Hand Quilting Question
 

I normally machine quilt everything, but have bought a vintage top that I'd like to try hand quilting. I havn't done much hand quilting... can you suggest the best and easiest batting to use?

Many thanks in advance! :thumbup:

I use Warm and Natural but I know many quilters prefer Hobbs 80/20 as there aren't any "seeds" in it.

Quilters Dream.

Warm and Natural is a cotton batting needlepunched through scrim. It is harder to hand needle because of the scrim.

Hobbs 80/20 is good if you like some loft. Quilters Dream is good if you like a flatter look. The two absolute best types of batting for hand quilting are wool and silk. Hobbs wool is excellent. It is like quilting through butter, it is that easy, and the hand stitches have great definition. Many hand quilters use wool batting. Silk is also very easy to quilt, and it has the advantage of being very soft, but it is pricey and does not give the stitches as much definition as wool.

I like Hobb's Heirloom washable wool.

Quilters Dream......Blue/Request.....which is the thinnest.

The easiest for me to quilt is Hobbs wool or Hobbs silk. The wool has more loft. The silk is flatter. Depends on the look you want. I am hand quilting a quilt with wool batting right now. Finished hand quilting a quilt with Hobbs 80 cotton 20 poly in December. The wool is so much easier. I highly recommend Hiroshima Tulip between needles.

Thanks so much for the information.... I know nothing about what to use! I have a roll of Hobbs 80/20 but from what some of you are saying, I think I'll be picking up some Hobbs wool for this quilt. I need 'easy like butter', LOL! Thanks for the needle suggestion too, Genden.

I agree. You want batting without a scrim.

Why not try a little scrap of the 80/20 on the corner of the top and backing that you will be using just to see how it needles for you? Then go from there. Many hand quilters do prefer wool, but you may find that the 80/20 is fine.