Batting
A. Preparing Batting
There is a grain-line to batting. Just like fabric, batting has a warp and weft, and stretches one way more than the other. This is important to know for wall hangings, clothing, and decorative items.
Sharon Mominee, Alpine, CA
I sometimes run the batting through a gentle cycle in the washing machine, and then into the dryer. That generally takes care of some of the shrinkage. If I don’t have time for the wash cycle, I’ll put it in the dryer on air-fluff, just to loosen it up and get some of the wrinkles out.
Karen Renninger, Punta Gorda, FL
If I am planning to hand quilt a project, I soak the batting in cool water, gently roll it in a towel to remove the excess water and lay it flat to dry. It makes needling much easier.
Karen Martin, Breezy Point, MN
Always unwrap your batting and let it relax before you use it. Sometimes I put it in the dryer on air fluff for a few minutes. If I don’t want any shrinkage, I put it in the washing machine and let it soak with no agitation for 5 minutes, then spin it, and put it in the dryer on low.
Roxie Fitzgerald, Cerritos, CA
To eliminate wrinkles in my batting before I make the quilt sandwich, I found putting a dampened light towel, like a kitchen towel, in the dryer with the batting and a dryer sheet, makes the work of putting the quilt together much simpler. The batting feels fluffy but not thick. I formerly just spread out the batting and let it rest out of the packaging, but it is nicer out of the dryer.
Joan Trautwein, Belle Mead, NJ
Always remember to cut batting about 4” larger than your quilt top and backing.
Jean Taylor, Edmond, OK
B. Preferred Battings by Brand Name
I prefer Warm & Natural needled cotton batting. I love that it doesn’t bunch up, that you can quilt or tie it up to 10” apart, and it doesn’t contain any glues or resins. And I love that I can use it on the outside too. I have a couple projects where I’ve used this batting on the outside in appliqué and it’s given a great effect!
Amy Mayo, Havre de Grace, MD
I am a longarm quilter and the batting that I use most often is Hobbs 80/20 which is 80% cotton and 20% polyester. It quilts beautifully, has a nice drape, is breathable and with the added strength of the polyester, it doesn’t bunch and shift within the quilt. It has the look and feel of a traditional cotton batting and washes and dries wonderfully.
I’ve found that cotton batting tends to hold up better wash after wash and doesn’t tend to separate like polyester batting can.
Barbara Gentner, West Seneca, NY
I prefer either Warm & Natural 100% cotton batting or Quilters Dream mid-weight 100% cotton batting. My personal taste is a more traditional look to a quilt and not the more poofy look created by higher loft polyester batting. Also, I’ve found that cotton batting tends to hold up better wash after wash and doesn’t tend to separate like polyester batting can. I make my quilts to be used, so they will be washed.
Geralyn McClarren, Harrisburg, PA
For charity quilts, I use poly. For baby gifts, I use Quilters Dream Angel for its flame deterrence. Often for adult gifts, I use wool for its lightness and warmth.
Leah Groenwald, Glasgow, KY
Currently I am using Dream Select cotton and Hobbs Heirloom Wool together in my quilts. They permit me to get a faux trapunto look that accentuates the quilting stitches.
Georgia Pierce, Seattle, WA
I use Quilters Dream. All of the products they sell are awesome quality. They have four lofts and sell cotton, wool and poly batts. They even have recycled green batting that is made 100% from recycled bottles.
Karen Benke, Medina, OH
I prefer Quilters Dream Select. I like the weight of the finished quilt using this. It’s not too heavy, but warm. It’s so easy to use and to trim to size because of how it is folded. It clings to the quilt top and is easy to smooth out any wrinkles.
Colleen Coffman, Mulino, OR
I prefer 100% cotton batting such as Heirloom or Dream Cotton. It is easy to control under the walking foot, safe for baby items, washes without moving and bunching, and leaves less debris on my machine.
Karen Farnsworth, Hallam, PA
I like Quilters Dream Cotton when I send my quilts out for long arm quilting. It has a good drape to it and feels more like a hand quilted quilt. It is also a good batting for hand quilting.
Nora Manley, Athens, AL
Your Favorite Quilting Websites, According to Our Survey
I go to the websites of my local quilt shops to see what classes are offered, what’s new, and check for specials.
Leslie O’Brien, Exton, PA
I use Warm & Natural Cotton Batting almost exclusively. I buy queen size and cut it to the size I need.
June Bryant, Rochester, NY
I prefer cotton batting, and I usually get Warm & White or Warm & Natural. I find these are soft and they don’t leave a lot of fluff around. When I used Quilters Dream Orient, my machine had a lot of fibers, and I was sneezing as I sewed.
Kathie Wilson, Camarillo, CA
I prefer Fusible Fleece (Pellon) for small wall hangings or table runners that I’m not going to handquilt. It gives stability to the layers.
Ruth Ann Gingrich, New Holland, PA
My new go-to batting is Pellon wool batting. For years, I used Warm & Natural cotton batting. I thought that the thick and thin spots were just how batting was made. A friend recommended Pellon wool batting, and I found that it did not stretch and pull apart like the cheap cotton batting. It gives a lovely loft in the finished quilt. It is warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
C. Preferred Battings by Fiber Content
The easiest batting for hand quilting is polyester, but I try not to use it because sometimes the batting migrates through the quilt when it’s washed, and I end up with little knots on top of my quilt.
Nora Manley, Athens, AL
I use a poly/cotton blend batting for charity work because I think it holds up well to excessive use. I use cotton for my personal quilts as I like the crinkled look after washing. Cotton batting clings to the quilt fabric so well during quilting, and the whole quilt feels great. I’ll use either cotton or poly for wall hangings and lap quilts and leftovers of either in placemats.
Nancee McCann, Wilmington, DE
For baby quilts or quilts for young children, I like to use polyester fleece rather than batting. Fleece stands up to repeated washing and resists pulling on the quilting.
Katherine Schaffer, Lima, NY
I prefer polyester batting because it gives a slightly puffy look which looks so cozy to me.
Sally Petersheim, Gap, PA
I prefer to use a cotton/poly blend batting. I get the softness of cotton plus the stability from the polyester. This batting is also easier to hand quilt than an all-cotton batting.
Tammy Jones, Vienna, MD
I love a wool/poly blend batting. It washes well, and the more you wash, the softer the quilts become. It’s warm enough to be the only thing we use on our bed through spring and summer, and it doesn’t require dense quilting.
Louise Lott, Healesville, Australia
I prefer a wool batting as we live in a region of cold winters and super-hot summers. Wool is perfect for the extremes. It is also wonderfully soft and easy to quilt.
Julie Hinks, Pine Mountain, Australia
For hand quilting, I like 100% wool or 100% silk. It is like quilting through butter. For machine quilting, I use 100% cotton as it doesn’t slip or beard.
I just converted to bamboo batting. It’s so soft, especially as I make many baby quilts, and it’s environmentally friendly.
Barbara Porter, Arroyo Grande, CA
I just converted to bamboo batting. It’s so soft, especially as I make many baby quilts, and it’s environmentally friendly.
Robyn Waite, Cherrybrook, Australia
I have used bamboo on my last two quilts and have been amazed by how well this performs as a really good batting. It quilts very well, and washing is so easy on gentle cycle. The quilt comes out looking amazing. I will be using bamboo batting more often, if I can source more of it.
Anne Ryves, Thornlands, Australia
I prefer natural types of batting, cotton being the cheaper natural one. I do love the soy and bamboo batting which are more expensive. They are better for the environment, lie flatter and breathe. I like the feel of the batting and the look of the quilt after it has been quilted. It gives the quilt a more old-fashioned look.
Susan Louis, Briarwood, NY
I have been using a pure cotton fusible batting on both the quilt top and the backing. It is light, soft, and very easy to apply, especially on larger quilts. It makes quilting so much easier that I can now do it myself and don’t need to send away for quilting.
Miffy Smith, Hastings, Australia
I like thin and soft cotton batting. Sometimes I use flannel for that antique look that I love. Tiny stitches are also easier with thin batting.
Ann Liebner, Pine Grove, PA
If you are quilting a very dark fabric quilt, make sure you purchase black batting. It makes a difference!
Peggy Quinlan-Gee, Salt Lake City, UT
D. Pros and Cons of Natural Battings
I have found that natural fibers adhere better to cotton fabrics, making them easier to quilt. Natural fibers have some shrinkage which causes that crinkled, aged look. This is either an advantage or disadvantage, depending on what end result you prefer.
Nancee McCann, Wilmington, DE
Natural fibers have stood the test of time. We know that quilts using these fibers last. The newer batting made from bamboo, recycled bottles, etc., do not have this proven track record.
Georgia Pierce, Seattle, WA
Cotton batting is soft to the touch, drapes nicely, quilts beautifully, and does not have little fibers that get up your nose like a polyester batting does. The biggest disadvantage is that cotton shows fold and crease lines more than polyester does.
Judy Dowdy, Grandy, NC
I’m not keen on bamboo batting. Although it’s soft, when I quilt it on the long arm machine, it pops through the stitch holes and brings a lot of fluff around the needle and bobbin.
Louise Lott, Healesville, Australia
Natural fiber batting can be stronger. My mother used wool batting made from felt that was previously used to press water out of paper at a paper mill. These battings have outlived their fabric sandwiches and are currently being used in new quilts.
Karen Enslen, Port Republic, VA
Natural fibers can breathe, but they are more expensive than poly fibers. Natural fibers burn but do not melt as do poly fibers, making them safer for children’s quilts.
Betty Phelps, Wichita Falls, TX
Polyester battings do hold their shape better and also resist molds and mildew. A polyester-filled quilt will be thicker but weigh less than a quilt with a 100% cotton batting.
Sharon Sutton, Lindsey, OH
As a vegan and environmental activist, I prefer fabrics and batting made from natural fibers grown organically. As organic is not always the easiest to find, and there is not as much selection as far as patterns and colors go, this is a definite disadvantage. Some new battings are becoming available made from recycled manmade fibers that are also more environmentally friendly than, say, conventionally grown cotton, which requires immense amounts of water and pesticides.
Wool should only be used on quilts that will get a lot of use as the batting could attract moths in storage.
Amanda Kei Andrews, Vero Beach, FL
Cotton batting is my favorite. Bamboo seems super linty, and wool should only be used on quilts that will get a lot of use as the batting could attract moths in storage.
Leigh Spears, San Antonio, TX
Make a sample set for yourself. Get pieces of many types of batting and sew them, wash them, and keep them so that when you need a batting, you have a reference guide of your own. Mark each so you know what it is. Washing lets you know how it will wash as far as shrinking and keeping its shape. A good place to get samples is at quilt shows. Batting companies many times will give a sample pack of their products.
When purchasing a bag of batting, read the bag. It tells you how to care for the product, how close the quilting needs to be and what the content of the product is. I keep these bags until the quilt is finished. If I have any pieces of the batting left over that I intend to keep, I put them back in the bag so that when I go to use that piece, I know what it is.
Patti Goggio, Broadlands, VA
E. Different Lofts
With tied quilts, I use high-loft batting so it is fluffy and airy. With quilted items, I use a low loft because it’s easier to sew and creates a more uniform quilted product. For home decor items like placemats, I use interfacing with no loft so my kids’ cups don’t tip over due to lumpy batting.
Liz Brown, Annapolis, MD
In baby quilts, the higher loft makes the quilt lightweight and fold-able. I use thinner densities in table runners and placemats because they lie nicely. In larger quilts for beds, the wool batting is nice because it drapes well, yet it’s lightweight.
Judy Parmley, Blaine, MN
For heavily quilted projects, a thinner batting is better to show the shadowing. A thick batting would not only be difficult to quilt, but much of the detail in the quilting would be lost. With regard to piecing, the more complex the piecing, the less dense the loft. Once a project with complex piecing is finished, it can become quite heavy, just due to the seams in the fabric.
Kathleen Keough, Berwyn, PA
I use more loft in wall hangings and children’s novelty items when I want that “pop out” effect. The cheaper poly or cotton/poly mix gives the amount of lift that I need.
Since most battings get thinner as time goes on, I often don’t use the low loft.
Karen Farnsworth, Hallam, PA
To create depth, I might use more layers of batting or a different density batting. If I want an area to stand out from the background, I will puff it up more with another layer. I once did this with a sunburst, putting more loft in the center portion of the sun.
Paula Clark, Ethridge, TN
Since most battings get thinner as time goes on, I often don’t use the low loft.
Kris Newlin, West Chester, PA
F. What To Do With Batting Scraps
Don’t throw away your batting scraps. You can zig-zag stitch them together to create larger pieces you can reuse. I have quite a few quilts that are made this way, and there is no difference in washing or drape.
Liz Brown, Annapolis, MD
I use pinking shears to cut batting pieces to make it easier to butt them together to make a larger size.
Terry Miller, Alexandria, VA
If you have to piece the batting because you didn’t have a big enough single piece, be sure to use the same types of pieces together. Don’t mix cotton with cotton/poly to create one piece, for example. They have different degrees of shrinkage.
Patsy Shields, Sellersburg, IN
I have made several large quilts that I’ve quilted in sections. I have found that Hobbs 80/20 batting is very easy to join together with nylon tricot interfacing strips. These joints cannot be detected from the front or back of the finished quilt. It makes quilting a large quilt on a regular sewing machine much easier to handle.
Laroletta Petty, Breckenridge, CO
Save those small batting scraps you don’t need for your project. They are good substitutes for pricey floor dusting sheets!
In addition, I find that a 2” wide strip of lightweight fusible interfacing will join two smaller pieces of batting to make a useable piece. I use this method especially for baby quilts.
Susan Bloomfield, Wilder, VT
Save all your batting scraps and use them to stuff little pillows and cloth toys. I also wrap long strips around wooden hangers to pad them well, and then cover them with muslin. Padded hangers are nice for hanging liturgical vestments such as chasubles.
Valerie Turer, Brooklyn, NY