I need some advice from the more experienced quilters out there amongst you.

I have finished this top...

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/20563.page

and I will be hand quilting it. I had planned to use some cotton batting sold by the yard off a roll at my local Quilting Mecca. The only thing is, the store personnel can't tell me exactly what brand of batting it is. It does feel very sturdy, and I tried dunking a piece of it in some water and trying to tear it out of shape, and I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried.

I would be open to suggestions on other types of batting to use if I have to. Problem is, this quilt is so very busy that I think it needs a very simple quilting design, perhaps 45 degree angle straight lines, maybe both ways making diamonds?

Would it be ok for me to only put these lines, say, 4 inches apart? That would leave a 4" square unquilted between the lines. Is that too far to leave unquilted? Perhaps with the different batting? How about 2 inches apart, would that be close enough together to prevent bunching later?

I've put way too much work into it already to make a mistake and not put enough quilting lines on it. :roll:

If it is Warm & Natural batting your quilting can be up to 10-12 inches apart. I don't know about other brands of cotton batting but I would think that 4 inches between quilting would be no problem at all.

I would be comfortable with stitching 4" apart. It would make the quilt fluffier. Closer together and it may be more stiff feeling.

I also use warm and natural all cotton. With cotton, your quilts will be soft no matter how close you quilt. You should be safe at 4 in, One thing about the roll, make sure it is wide enough for your quilt. Other than that, it should be alright! :D

Ninnie

I've just basted a top in the warm and natural - first time I've used it as previously I used Hobbs 80/20. I must say it's beautifully soft and feels more stable than the Hobbs. I agree with the above - 4" no probs!

To add to Ninnie's comment re width, you can join batting together using a wideish zig zag on your sewing machine. If you make sure the edges butt up completely flat - no overlap and use 100 percent cotton thread, you can't tell when it's inside the quilt.

K x

I agree w/the others...and even though the helper might seem innocent, I would want to know what you bought if I were you:)Someone over there knows:)Skeat...who loves the warm and natural!

I also use the warm and natural!

It seems to me that 4 inches apart is usually fine.

Before layering the entire quilt sandwich, I would make a test sandwich with this batting and make sure you like hand quilting through it. If it's that stable, it's probably a batting that is needle-punched through scrim. Warm 'n' Natural is that type. Some people don't mind hand quilting through a scrim but I found it made hand quilting much more difficult for me.

It sounds like it could be Warm and Natural. This stuff is wonderful and you can quilt it much farther apart than 4 inches too. I use NOTHING ELSE.