Originally Posted by sunnyhope
What is the best batting when you want a really warm one???
Probably wool. I don't know about now, but it used to be advisable to encase wool batting in cheesecloth before layering the quilt sandwich. This was to prevent bearding. It's probably still a good idea but may not be necessary with the newer coatings and processing methods they have these days.
For the batting samples, maybe you could start a swap. Instead of sending 10 squares of fabric, each person could send in 10 pieces of a batting with label info included (brand, type, weight, recommended quilting distance).
Also, some places online sell bundles of batting samples. I got one years ago.
Unfortunately, though, I'd say it's almost impossible to tell much from a small square of batting. In my experience, you need about a 12-inch square and you need to actually quilt it, bind it, and wash it to see how it turns out. Furthermore, you need to make separate samples for machine quilting and hand quilting.
I have been in one quilt store where the owners went to the trouble of doing this (using muslin for top, backing and binding) and hung the resulting samples (appropriately labeled in permanent ink) next to the battings. This helped a lot, but still didn't give a lot of information about softness. You almost need a baby quilt size to really tell what the drape is like, for example, and there's no way to tell exactly how well a batting will hold up to machine washing and drying without doing it quite a number of times to the sample. That's where online comments can be very helpful.