ToBoldlyQuilt

I'm trying some different battings, and I'm hitting the problem that when I ask a shop what a batting is like for hand quilting, they apologetically say, "I'm sorry, I only quilt by machine." (I buy everything online, there's no option of going to a shop, not that you could exactly stand there and stitch up a sample.) Then when you look online, there isn't any discussion about the less well-known battings and hand quilting, and there are blanket statements about "never hand quilt a batting with a scrim".

Is this always true? Surely the scrim will vary? For the Pellon Legacy bamboo/cotton batting, for instance, which is well liked by some hand quilters including Suzy Quilts, they claim that they use a special finer scrim that's easier to hand quilt. That said, I'm not planning to quilt with bamboo. After reading up on it here, I realised it's not as ecologically sound as it claims, not to mention the stories of bearding.

Another problem is that some hand quilters have resigned themselves to fighting with the batting and by now think it's normal to need pliers to get the needle through, so they'll cheerfully recommend, say, Warm & Natural, which is notorious for being one of the hardest to hand quilt. I'm disabled, I'm not going to wreck my hands on this. I'm also doing big stitch quilting, for what it's worth.

The one I'm looking at is the 70/30 Eco Blend by Sew Simple, which is recycled cotton/poly. Someone sent me a set of small samples, and it felt very promising, probably the nicest of that bunch. It's meant to be decently thick and warm. I've got half a metre on the way, and I'll try making a couple of kitty mats using leftover binding strips, so I can try out some different fabrics as well.

My experience with battings so far is:

Hobbs Polydown - lovely to hand quilt, I've used it in many quilts, but I wanted a more sustainable alternative.

Quilters Dream Puff - ditto

Vlieseline R80 recycled poly - a great alternative to Polydown, lovely to hand quilt and it's the same weight, while also being more consistent in thickness. I've used this in one quilt so far, and I'm keen to make more for when I want a pure poly batting. Although they only supply it in 61" width.

Quilters Dream cotton, request and select loft - good cotton battings, though harder to get hold of in the UK these days.

Bosal Katahdin cotton - I've switched to this for my cotton battings. It seems just like QD, needlepunched and minimal shrinkage and everything, but it's organic, and easier to get hold of. I've used the Summer weight so far, which should be the same as QD Request.

I could see a place for a good cotton/poly blend in my range, especially if it's warmer. I'm not interested in wool.