Thoughts on using poly/cotton or polyester for quilting projects.
 

Local fabric store has a new shipment of poly/cotton fabric in beautiful colors also full polyester fabric. I've always used 100% cotton. What are your thoughts? Suggested patterns? THanks!

Poly/Cotton pills. Polyester is hot when it's hot & cold when it's cold.

I forgot about the pilling issues. I know polyester is used for garments but wasn't sure about quilting. Thanks for your reply Mdegenhart.

Here is the simple answer: Cotton is natural, polyester is 100% chemical... Cotton is warm in winter and cool in summer, polyester is just hot all year long. Polyester is harder to sew with and get a nice crisp seam when pressed as the (basically plastic) fabric will try to spring back to where it was. Cotton, once it is pressed flat, it is pressed. Dyes in cotton are applied, polyester, they are put in the chemical before they are extruded.

Personal preference, cotton all the way!

I have cotton polyester sheets that are threadbare - and they have never pilled.
D

I'm using poly sheets that feel like cotton in a quilt I'm making for my daughter. Economy was a factor. : ). I bought them at Anna's when I couldn't find black sheets at my local thrift store.

Handle with care and don't let your iron get too hot and things should be fine.

It did not take me long to give up using the poly/cotton scraps from garment sewing to make a quilt. Each step from cutting to piecing to pressing was a problem compared to 100% cotton. It tends to slip and slide.

I'm sure all above statements are true, but I love these. I don't think I would make one but I like to find the tops at sales and finish with nice cotton back and sent out for cheap panto. :thumbup: Once you get under one of them you stay under it. LOL they are heavy.

Found this one
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Grandmother made this one.
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Jack sure put the panto close together for me on the string quilt.

I am told Grandma had sent the bottom pic out for hand quilting.

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The cotton/poly blends are great for kids drag around quilts. They hold up to lots of ( abuse) forts, picnics, sleep overs, car trips. Take a beating, lots of laundering, don't fade, are terrific. If you want to make utility quilts that will be used, laundered, loved for a long time polyester and poly/cotton blends are the way to go. My kids, 39 & 36 yr.olds, still have the polyester quilts my grandmother made them in 1980, the colors are still vibrant, those quilts went camping, picnics, built hundreds of forts, spent lots of time on floors, ground. The blends will not make soft, wrinkle, fade with time, cotton quilts, but they will make good utility, use a lot quilts.