I use Warm & White. It's listed as 13% poly, 87% cotton. It has a lot of body to it yet it's still soft. I haven't bought any lately so I don't know if the price has increased (altho I'm sure it has!). I haven't had any problem with bearding and I use mostly black and dark colors in my quilts. It works well with hand quilting and machine quilting.

I am currently working on a handquilted project with Quilters Dream poly. It is a wonderful bat and no bearding! IMHO Mountain Mist Poly is one of the worst on the market. It is not uniform in thickness and will most likely beard. I used it once on a customer quilt where she supplied the batting. It quilted up ok on the LA but if given a preference I would not recommend it. While I saw no evidence of bearding while LAing it I suspect it will beard with use and washings. What I noticed most was the inconsistency in loft throughout the bat. I would go with Quilters Dream poly or Hobbs Polydown. Both are very nice poly bats. Quilter's dream has several lofts and yes they will send you samples but won't sell to you directly unless you have a resale certificate from your state.

When I first began quilting only Mountain Mist was available locally and I liked it. Sorry to say that over the years the quality has gone down, too thin and uneven.

I use Hobbs 80/20 a lot, soak and dry it first and it's nice and soft. Thermore is nice and thin but it annoys me as it sticks to my fingers. Latest favorite is Quilter's Dream Poly, a bit more expensive but it's so good. May in Jersey

I LOVE Quilters Dream poly. Just finished machine quilting my first quilt with the Dream Green, and I liked that too.

I like Fairfield Traditional poly batting of all the poly batting. It's soft and has a good drape. Not stiff and crackly. Walmart sells it in packages by bed sizes. Many show quilts use Fairfield traditional batting. I always ask the quiltmakers at Paducah what batting they used. The ones that have quilts juried and get to go to the show have special badges they wear. They love to talk about their quilt. I was very surprised at how many say Fairfield brand batting.

I always use Polydown, and I usually hand quilt

Those no doubt that some quilters will be going back to poly, due to the increase in cotton prices, and there isn't anything wrong with that. We sell Legacy poly by Roc-lon, and its very good quality.

Lanny

You can get samples from Quilter's Dream, I know - and probably from Hobbs etc too
I've used some of the blends in quilts but haven't used all poly in years now ... guess I need to check out some of the new ones. I have a stash of QD and W&N, glad I did ! :roll:

I haven't ever tried using poly, so I can't say. Hobbs will send you samples if you ask, or they have samples at quilt shows.

My DH and I both quilt, and we recently bought a 40 yd box of Warm & White when it was on sale 50% off at Joann here. Glad we did, as we do see prices going up.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I will see if I can get samples of the Quilters Dream Poly and Hobbs Polydown.

Any tips to prevent bearding, or is it just a given with poly? Would different needles make a difference in the outcome?