ilike to use a fleece under the counter at joanns. it's thin and easy to quilt thru. it's great in the summer and the winter. we use the same quilt all year long. it's wonderful to quilt thru.

I'd use either wool or polyester. I've used Hobbs pretty successfully.

Have fun!

Janet

Would the end use of the quilt also be a factor in decidijg which batting to use?

Is this a quilt that will be "used" or one that will be mostly "looked at"?

Good idea... I have scraps I can use. I just found out how much a queen sized wool batt costs, so my 80/20 that I already have might have to be fine!

Also, if I used spray basting would it slow down the needle of cause any kind of 'drag'?

Right now I'm hand quilting one and I used Pellon Nature's Touch Cotton Batting and I never realized I shouldn't use something with a scrim. The only problems I am having are when seams come together and have to go one stitch at a time. I find I am just terrible at the stab stitching. I pin basted. I usually glue baste for machine quilting, but didn't want to get to a stiff spot since I need some "give" to the quilt to do the rocking stitch. Glue basting replaces pin basting, but, I am not always careful to smooth out blobs. Sewing machine has no problem with that. Small hand quilting needle might.

There are some quilters who use ***very light*** spray basting when they hand quilt. However, it will definitely create drag and make hand quilting more difficult for you. I would not recommend trying it for your first hand quilting project. Also, keep in mind it is easy to use too much basting spray, in which case it would not be possible to hand quilt at all as there would be way too much drag on the needle. And no one wants to try to wash out basting spray in an unquilted top (requires lots of precautions in order to not ruin the top).

For hand quilting, you really want to either hand baste (using a single strand of lightweight thread and very large stitches) or machine baste with water soluble thread. You can pin-baste, but pins tend to interfere with hooping and, even if you hand quilt without a hoop, pins also tend to catch your hand quilting thread and hang you up as you are working.

Good points, Prism... I planned to quilt it in my lap without a hoop, messy style. Won't spray baste. I usually pin baste but don't want to deal with the thread hanging up on pins either, so I'll just bite the bullet and lay it out on the floor and thread baste it, old school. I'm sure I'll be glad I did once I start quilting it.