Originally Posted by
Craftnut
Warm and Natural makes several weights of battings. I used the denser one in my winter quilt, and a lighter weight one in my summer bed coverlet. I just like the way it quilts up, and my show quilts come out nice and flat but with good quilting definition. Quilter's Dream is the same, not just one option. I hate poly loft batting, it may look lightweight, but it is a b*tch to sew through and it is hot because it doesn't breathe the way cotton does.
This is a somewhat misleading statement. The Warm Company which makes Warm and Natural makes several different types of batting but Warm and Natural only comes in one weight and one weight only. Please visit their website to familiarize yourself.
http://www.warmcompany.com/products.html
It is not a fun batting to hand quilt but many swear by it, I think because they have not tried other products for hand quilting. I like it OK when machine quilting but have found other products I like better. I use many different battings and I have no problems with Hobbs Polydown polyester batting. It gives beautiful loft and definition to the quilting and is most definitely not a b**tch to sew through. In my experience the needle glides through like butter in both hand and machine quilting. My summer quilt contains a very low loft poly batting. I have no idea what brand, I made the quilt eons ago and it is all hand quilted. It is lightweight and very cool. Have you ever tried Quilters Dream polyester? It is unlike any other poly on the market and can easily be mistaken for a cotton blend, the hand and drape is very nice. And when it comes to kids quilts that will be "loved to death" with lots of dragging and untold amounts of laundering a poly batting could definitely put less stress on the quilt because it does not get as heavy when wet and dries very quickly.
So unless you have tried every poly on the market, please don't paint all poly battings with the same brush. Some are indeed very VERY nice and they are an affordable alternative to other fibers. Rosasharon, please don't write of poly because of other peoples opinions. You need to find what YOU like to work with.