Batting
#22
I am a new quilter here and been trying a few of different batting, I noticed (so did my hubby) that for bed quilts, we like Dream Cotton the best, the medium loft I think. For wall-hanging, placemats and such ,I really like Warm and Natural because it has the scrim and tends to be a little "stiffer." I haven't tried polyester or bamboo, and I am about to try the fusible batting. We'll see.
#24
Originally Posted by Sadiemae
Originally Posted by SharonAnne
Originally Posted by jljack
I only use Warm & Natural or Warm & White, which is all cotton and needled. You can quilt it up to 10" apart, and it shrinks with the fabric giving a nice look. I don't use polyester at all...some people use it, and that is their choice.
#26
Originally Posted by Prism99
Originally Posted by SharonAnne
Originally Posted by jljack
I only use Warm & Natural or Warm & White, which is all cotton and needled. You can quilt it up to 10" apart, and it shrinks with the fabric giving a nice look. I don't use polyester at all...some people use it, and that is their choice.
Warm n Natural batting is needlepunched through scrim. The scrim makes the batting extremely stable so it can be quilted up to 10 inches apart without falling apart in the wash. Scrim makes it harder to hand needle (hand quilt), although many people still do it. The needlepunching through scrim also makes the batting heavier, with a slightly stiffer drape.
Quilter's Dream cotton batting, in contrast, is needlepunched but not through a scrim. Needlepunching makes the batting very even and adds stability.
Old-fashioned cotton battings such as Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon are not needlepunched. They need to be quilted closer together to keep the batting stable. Quilting lines should be no more than about 2 inches apart.
#27
Originally Posted by ckcowl
you should buy every batting you come across and try them all! i cut a little 6" square from my battings and document the name of it, any characteristics, its laundering instructions, price, where it came from...i have about 60 swatches now.after i use it i also add anything about that...if i hated it, if i loved it...whatever...that way i can check if i'm seeing one on sale and i don't remember if i've used it i can check my little book, and if i hated it i can see that too...and i will tell you, batting is as personal a choice as anything else...there is one batting on the market that i have heard lots of quilters rave about and me? I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!!! so, i would not tell you which one you should get. i will tell you this, you should always purchase the best quality you can afford. The warm company has very good products as does the dream batting. my absolute fave's are..warm & natural; dream poly; dream wool; dream cotton; dream bamboo; hobbs supreme heirloom. i'm not going to say the ones i hate...some people love them...and some probably hate some of my faves.
I've really only used the Warm & Natural myself but have been thinking about trying some others. I love to read other quilter's comments good/bad about products. I think it really helps.
Even negative comments are helpful. Maybe you dislike a particular quality about a (thickness, thinness, weight) batting that I do and it would help me make a more educated choice. You don't have to slam a product to point out it qualities. Variety is the spice of life!
Thanks again for the great tip on the batting!
#28
It all depends on what you want to accomplish with the batting. Before quilt batting becomes batting it is some type of fiber. Polyester, cotton, wool, bamboo, ect. Batting companies also blend these fibers together, such as 50% cotton and 50% bamboo, or 80% cotton, and 20% polyester, ect. The two major methods of making these fibers into batting is (1) Needled or Needle punched (2) Bonded Needled batting is when the factory sends the fibers through a machine that has hundreds of barbed needles that go back and forth through the fibers weaving them together. You end up with a products that is about 1/10 of 1" thick. The standard is to have 4 oz. of fibers per sq. foot of batting. Almost all cotton, wool, and other natural fibers are made into batting using this method. It comes with or without a scrim (Warm and Natural has a scrim) Scrim is a thin mesh that the batting is needled around, it gives the batting more strength from tugs and pulls. But it can bother some machines and can be a little more difficult to hand quilt. Most hand quilter perfer without scrim. Most polyester batting is bonded batting. You might have heard the slogan "Bonded batting doesn't beard" Bonded batting is made usually in either of two methods. Resin bonded or Thermal bonded, as the name implies. Resin bonded batting has a glue sprayed on to the fibers and they stick together as the glue drys. Thermal bonded batting uses heat to melt some of the fibers (low melt fibers) to the point where they adhere or stick to the regular fibers. You now have no glue or resin in the batting. Most factories are moving from the older method (resin bonding) to the newer method (thermal bonding) Bonded batting has lots of air space and can be very thin like a 2 oz. batting You can almost see through this batting (loft about 0.20") up to 20 oz batting (loft about 1.50"). So if you want a very puffy product when you are finished you would want a high loft or extra high loft batting. Polyester batting is usually referred to as 2oz or 3 oz Low Loft, 4 oz Medium Loft, 6 oz to 8 oz High Loft and 10 oz extra high loft). Polyester batting usually comes on a roll that is 48" or 96" wide. The oz. weight is usually measured in how much fiber is put into each lenier yard of product (not sq. foot like needled batting). So a 3 oz 48" wide and a 6 oz 96" wide product would be the same batting the 96" wide product has twice as much fiber because it is twice as wide. Polyester cost about 1/2 of what cotton cost, wool cost about twice as much as cotton. Polyester is not a natural fiber (oil based) and does not "breath" like the natural fibers. Most all the great quilting artist use a cotton batting. Folks that are making quilts for everyday use, usually use a polyester batting. Cotton batting gets fuller after each washing. (This is as the fibers loosen up from the needle processing. Where polyester batting starts to get less puffy as the fibers break down. Hope this information helps a few folks understand batting a bet better. www.batt-mart.com has a large selection of batting. They have HOBBS, THE WARM COMPANY, QUITERS DREAM, AIRTEX, FAIRFIELD, PELLON, other no brand name products
#30
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
Originally Posted by Borntohandquilt
Originally Posted by Prism99
Old-fashioned cotton battings such as Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon are not needlepunched. They need to be quilted closer together to keep the batting stable. Quilting lines should be no more than about 2 inches apart.
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