Originally Posted by starryzar
I live in the UK and bought an old cream WWII wool blanket and used that for wadding. It was easy to quilt through (I have to machine quilt now) and I thought a good weight for a quilt as I often feel 'modern' battings are a thin feel. My daughter is pleased with her quilt.
Hand wash or use either the handwash or the wool setting on your washing machine, seemed to work ok. I would certainly do it again. The only limitation is the size of these blankets as the singles seem to have survived better than the doubles which are rare.
By the way these blankets are sort of loosely woven compared to the modern fluffy felted look.
When i was a kid here in america before WWII I remember my grandmother and aunts using those old double blankets inside the quilts that they made. They were made for double beds but woven twice as long (huge) and folded over to make a two layer blanket which was claimed to be warmer to sleep under. In our cold new england winters with upstairs unheated, two or three of those double blankets kept us warm! They were cream or light tan, sometimes with darker stripes woven into them. They cut them to use only one layer, and got three quilt linings from one unfolded blanket. They had treadle machines and stitched a stay stitch along the cut edge.
Like you, they said they were easy to quilt through. I can remember them arguing over who was going to get a piece!
I wonder if they were woven in England? I have a notion they might have come through Canada? Do you know? 81 year old Jeannie