Well and do you have different favorites for baby quilts, lap quilts, bed quilts for yourself, table quilts and wall quilts, Gees they are so many different kinds isnt it :wink:

imho - for baby quilts, i like polyester, because baby quilts get washed a lot, and for that much washing, i think poly holds up better and dries faster.

for grownup quilts, i like 80/20 cotton/poly. when it's used with a topsheet, it doesn't need as much washing or drying, so it holds up longer. it has a nice drape, and it quilts well. it's very warm. cotton will pucker after washing and drying.

for wall hangings, it depends on the look you want. if you like the puckered look of antique quilts, then use cotton/poly and wash it after you're finished.
the cotton part will shrink up and pucker. if you want a puffy wallquilt, i would go with a puffy poly, so that the stitching really sinks in and shows. unless you hang it in the kitchen, it won't get washed as often as a bed quilt.

i would spend more on real usable quilts than on wall hangings or table toppers, etc. because i want it to hold up well after many washings.
table toppes are more for home decor and are not hard-used. in the end, it depends on the look and warmth and usability you want and can afford.

i use warm & natural cotton/poly. i make bed quilts. for babies, i always used to use poly.

As a new quilter, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's answers to this.

I tend to prefer cotton to anything synthetic, but I'm allergic to dust, so polyester is the better choice for me. It also has the advantage of not making the quilt look all puckery.

I was thinking, though, that wool might be the best choice for warmth for a bed quilt. But how would that wash?

some of the new wools are being made to wash quite well, although i have never tried them. also consider bamboo. and green bottle plastic. both are supposed to be very good and good-feeling. never tried them, either, but word-of-mouth.

Do you have actual brand names so i know what the search for?

That would really help me a lot especially looking on ebay.
I think what i have is polyester, i bought some batting a while ago and it was before i knew the differences :oops: but i guess it poly as it didnt feel very wool like or what i would think cotton would feel like but ofcourse i might be wrong

I would have to say I would never put poly in a baby quilt. If, God forbid, there was a fire, poly goes up in a flash and if it melts instead there would be awful burns where it would stick to the skin.

I always use Warm and Natural all cotton batting. At the beginning of my quilting I tried a couple of poly bats and didn't like using them, or trying to get them unfolded and flat!!

http://www.roseannsdolls.com/fabaquba.html

this is the bamboo. i have felt it, and it feels very good. you can get it at joanns with a coupon.

http://www.quiltersdreambatting.com/

scroll down to plastic or whatever they say. that's the green eco-friendly stuff from plastic bottles.
actually they're both eco-friendly, because bamboo is a very, very, very renewable resource.

I use Warm and Natural for everything.

I usually use Warm & Natural 80/20 blend. I recently purchased a queen-size wool batting, but haven't used it yet.

I favor warm & natural or warm & white, it is easier for me to quilt and I don't sweat as much when laying under it as I do with the polyester.

I use "warm and natural" for most of my quilts and "warm and white" for any light-colored backgrounds. I have used flannel in a baby quilt before.

When JoAnn's has a 50% off, I stock up.

I started out using the poly, but most of my early quilts have quite a bit of bearding (and I HATE that), so for the past 4-5 years I've used only Warm and Natural. Love that stuff.

I'm a Warm and Natural quilter.. I use the not bleached kind when I'm buying. My quilter uses the same brand--but I don't know if it's bleached or not.

I use warm & natural for everything!

I prefer cotton over polyester battings every since I made two quilts -- one with poly, one with cotton -- for my niece and nephew. I happened to see both quilts many years later after they had both obviously been through the washing machine many times. The poly quilt was in terrible shape with the batting in lumpy balls throughout. The cotton quilt was soft and wonderful even though the binding on it was worn through in places.

For machine quilting, I like Blue Ribbon brand 100% cotton, which is the batting I used in the quilt above. (I hand-quilted it, which is a mistake with this batting.) I also like Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting (80% cotton, 10% polyester).

For hand quilting, nowadays I would probably test out Quilter's Dream or Fairfield 100% cotton (rinse and spin dry before using for hand quilting), as I have heard these are very good.

I don't use Warm 'n' Natural anymore because its drape seems stiff to me compared to other cotton battings (probably because of the needle-punched scrim). I did use it for quite a few years, though. It washes flatter than other cotton battings.

Not everyone likes the flatness and crinkliness of cotton battings. I think many people these days are used to comforters. To get a similar effect in a quilt, you pretty much need to use a polyester batting. I like the antique quilts, which are mostly the thin and crinkley kind because of their cotton batting. Once in awhile, though, for a wall hanging or specialty quilt I will use Warm n Natural or a polyester batting for their effect.

What is bearding?

If you don't leave huge chunks of the quilt unquilted, poly shouldn't ball up, should it? I've been sleeping under a poly-filled comforter these last 20 years (hope to have made some quilts eventually), not quilted small at all, washed it many times and it's still absolutely fine. So I can't see why poly batting should lead to such problems.

Good point about the flammability of polyester, especially for babies' quilts.

The poly batting I used for my class table runner was Soft n Crafty brand. The rest of the class used the instructor's suggested brand, Quilter's Dream. To me that was exceedingly flat. I preferred mine. I'm told the loft of the batting makes a difference, and of course you want a low loft for a table runner. When I checked my batting brand just now, I saw that the package says Extra Loft. Oops, but it's not that puffy, actually, only slightly more so than the Quilter's Dream. It wasn't at all hard to machine quilt or to hand sew on the binding.

I also used the Warm and Natural all-cotton - I washed and dried it before using it - didn't measure it before and after washing it, so I really don't know if it shrank or not - the instructions that came with it said to prewash if you preferred the flat look - and I do.

The quilts that I made with it lay absolutely flat with no puckering whatsoever.

Only warm and natural here.
I love the feel of it, and it hand quilts beautifully!

Bearding is when the batting starts poking through the fabric and/or seams. Once bearding happens, there's no "cure". The most you can do is maybe shave the fabric to remove existing beards; however, more bearding will take place with usage and washing.

Now - if you really want to get confused - or informed about how many things are out there


http://www.batt-mart.com/site/490194/page/93839

The first quilt I ever made had a fluffy sort of polyesther (sp). Then my sister turned me on to Warm and Natural. This is all I use now. Will not use anything else. I love the feel of the quilt when it is done, AND I like being able to handle it and it does not pull apart. It is like a blanket. I pray they never go out of business. I would have to stop quilting.

Thanks for the explanation, Prism.

Bearisgray, oh my! But it's nice to know all the different varieties out there.

Try this site, I use the needle punched cotton, works great for handquilting or machine. This lady has all types of batting and is well known.
http://www.battylady.com/

I strictly use Warm and Natural.
I buy it by the bolt when Joannes has it on sale.
Last one I bought was 90 wide x 40 yards.
I think I paid $80 for it and got free shipping! WOOHOO!
I used to buy the stuff at Walmart in the bag that sort of looked like W&N, but made a quilt with it, tied it every 3 inches....it got washed and the batting disintergrated!! I was mortified! My only saving grace was it was a quilter friend who got that quilt, so all wasn't lost...we did get it fixed and put W&N for the batting.

I started out with the cheap poly to learn with and moved up to Bamboo which is the best, in my opinion. I buy it on sale or use coupons. It is SO worth it! No question. After that, Warm & Natural.

judee

I am a hand quilter so I prefer 100% cotton

For me it depends on how I want the quilt to look when it's finished and washed. If it's an old fashion style quilt I'll use a new Hobbs Heirloom 80/20. If it's a really modern quilt that I don't want to get puckered I'll shrink a Hobbs or use Quilter's Dream poly. It's the only poly batt I'll use. The Hobbs has a bit more loft and gives the quilting a little more definition and the QD poly is really flat.

I don't care for Warm and Natural. I used it in a couple of the first quilts I made and it was very stiff. Those quilts were like boards when I got them finished.

I'm finding it interesting that those of us who only use Warm & Natural like it, but those who have tried other battings don't like the way Warm & Natural drapes.

I'm definitely going to try some of the other battings I've heard mentioned here. Thanks for all of the recommendations.

I use Warm and Natural for most all the utility quilts, wall hangings and projects. For the nicer quilts I make I use Hobbs silk batting. It's the best on the market and is a dream to work with.

I know many like warm and natural, but there are so many that are just as good, as long as you don't get them at Walmart.

Years ago warm and natural may have been the best. But technology has change the way battings are processed, as in any needle punched cotton.

i only have poly at the moment but i guess i can order some but i was hoping to brig it to them this weekend and if i order i wont be able to do so...

Ofcourse i wont use anything thats harmful for the baby but i m pretty sure they wont have anything flammable near the baby anyway so is it really a risk using poly then?

I will order something else for the next quilts thou so plz let me know if there is any good offers aven if u see it in a shop and u can post to me i m happy to pay you for doing so but ofcourse i wont force anyone to do so, only if someone wants to :oops:

I use poly for all of my baby quilts.

I used bamboo once, recently- the one from Joann's- and I LOVED it. However, I have heard someone on the board had a problem with it making spots on their quilt.

My SIL, who has the quilt with the bamboo in it, has not had a problem yet.

The drape and the softness of it- just unsurpassed to me. I hand quilted that quilt and it was so easy to quilt through. There were no thick/thin spots, and all the folds and wrinkles that you normally see in bagged batting just sort of fell away when I opened it.

I have used poly and did not like it at all, so mostly what I use is Warm and White. (I use a lot of white in my quilts.) It is fairly inexpensive and it is readily available to me.

(Oh, and I did use a half-off coupon when I bought the bamboo, because it is pricey.)

I use "warm & natural" so often I buy it by the bolt & I love it. When I need white I use "warm & white" I was in need of black batting recently & found that "quilter's dream" polyester is also great to work with & is similar in loft to warm brand.

Hi, I use warm & natural for all my quilting needs. I love it, and buy it by the roll.

I also use the polyester type for baby things.
For my large projects, I like to talk it over with the person who will be doing the quilting. Between what I want and what she likes working with and/or keeps in stock, we come to a mutual decision.

warm and natural is my favorite !!!!!!

i just wanted to get my vote in


:)

I used poly one time. Now the only thing I use is Warm and Natural.
Love it.
Catlady

Warm and Natural.