If I remember correctly Quilter's Dream comes in different thicknesses. Which type of Quilter's Dream is equal in thickness and weight to Warm and Natural? Anyone know?

Hobb's has a tiny bit of loft and shows off your quilting. W&N is flat and hard compared to Hobb's 80/20. Hobb's has a nice drape and W&N gets stiff if you quilt it closer than the 10 inches apart. W&N is not actually 100% cotton, the scrim is poly. If you want a real 100% cotton go with Quilter's Dream.

Glad this question was posted. Always wondered about the differences. Thanks for all of the information.

You all are so knowledgeable. Thanks so much for the information. I was always under the impression W & N was the best. I've been proven wrong.

High on my list for qualities, is that it must wear well through lots of washings. Sometimes, on heirloom quilts that have been washed a lot, you can see the batting clumping together. I would think polyester combinations would have less clumping than cotton battings.

Thank you, again, for giving away all your helpful knowledge.

The key word here is "heirloom". What kind of batting is inside these heirloom quilts? Back in the day, they oftentimes used what was available. Sometimes, especially in the South, quilters carded their own cotton to use in quilts, and I wouldn't doubt that that kind of batting would clump.

I think you'll be fine with today's commercially produced battings, as long as you quilt per the package recommendations.

:)

Thanks for all the informative comments.

Have you tried Winline's bamboo batting? It's wonderful.
www.winlinetextiles.com

I used to use W & N, but no more. I love the drape of the 80/20, but I also found dream battings and bought the wool. It is the bomb. I haven't used poly, but dream is the only one I'd try.

I just got a case of Quilters Dream machine blend 70/30 to compare!

There's a lot of good information here, but it might help if the quilter knows in advance exactly how they plan to quilt their patchwork item: If you hand quilt it yourself, you will want your quilting patterns to show prominently: so go with a higher loft. If your quilt will be done on a longarm by a professional quilter: ASK which they will prefer to use. The first time I used a pro long-arm quilter the answer was "Warm&Natural!!!" It is so stable, it is much easier to load into the machine and keep straight and squared. If your quilted item is a garment, you will want it to drape nicely, so only use a thin batt that is intended for garments.