The necessity of batting would depend on the area of the quilt user. The southern areas, maybe not so much....northern areas, always use batting. The type of batting used should be one with a scrim or a larger area between quilting lines. Most t-shirts are more difficult to quilt across the printed areas, so I usually do straight line diagonals about 3-4" apart (it seems that straightlines with the walking foot works the best for me).