Superior Thread has an amaging amount of educational materials available online. They also have thread samplers from time to time that give an opportunity to try different threads. I have a notebook with batting samples and thread samples that I use as a reference when selecting batting and thread for a quilt. All the samples are made with cotton fabric for the top and bottom of quilt sandwiches since all the quilts I make are good quality cotton fabrics. This does take awhile to do but I think it is worth the effort. It is amazing the different effects batting and thread choices make in your quilts.