I'm sure that cotton batting is more authentic but I don't use it. I like poly batting, I buy the bagged batting online at JoAnn when it's on sale with free shipping, I buy at least 12 at a time to make sure it lasts me a while. I quilt with a longarm. Hand quilting is more authentic too but I have old creeky hands and can't do it anymore. The hand quilting I did was with thin poly batting. I wish I had some old fabrics in my stash. We all do the best we can with what we have and manage to have pretty quilts.