hand-quilted crib quilt right now & am using Hobb's Organic Cotton batting. It is just beautiful -- no scrim, all cotton & a little puffy but not too much to where it's difficult to push a needle through. Quilter's Dream Select (or it's thinnest cotton batting, Request) are very thin battings that are easy to hand quilt, but do not provide a lot of definition in the quilting.

For machine quilting, I absolutely LOVE Warm & Plush from Wal-Mart. It is a beautiful clean, unbleached cotton that is needle punched (no scrim). It is the fluffiest cotton batt I've found on the market & it is heavy. I've also used Warm & Natural from Wal-Mart/JAF. It is also an unbleached cotton, but it is only 2/3 as thick as W&P mostly due to the use of a scrim (layer of synthetic web-like material that binds with the cotton to hold it together). The scrim & lower loft are the two main reasons I switched to W&P, but some people also say that they don't like that W&N batting has some cotton seeds or teeny tiny twigs from cotton plant that are left in the batting. Those should only be noticeable on your finished quilt when it is wet or if you have an especially thin white fabric in your quilt (new cotton fabrics shouldn't cause that problem).

For larger, adult quilts, I would not hesitate to use Hobb's 100% washable wool and would be especially likely to choose wool if I planned to overquilt (e.g., microstippling) my quilt. Wool quilts the most beautifully of any batting out there -- good stitch definition in a lightweight material & it is plenty warm for any time of the year. I personally like the comfort of heavy quilts to sleep with, so I will sometimes pull my rainbow quilt off the wall to use as a lap quilt because it has the nice heavy W&P cotton batting. But wool is great for sleeping. I have some wool blankets that are 1/8" thick and they are ideal. I never wake up sweating or chilled with them. They are light enough for summer & warm enough for subzero winters.

But all of that is just my own opinions. Most batting manufacturers are wonderful about sending out samples. I know for sure that both The Warm Company & Quilter's Dream have sent out samples upon request. The best way to know for sure is to make some quilt sandwiches in the different batts ... just keep in mind that with heavier batts like W&P that you will actually need to fit that denser batting through your harp, and you will have to work your neck and shoulder muscles all the more to move it around if you plan to Free Motion Quilt it.

Prism99

For a beginning quilter, I don't think you can go wrong with Hobbs 80/20 batting. There are many battings sold in Joanns and Walmart -- some good for specific applications, some not so good. Until you become familiar with pros and cons of different types of batting, I recommend sticking with Hobbs 80/20 even if you have to buy it online. Connecting Threads and other online sites frequently place the Hobbs on sale, so wait for a sale if cost is an issue for you.

Annie Pearl

I am a beginner too and I prefer a flat quilt. I have used both Warm and Natural and Hobbs 80/20. I like the Hobbs 80/20 the best. It's a little heavier and lies nice and flat it also has that crinkley old fashioned look that I like.