I have used cotton, cotton poly, wool and silk batting and been happy with all of them. I chose the batting according to the type of quilt and its purpose. The cotton was hardest to hand quilt and the wool and silk incredibly easy. They all draped well. I have felt densely machine quilted quilts that were as stiff as a skateboard. Certainly nothing you would want to wrap up in, but probably suitable for a spread. I doubt it was the batting, but it makes sense that it was the thread. Those of you who machine quilt would know how much thread is in a densely quilted quilt. A fine polyester thread with Bottom Line on the bobbin makes sense. I appreciate the information. That's something I will discuss with a quilter I choose. Since I am not a machine quilter, there is so much I don't know. Any help and information I can get is so helpful. It is hard for me to give up the quilting part of these quilt tops because I have put so much work and money in them. I so don't want to be disappointed.