Best batting for hand quilting??
 

I am trying to get back to quilting, and would like to take advantage of Connecting Threads' batting sale. I do mostly art quilts and always hand quilt. I cannot remember which Heirloom batting is the best for hand quilting - I have all three on hand and can find no notes about which I prefer: all Heirloom brand - wool, cotton/poly 80/20 premium blend, and 100% cotton.

Can the hand quilters out there remind me which one is easiest to needle and doesn't have little bits pulling through the quilt top?

the few times i've hand quilted i have used Quilter's Dream lowest loft cotton batting.
100% low-loft polyester is also easy to hand-quilt.

I don't make art quilts but I love hand quilting. I use Hobbs mainly- 80/20. I like the crinkled look that you don't get with polyester. I think poly would probably be great for what you're doing.

wool is my choice.

Quilters Dream "request" (not "select") is their thinnist batting. I love it for hand quilting. Amazon's prices are as good as or better than connecting thread's sale prices on quilters dream Cotton and with prime there is no shipping charges. (Their wool prices are higher though.....so that is a real sale)

Wool is the easiest to hand quilt. Cotton is the hardest. Wool is described as “quilting through butter” and gives hand stitches great definition. Cotton is stickier and tends to “grab” the needle, creating a little drag on each stitch. 80/20 is a good compromise when cost is a factor.

edit: brand is a huge factor. I prefer Hobbs.

I love Hobbs Thermor, and if you want thinner, because it is very thin, it can be split in half. Beautiful drape, no stiffness at all. And it is very inexpensive compared to many others.

my mother handquilts with Warm & Natural, that's been her favorite batting for years.

I use the Hobbs 100% cotton or their Tuscany silk/cotton blend. Very easy to needle through and I don't have any bits pulling through to the top.

Why not make up some muslin sandwiches and try each one out? The sale is good until Feb 5th (assuming they don't run out of inventory, as it is only what they have on hand).

Another consideration when choosing between wool and cotton is loft. Cotton hand quilts much flatter than wool. The loft of 80/20 is more similar to wool than to cotton. One of the reasons hand quilters like wool is because it gives such good definition to the hand stitches.

Austin, you might want to get your mother to try Hobbs 80/20 or wool batting next time she hand quilts. She probably does not realize how much easier they are to needle. The scrim in Warm and Natural makes the batting very stable so quilting lines can be farther apart; however, the scrim makes it harder to hand needle. My thought is that the easier a batting is to needle, the easier the repetitive motion of quilting is on the joints. However, this is speculation on my part as I don't know that for sure.