wool batting
#2
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
It depends on the brand. Hobbs wool and Quilter's Dream wool are preshrunk and treated so that you do not have to worry about batting shrinkage or bearding. Off-brands can act very differently. I'm not sure about QD batting, but Hobbs wool batting will shrink about 3% -- which is typical for most cotton battings too.
Not prewashing your fabric doesn't matter. What does matter is how much quilting you do. If you do a reasonable amount of quilting with lines no more than 3" or 4" apart, the fabric and batting are bonded together sufficiently that the batting will take control of shrinkage. If your quilting lines are far apart, say 10", then a fabric with an inclination to shrink more than 5% or more will be able to do that. When the fabric and batting are quilted reasonably well, they shrink together. Since the batting has more heft than the fabric, the batting ends up controlling how much everything shrinks.
Edit: If you want no shrinkage at all, use polyester batting. Polyester batting does not shrink.
Not prewashing your fabric doesn't matter. What does matter is how much quilting you do. If you do a reasonable amount of quilting with lines no more than 3" or 4" apart, the fabric and batting are bonded together sufficiently that the batting will take control of shrinkage. If your quilting lines are far apart, say 10", then a fabric with an inclination to shrink more than 5% or more will be able to do that. When the fabric and batting are quilted reasonably well, they shrink together. Since the batting has more heft than the fabric, the batting ends up controlling how much everything shrinks.
Edit: If you want no shrinkage at all, use polyester batting. Polyester batting does not shrink.
#6
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 12,861
I've used wool battings for many quilts, it's my favorite batting. Dream wool and Hobbs wool are the two I use. I've made quilts with prewashed fabrics, not prewashed fabrics and some prewashed some not in the same quilt. Every one has turned out great. Those wool battings do not shrink like cotton batting does. It is lightweight, lofty and wonderful to work with. Each time I launder one of those quilts it comes out of the dryer soft, lofty, huggable, wonderful.
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