I've never heard of this method....but I use Quilters Dream batting where there is no scrim. You might want to check out their website to see the difference in their batting. I couldn't imagine washing a quilt with just the top and batting....but then many people do a lot of things I would never contemplate doing which doesn't make it wrong or right. Guess there are methods for everything. That said, Quilters Dream doesn't require washing it prior to quilting. Cotton batting is just that cotton and I can only imagine the mess it would create but again I have never heard of this so am at a loss as to your particular procedure.