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.

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.