Be sure to wash and dry the flannel if you choose to use it. I have had flannel shrink 4 inches.

Flannel - I used flannel in a summer throw a few years ago and it's perfect for a lighter weight quilt. Be sure to wash the flannel before using because it does shrink.

I am sewing a summer quilt, it is a light to medium colored quilt, think I will use 80/20 or possibly bamboo. I still need some substance to the quilt. Make any sense?

I'd go with flannel - its easy, relatively cheap, you don't have to quilt as close as you might have to with batting, and it washes beautifully. Good for summer quilts. Be sure and pay attention to your fabrics, though -- if you have light ones, you'll need a white or off white flannel inside.

I live in Brisbane and its way too hot in summer,so my summer quilts have not batting - the baby quilts have a very light weight batting - and it works very well. Brigitte Giblin- Australian/French quilter (Feathering the Nest)is her book, doesnt put batting in her quilts.

Try using a lightweight fleece. I buy lightweight fleece as batting for baby quilts because it's physically lighter in weight, which I think helps a small child 'handle' it. It's also very soft and the quilt drapes better and feels very soft. I think it would be fine for a summer quilt, especially in an air conditioned room.

I do spray baste it to the top and bottom of the quilt because it is stretchier (is that a word?) than regular batting.

You can get lightweight fleece in Walmart at a very reasonable price.

Before I started quilting I often made baby wraps (like a receiving blanket) for summer that were just two layers of seersucker stitched together. Very lightweight but able to keep off the chill in air conditioning. If wanting it a bit warmer a layer of flannel would work great.

You may think I'm nuts, but after spending a couple of years living in the UK, I became very familiar with "diaper batting". This is fabric you make diapers out of, and you can get it for $3.98 a yard here in the US. Makes a wonderful lightweight batting, and adds body to a quilt that would only be the top quilted onto the back. It's 100% cotton, and it breathes wonderfully.
Here's a link: http://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail....4-f8815aa1eccf

Fabric.com also has wonderful diaper flannel, and other kinds of diaper material, most of which I've used at one time or another. Just a thought!

I live in Texas on Galveston Bay. I would make one with a layer of flannel as the backing and no batting. Unless my husband turns the a/c on full blast, then I would use one of my other warm quilts with cotton or 80/20 batting.

I always thought summer quilts don't have batting! that is the beauty of them I think.