Depends for piecing I love cotton by far more than poly, but for quilting I am really starting to love poly for that. for FMQ I find that there is a ton of lint with all cotton including some that most say hardly have lint, had a lot of lint when I was working with it. I also find it shreads more even when moving up to a larger needle, while when I play with poly, hardly any lint and seldom a breakage. I still have one more brand of popular cotton to try before I make up my mind