What Batting would you use for a newborn baby quilt
 

Hello Everyone,

Which batting would you select for a baby quilt and whjy? Polyester or 100% cotton.

This is for a newborn baby to come into the world in September.

Quiltbabay

I use Warm and Natural for almost every quilt. I like the puckered look, and the cotton batting provides that. I also like it for baby quilts because it isn't too heavy. If you don't want the puckered look, you can preshrink it.
Sue

I use Warm & Natural too, but it depends on what fabrics you are using for the top and bottom. When I do flanel and Minkee I don't bother with batting. Since DD and DDIL wash baby things in hot water, I pre-shrink everything to avoid having the quilt shrink into a tiny mess.

My choice would be Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon 100% cotton batting, but this is an extremely traditional choice. It is a thin cotton batting with no scrim. I used this in the very first baby quilt I ever made and had a chance to observe the quilt again about 18 years later. The binding was worn at the edges and the fabrics were softly faded, but the quilt itself was soft as a cloud. Cotton gets softer with every washing. It was interesting to see how lovingly the grown-up owner handled this quilt, which was brought out for special occasions when she was babysitting her nieces. This batting requires close quilting (no more than 2" apart). Although I hand quilted that one, machine quilting would be fine too. I would choose a lightweight thread for the quilting so as not to add any stiffness -- probably Aurifil 50wt 2-ply thread or Glide 60wt polyester.

I believe Quilter's Dream 100% cotton in request weight would yield a similar result but require less quilting.

My preference would be to stay with a thin batting because it keeps the quilt very flexible (for wrapping around an infant). Hobbs Polydown could be another good choice, especially since it dries fast, but might not be quite as flexible because of the loft. I personally stopped using Warm and Natural because, compared to the battings mentioned, it is has a fairly stiff drape -- especially when new. It does soften up with repeated washings, but needlepunching through scrim is probably always going to contribute some stiffness to a batting. Quilter's Dream is needlepunched for stability, but not through scrim, so I think would be more drapeable from the get-go.

I used a flat cotton/poly batt topped with a thin poly batt on my last one and it was perfect.

i would not use anything other than wool or cotton and all fabrics should be washed many sizings contain formaldahyde and will leach a gas----which is toxic

I use a very lightweight fleece - usually purchased at Walmart - because of its weight and the soft feel it gives to a baby quilt. The weight is important to me because I want my quilts to be dragged around and loved to tatters by the little owner, and the lighter the weight of the quilt, the more likely that will happen.

Most of the quilts I've made lately have been for older kids and I have used fleece as combination batting/backing. There are some awesome kid prints out there now in the fleece. Everything from M & Ms to Veggie Tales to Tinkerbell or Winnie the Pooh. The Pooh bear one I did was for a newborn. The front was a simple block pattern.

I would use 100% cotton batting for a baby quilt.

it depends on the quilt- if it's one you expect to be used ALOT and laundered often i would use a good quality poly- like dream poly, if it's more of a *special* quilt to be shown off more than actually used then a cotton batt would be fine, it also depends on how you want it to look after its laundered,...cotton shrinks more than poly & gives it that 'crinkled look' where as a poly batt will keep it pretty much looking the same after as it does before. I also love wool batts, they wash up well and remain very soft/cuddly/lofty...but they are kind of expensive. also location/climate may play into the equation- if you expect the quilt to be used often & baby lives in a 'chilly' climate- poly is warmer than cotton.