Originally Posted by
Peckish
I don't like a lot of dense quilting in bed quilts because it renders them stiff.
It is the batting that determines this, not the amount of quilting. Peggi, you surprise me by perpetuating this myth, you are so knowledgable in so many aspects of quilting. You could quilt every square inch of a quilt with wool, polyester or silk batting and it will still have lovely drape and not be stiff.
To the op comment, while I have never heard this, it does seem to have a certain amount of scientific logic to it. It is the air pockets in the batting (or filling) that form the insulation which in turn, traps in body heat and traps out cold which makes the covering warmer. This is the reason why a feather down comforter or down jacket is so toasty warm, it has loads and loads of air pockets and they are minimally quilted or baffled. So it stands to reason that a lofty batting, such as wool or polyester combined with minimal quilting will indeed result in a much warmer quilt.
But as Peggi also pointed out, the batting has a lot to do with it as well. I know of many southern quilts that have just a piece of flannel as batting, others done in cotton (low loft, breathes, less air pockets) But the cotton could also stem from the historical significance of the south being cotton growing country so it was the most economical batting as well.