Originally Posted by
Skittl1321
I'd take poly out of this statement. I haven't used wool or silk, but my Winter Wonderland quilt is heavily quilted and it comes close to being able to stand on its own. It is extremely stiff. This style of quilting would not be appropriate on a bed quilt.
Quilted or threadpainted? Judging by your posts you are an art quilter. I do know art quilters tend to do a lot of threadpainting. In my mind the difference between the two is threadpainting is more closely related to freehand machine embroidery where you go back and forth over the same spot with layers of thread, building up color and texure. Quilting still leaves some space between each line of stitching.
I have done some very heavy quilting on poly and it just simply flattens out but is still quite flexible depending on how much seaming and piecing are in the top. (this, of course, excludes fusible applique which builds up layers of fabric with an adhesive, which also tends to be stiff, even with products like Mistifuse)
Threadpainting is another whole category. It much more resembles embroidery and it will make a piece of fabric stiff even if no batting exists.
Edited to add, OK I just went and looked at some of your pictures, definitely quilting not threadpainting. So now I want to ask which type of poly did you use. Quilters Dream Poly tends to quilt up like cotton. Hobbs polydown tends to just flatten out like I described. So I guess I should amend my statement to say Hobbs Polydown poly. As QD poly is unlike any other poly out there. It is more like a cotton blend batting and I could definitely see that one stiffening up like cotton with heavy quilting.