I know NOTHING about batting! Help!
 

I'm about to have my very first quilt top machine quilted by a lady in town. Until very recently, I just assumed batting was batting, but now I understand that there are differences. I am not sure what I need to get... I prefer something not too flat and stiff feeling, something with a bit of loft to it but not too hot. I want the quilt to be soft and worn in feeling if that makes sense. My aunt has a quilt she just had done by a different lady and it is very stiff and thin and I would prefer mine not be that way.

Thank you all for any suggestions. :) This board is invaluable to me!

100% cotton batting will give the crinkly, vintage feel. It will be flat and depending on how tightly the quilting is, it might be a little stiff. There are different lofts of cotton batting and they get warmer and heavier as the loft gets higher. Wool batting has a wonderful high loft and is very warm. It is very puffy so it won't get as "crinkly" as cotton. I usually use a medium loft cotton batting from Quilter's Dream. If it's a little chilly I just throw 2 quilts over me :).

There are so many different ones. In my opinion, the warmer ones are going to be poly. Cotton blends breath more so aren't going to be as warm. I like warm and natural. It is on the thinner side, but I have no problem doubling them up. I haven't used alot of poly ones, so I can't advise you on those.

If I wanted it a little puffier, I would consider a wool batting. I don't like poly, but it would also be puffier.

Oooh - I LOVE the puffy look of Charismah's quilts. They look almost 3D which is very neat! That's definitely what I'm going for. I will have to ask the lady who will be doing the quilting if she can do that look. Thanks all. :)

Some of the stiffness you mentioned, can come from the amount of quilting. The more quilting, the more stiffness there might be.

Polyester batting offers both low loft and high loft batting ... higher will give more puffiness. Poly gives you a lighter feel to your quilt, whereas the cottons are heavier. I couldn't believe the difference when I had a couple done with poly last year ... light as a feather when it came to working with them to fold them up by myself.

I have my LAQ use Warm & Natural most of the time ... I feel it is not so "hot" on the bed as the polyester, as cotton breathes better, than poly. I find the W&N allows provides a nice "drape", even with a fair amount of quilting.

You might want to have your LAQ show you samples of the work she has done, with different battings and amounts of quilting. Tell her what you want for the end result, and discuss the differences.

Just keep in mind, from one quilt to the other, you have no guarantees, as the fabrics you have used, and the amount of pieces and seams create a difference too.

each batting type will have its own requirement of quilting "closeness" .....some will require stitching much closer together so the batting won't shred or move when the quilt is washed....just something to keep in mind

Also, keep in mind that each batting will have a different shrink factor to it.
Similarly, if you have not pre-washed/shrunk your fabrics.

Hobbs 80/20 has a nice loft to it and drape