harryb1834

Does anyone have a favorite type of batting? I am lost when it comes to picking one?

Pam in WV

I've asked this question for years because there are so many out there and over the past 28 years, I've tried a lot of them. For me, I love the wool battings. It's a bit pricy, but it is so wonderful to hand quilt. I'm sure that there will be a lot of different ideas here, and one will be just what you are looking for. Pam

salmonsweet

Hobbs Heirloom Wool, all the way. Enough of a loft to really show off your quilting, specially made so the handquilting needle flows through with ease, and gives a wonderfully light and soft quilt. :-)

LindaR

my favorite is "quilters Dream" not cheap but so soft

sewjoyce

I usually use Warm & Natural (or Warm & White). But I'm still experimenting :lol: :lol:

sewcrafty

I use Warm & Natural. Has worked for me every time.

Missi

I tried a few weeks ago to hand quilt a table runner with warm and natural and couldn't get my needle to rock. When I have hand quilted in the past I have used poly batting. Sewcrafty are you hand quilting with the warm and natural?

mpspeedy

A lot depends on the finished look I am going for and who will be caring for the quilt. I still like poly for baby or children's quilts as it launders well and is lighter. I also like poly if I want the quilting to really pop. Now that they make the thinner poly it is easy to work with by hand. For quilts that may be around forever or a client's special quilt I use Dream Cotton the thinest they make. It allows me to make the smallest stitches. It is all a matter of personal taste and how much money you have to spend.

Cathie_R

I use a low loft poly and really like it. I tried a cotton batting once and decided never again. The needle just didn't move through it right. I fought it for an entire full sized quilt. Looks like a lot of you use warm and natural. I may try it on something small to see if I like it.

Prism99

I don't like to hand quilt through Warm n Natural because it is needepunched through scrim. This makes it difficult to push the needle through.

For an all-cotton batting, I like Quilter's Dream. It is needlepunched, but not through scrim, which makes it a very stable and uniform batt. I took a class from a famous quiltmaker who liked Fairfield's bonded all-cotton batting for quilting, but she said it needed to be soaked first for hand quilting because otherwise the bonding agents make the needle stick.

Many traditional cotton battings are difficult to hand quilt because the natural oil in the cotton creates drag on the needle, they are not uniform in depth, and some even have little pieces of the cotton seeds in them. I hand-quilted through my favorite machine quilting batting, Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon, exactly once; never again!

Wool and silk battings are supposed to be the easiest to hand quilt -- like quilting through butter. You can use these battings even when the top and backing are all cotton. Wool batts used to have bearding problems, but the newer ones are bonded and processed to prevent bearding.

Low-loft polyester battings are also supposed to be good for hand quilting.