I'm thinking of teaching a hand quilting class this spring at Country Sampler (Papillion NE). What would you recommend as a batting? My Mom used the cheapest, thinnest poly bat she could find at Walmart and made beautiful quilts. I'd prefer something cotton and easier to work with. (That poly is a stinker to spread out evenly over the quilt top and back.) I've used Hobbs 80/20. I'm using the lightest Dream Cotton on my current project and it's okay. Is there something better?
tia, joan
Poly is actually quite easy to hand quilt through. Even the heavy kind used in Hawaiian quilts is pretty easy to needle.
If you want a natural fiber than I think the easiest is wool. Hobbs makes a great one. Ok, well silk is really easy but much more expensive.
For cotton....the lightest Quilters Dream or Hobbs 80/20 are what I generally end up with. Cotton is really the toughest to hand quilt through many people just love cotton so they choose one with a light weight and no scrim.
marcella
I'll echo everything Marcella says, but I just want to add one little hint. If you do decide to go with Hobbs 80/20 (which I love, but I'll readily admit that poly and wool -- haven't tried silk yet -- are much easier), presoaking it according to the package instructions makes it quite a bit easier to needle.
Wool. It's like it's not even there. I can't get enough of that stuff.
Cindy
I don't know what the best batting is, but I can recommend that if you use a poly batting, be sure that it is bonded. Before we knew the difference between bonded and unbonded, my mom used an unbonded poly bat and now the quilt is bearding. AUUUGGHH!
Absolutely. The needle slips through it like butter. I did my last one with wool batting and now am totally spoiled.
Sherry
I have used the Hobbs Poly-Down for both hand and machine quilting and never had any trouble with it bearding, even with dark colored fabric. I'm now hooked on Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 for both hand and machine quilting; it quilts quite easily by hand, though perhaps not quite as easily as the Poly-Down.
Julia > I don't know what the best batting is, but I can recommend that if you use a
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