Silk is excellent for hand quilting. It was the favorite batting used by Roxanne McElroy, and she did only hand quilting. She passed around one of her quilts in a class, and it was indeed very soft and very luxurious. At the time she made quilts, silk batting was very expensive (the Hobbs was not available). I have heard that the Hobbs silk batting is fairly thin, so I wouldn't expect huge loft.