Has anyone tried to pre-wash quilters dream puff? I'm currently hand quilting a quilt. I have done a couple of quilts with Hobbs Heirloom wool, but due to cost this time I decided to give the dream puff a try. My needle seems to be getting a bit hung up as I push it through. It's either the backing which is a higher quality cotton (translate heavier) than I have been using or the resins in the dream puff batting. From a thickness standpoint the batting seems fine, I can get the same size stitches I usually do.

Just wondering if the dream puff could be soaked good and tossed in the dryer before use without disintegrating. Maybe if I had pre-soaked it would be softer? The sample I had originally didn't seem to have as much resin in it as the full queen size feels like.

Do you have enough extra that you could try it on a test piece? I looked it up and it says the fibers are heat bonded, so not sure that prewashing will help; however, worth a try.

I think that most polyester battings can be soaked, hand-agitated, spun out in the washing machine and machine dried without falling apart. (Never allow machine agitation, of course!) Many cotton battings can stand this also, probably because they are needle-punched.

Traditional cotton battings such as Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon cannot be soaked and dried as they have no bonding or needlepunching at all; they will fall apart.

If you're speaking of Quilter's Dream batting....they do say on the package it's not required/advised to wash their battings prior to use. You might try one of those products that make your needles slide better through the fabric....sorry can't think of their names at the moment. I will admit I haven't hand quilted in so long and have no problems with the machine sewing with them. Hope you find a great solution soon as I know how frustrating it can be when you aren't getting the results you want.