selm

I was just reading a knitting about knitting socks which said the wool from meat breed sheep is good for sock yarn as it wears better than other wools. Have no idea how you find yarn from that breed of sheep though.

miriam

I remember only ever having quilts made with batting like that for winter.We had crazy quilts or simply two pieces of fabric one on top and one on the bottom that were always tied by the Lady's Aid at church on frames. My job was to go under there and poke the needle back up when it got too far to the center to reach. They were thick comfortors and we rolled up in them like mummies because the upstairs of the house was not very warm in northern Wisconsin. These will be very warm if you have heated bedrooms. The tops were some times taken off and washed then put back. You don't wash them you send the batts to be cleaned and re-carded at the woolen mills or do it your self.

EmiliasNana

I grew up in Wisconsin and my grandma always used the wool batts to make whole cloth tied quilts. She used yarn. I think the wool batts are still available from a mill in Appleton, WI (Courtney Woolen Mill?) They were thick and oh, so warm. Great memories. Good luck.

AZ Jane

Depending on the density, you may have to tie whatever top you decide.

RST

Thanks, all, for the input and insights.

Because I have two to work with, I will experiment a bit. I did tell the gentleman who gave them to me that I would use one to make an item to auction for a worthy project at our church. It may end up being a smaller project, depending on my results. I plan to document my experience with photos and blogging, and maybe keep a portion of one of the battings intact to serve as a sample.

Looking at these, it's very evident that the maker was experienced and very competent. They're neatly made and show a confidence that comes from lots of practice. Apparently she made at least one for every member of her large family, including all grandchildren. My understanding is that she was a farmer's wife and they raised their own sheep, processing the wool themselves.

My personal style tends to be more modern/contemporary, so deciding on fabric and a pattern best suited to this project will be a stretch for me, but I like trying out new (to me) things, so it will be fun. I am hopeful that I can machine quilt it, but if not, I'm entertaining the options of big stitch handquilting or tying.

Today's a rare sunny day for Seattle so I'm going to air and sun one of them to freshen it a bit before I begin to conduct experiments.

feline fanatic

I will eagerly anticipate your results. I remember once there was a discussion here about those old hand carded wool battings wrapped in cheese cloth. Some members remember their grandmothers only using them in tied quilts and the bats were never washed. The quilt top and backing were assembled like a duvet. When they needed cleaning, all the ties were cut, the batting removed and beaten and aired out and the tops were washed separately. Once everything was cleaned and aired out the batting was put back into the quilt "duvet", slip stitch closed and re-tied.
The ones who described the process said it was only done once per year. Not surprising when you consider the amount of work involved.

Bree123

RST, you should be able to machine quilt it -- just loosen the tension on your presser foot a bit to accommodate the thicker batting. My guess is that, like most farmers I know, they have a sheep shearer come around each Spring to shear the sheep & clean the wool. It's an enormous endeavor in itself and to be trying to do that at the same time as Spring planting would be a huge challenge.

There's not reason you can't do a modern/contemporary design with the wool batt. Honestly, I think it would be much easier to do it on the machine. One you layer your quilt together, trying to push a tiny quilting needle through cheesecloth & hand carded wool will be a challenge & there's no way to tell where the spaces in the cheesecloth's weave are after you've sandwiched everything together. My guess is that's why hand tying was so popular with it since people could use a heavier needle with yarn or pearl cotton.

Since you have 2 batts, you might even try one of each. Make one in the contemporary style you are so skilled at; then make a second one using more traditional fibers -- perhaps even with all woolen fabrics like the Australian Waggas, or some of the "primitive" applique quilts (https://www.primitivegatherings.us/s...-projects.html). I love Primitive Gatherings. Their wool & felt fabrics are top-notch & they even have some wool fabrics that they hand dye. It might be fun to do an all wool primitive quilt using the wool batt, woolen fabric & Valdani 100% wool thread in size 15. Wool applique is fairly quick & easy. You just need some Heat & Bond to help it adhere a bit and then it's mostly just a quick buttonhole stitch. You could blog about the process & time that goes into each one, as well as comment on the properties of each and why they were popular in different time periods... but that's just my thoughts. I'm sure with such high quality batting, no matter what you do it will be really beautiful.