wool batting
 

Is wool batting preshrunk??? What happens if you don't prewash your fabric and use wool batting?.........thanks!

It depends on the brand. Hobbs wool and Quilter's Dream wool are preshrunk and treated so that you do not have to worry about batting shrinkage or bearding. Off-brands can act very differently. I'm not sure about QD batting, but Hobbs wool batting will shrink about 3% -- which is typical for most cotton battings too.

Not prewashing your fabric doesn't matter. What does matter is how much quilting you do. If you do a reasonable amount of quilting with lines no more than 3" or 4" apart, the fabric and batting are bonded together sufficiently that the batting will take control of shrinkage. If your quilting lines are far apart, say 10", then a fabric with an inclination to shrink more than 5% or more will be able to do that. When the fabric and batting are quilted reasonably well, they shrink together. Since the batting has more heft than the fabric, the batting ends up controlling how much everything shrinks.

Edit: If you want no shrinkage at all, use polyester batting. Polyester batting does not shrink.

I never prewash my fabrics, and I have no problem with wool batting. It wrinkles up a bit, but I think it just makes it cushy. I like soft quilts, so I generally quilt 2-3 inches apart.

Pam

I used Quilter's Dream Wool on the quilt that's on my bed. It barely shrank at all, just enough to get a wee bit crinkly. I didn't prewash anything - batting, backing, or top fabrics.

i love wool batting - when i washed the quilt that i used wool batting, there is minimal shrinkage. The quilt is crinkly looking and i love that look. I also love the dimension that the quilting has.

I've used wool battings for many quilts, it's my favorite batting. Dream wool and Hobbs wool are the two I use. I've made quilts with prewashed fabrics, not prewashed fabrics and some prewashed some not in the same quilt. Every one has turned out great. Those wool battings do not shrink like cotton batting does. It is lightweight, lofty and wonderful to work with. Each time I launder one of those quilts it comes out of the dryer soft, lofty, huggable, wonderful.

Thank you all for your quick responses! I hand quilt and usually at least every 4" so evidently a wool batting is doable.

and hand quilting or machine quilting, it quilts like BUTTAH! I have only used wool twice, but it was heavenly to quilt!

For hand quilting wool batting is a dream. I pre-wash my fabric but not my wool batting. I like the old fashioned crinkled look. If you don't, I would advise pre-washing both.

Quilters Dream Wool gets my vote.