Would taking it outside and 'baking it in the sun' help....
or throwing it into the wash ??????

I learned early on If I work with wool batting I break out in a itchy rash. With cotton you would have to look at where it has been before you got it.

I agree about it being from the environment the batting was in before you got it. If you've used cotton fabric and batting before, it only makes sense. As one with many allergies, it wouldn't be worth the aggravation to me. Ahhhhh-choooooo!

Or how about putting it in the freezer? My cousin (who is an MD) puts all sorts of things in the freezer to kill various cooties.

Last Monday four of us quilters got together at my house to "sandwich" our quilts. I have a large room and large worktable, so the work goes fast and we did five quilts....three were larger than queen size. When we were done, I looked at the dresser in the room, and it was white! There was so much lint, it was unbelievable! The next day I dusted everything, ran the vacuum, and washed all the linens on the bed. We used Dream Cotton and Fairfield Nature-fil Batting from JoAnn's (it's 50% rayon from Bamboo and 50% organic cotton). I'm not sure which one was so "linty", but, one of the lades had to keep blowing her nose. Something was definitely bothering her! Since the fabrics had all been prewashed, we think it was the batting.

I've washed and rewashed the batting, but it still bothers me. And it's only this particular kind of batting. I don't think it's been processed too much because I can feel little hard bumps in it as I work with it. The more processed battings don't bother me. Only this stuff. I normally don't have a lot of issues with allergies at all. I get a little bit of allergy problems in the Spring and Fall, but only when the seasonal allergies normally hit. Dust bothers my asthma a little, but only when it's flying around after dusting.

I think it is time to either toss the batting in the trash or pass it on to someone else. IF you pass it on make sure you tell them that you had problems with the batting and perhaps they may also.....The batting was free to you....so you are not 'loosing' anything, and just think about all the time and effort you have already put into it.....Time to walk away.

I would have to pitch it immediately. I have adult onset asthma and it has really been on a rampage for the past year. Anything that starts to trigger my asthma goes away at my house. Dust does not appear to be one of the triggers or allergens for me -- but you obviously have an issue with this batting or its former environment. As long as you have this batting around you, you are going to be bothered by it. I second the notion. For your health's sake, get rid of it, give it away or toss it, whichever! Asthma is a real pain!

Jeanette Frantz

It's more likely you're allergic to the coating on the fabric, not the fabric itself. I'm allergic to a coating as well. I'm fortunate that it's a rarely used coating. I can go into fabric stores, and I was even a manager at Jo-Ann for a time. But when that coating does present itself somewhere it causes sneezing, my throat swells, my voice goes hoarse and it's awful! I have no clue what the coating is but it sure gets my attention when it's nearby.

Battting that has not been needle punched will have little "fly away" particles. I have allergies but sometimes it is just little particles like dust that bother me.