Batting question
 

I'm a fan of Warm and Natural batting. The thing I don't like about it is how much it shrinks. Does the 80/20 shrink as much? I used to preseason it by hand but because of hand problems I can't squeeze the water out enough. I have used Polly but don't like it. Any suggestions what to use?

Do you have a top-loading washing machine? And a dryer? You can soak Warm and Natural in the top loader (do not allow agitation), spin out the water, and dry in the dryer. This will pre-shrink it.

Most of the cotton battings, including 80/20, shrink between 3 and 5% if not pre-shrunk.

One of the reasons I am a fan of Warm and Natural is how well it pre-shrinks in comparison to other brand/types. Soak it , spin it , toss in the dryer. Depending on the size you may want to reposition in the dryer a few times.

I did the preshrinking in the washer for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It worked just fine. I'll preshrink all my warm and natural from now on. I was surprised at how easy it was.

I also pre-shrink, but I soak mine in the utility room sink, let the water drain, press on it to get as much water out as I can to lift it, then air dry in the dryer. Works fine. I may try the washer method as the spinning action would be very helpful to lighten it up when wet.

WOW! Who would've thought washer and dryer? I guess it will keep it's shape. My washer is a top loader with a very small agitator but I would the soak and spin cycle. My dryer is a front load. What heat should be used for drying? Thank you one and all for the quick responses. Have a safe day.

Soak in hot water, spin out the water, and dry in dryer (moderate heat) works well for me to with Warm and Natural batting.

It holds its shape very well.

Just don't let it agitate in the top loading washer; that central agitator will stress the batting too much. You need to stop the washer to allow the batting to soak and absorb water, then advance to the spin cycle before turning the washer back on.

If your dryer is small, be careful not to stuff such a large batting into it that the batting cannot turn around. I stuffed my dryer with a king size mattress cover and put it on high. The cover came out with brown spots where it had touched the dryer's air holes and couldn't move away from them!

It would take forever to dry a batting in my dryer on air only. For max shrinkage, I would use the regular cycle. Just check every 10 or 20 minutes to see if the batting needs to be re-arranged in the dryer.

Edit: I should add that this method does not work on all battings! It works for Warm and Natural because it is needlepunched through scrim. Vintage cotton battings (such as Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon cotton) will fall apart in the soaking water. Hobbs 80/20 is held together with heat bonding, so for that one you would probably want to use cold or warm water only and either line dry or machine dry on air or low; it wouldn't be able to handle the high dryer heat that Warm and Natural can.

The pre-wash instructions on Warm and Natural specify not to spin, so I have been soaking in the utility tub, squeezing out what I can, then laying towels on the washer next to the sink and rolling the batting in the towels. Two large towels do the trick, then it dries nicely in the machine, regular heat.