tallchick

I am embarking upon a few simple quick quilts and would like to use wool batting, is there one brand that is better than another??? I was thinking I might like the Hobbs washable wool has anyone worked with it before?? I will be quilting them on my DSM. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Jeanne S

The only wool I have used is Warm & Natural. I have used Hobbs cotton batting and liked it so I would bet their wool is fine too.

Prism99

I would recommend using Hobbs wool batting. There was a long thread on here awhile back started by a quilter who used Quilter's Dream wool and started having problems with bearding. She contacted the company, but there was basically nothing that could be done about it. I haven't seen any similar reports of problems with Hobbs wool, so that is the one I would choose.

RipStitcher

May I ask.... what is "bearding"?

Prism99

Bearding is when batting fibers start working their way through the quilt top and/or backing fabric. It is not common with cotton battings, more common with polyester battings. Wool battings used to be notorious for bearding problems and had to be encased in cheesecloth before layering. However, advances in manufacturing have resulted in battings much less likely to beard than in the past. Polyester battings are often treated with heat bonding, for example.

Bearding can disfigure a quilt, especially if it is white batting through black fabric. That is why quilters sometimes opt for a black batting for a dark quilt.

If there are only a few places on the quilt where bearding occurs, you can use the dull end of a needle to work the fibers back under the fabric. If you try to pull out the tufts of batting, all you do is encourage more batting fibers to come through the surface. When bearding is all over, about your only option is to "shave" the batting fibers off the surface similar to how you would remove pills from a sweater that has pilled in the wash.

Edit: I found the thread about bearding with the QD wool:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...m-t222212.html

spstout

Warm and Natural is not wool. It is cotton.

I have used Hobbs wool and love it. Wool is a dream to quilt.

ckcowl

The Hobbs wool batting and Dream Wool are my favorites. Connecting threads have good batting sales and I try to grab a couple/take advantage of that. One of our local shops carries a large selection of the Dream Battings (I love all of the Dream Battings) so,when I get a chance to stop in I always grab a couple Wool battings, Both companies (Hobbs &Dream) have wonderful Wool (and others) battings; the wool battings are wonderful to work with. My all time favorite quilts have wool battings in them.

ckcowl

This is a surprise! I have over ten quilts with Dream Wool batting (which is my all time favorite batting) and have never had any "bearding" problems. The quilts are used, laundered - washer & dryer- and the first one is 9 or 10 years old now. I wound have to think there are other factors involved

ckcowl

Actually after rereading... I think there is a difference between The Dream Company battings and ( quilters dream)...2 different companies... I have not tried (quilters dream) batting. Only Dream Wool from the Dream Batting company

ManiacQuilter2

I have an old batting of Hobbs wool but never have used it because back in the OLDER day. I don't think it is washable like the newer version. I have never been disappointed with any Hobbs batting.

The company called Quilter's Dream Batting manufactures some of the best batting available but they are a little bit more in price.