starryzar

I live in the UK and bought an old cream WWII wool blanket and used that for wadding. It was easy to quilt through (I have to machine quilt now) and I thought a good weight for a quilt as I often feel 'modern' battings are a thin feel. My daughter is pleased with her quilt.
Hand wash or use either the handwash or the wool setting on your washing machine, seemed to work ok. I would certainly do it again. The only limitation is the size of these blankets as the singles seem to have survived better than the doubles which are rare.
By the way these blankets are sort of loosely woven compared to the modern fluffy felted look.

judykay

I am just finishing up two crazy quilts that are both very heavy and it is because I used muslin for the foundation then warm and natural for the batting and flannel for the backing. They are so heavy that in spots where I could I cut out some of the warm and natural before I put the flannel on the back.

jpthequilter

When i was a kid here in america before WWII I remember my grandmother and aunts using those old double blankets inside the quilts that they made. They were made for double beds but woven twice as long (huge) and folded over to make a two layer blanket which was claimed to be warmer to sleep under. In our cold new england winters with upstairs unheated, two or three of those double blankets kept us warm! They were cream or light tan, sometimes with darker stripes woven into them. They cut them to use only one layer, and got three quilt linings from one unfolded blanket. They had treadle machines and stitched a stay stitch along the cut edge.
Like you, they said they were easy to quilt through. I can remember them arguing over who was going to get a piece!
I wonder if they were woven in England? I have a notion they might have come through Canada? Do you know? 81 year old Jeannie

starryzar

I will ask around to see if anyone knows where they were woven, the blankets do seem very similar. Somehow lurking at the back of my mind is 'in Wales' followed by Lancashire but will get back to you if I find anything definite. I do think they were made for the Armed Services so the Imperial War museum might have the answer. I always look in the charity shops in the hope of finding them, they are scarce these days though.
Just think of all the pleasure they give to us in their second lives!

jpthequilter

Thanks starryzar, In our lives so much has happened, and changed! The town of Berlin NH where I was born, was less than 40 miles south of the canadian border. Even today, people travel back and forth across the border with goods they have bought on "the other side" - so who knows?
My impression is they were just commonly widely used people blankets in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont...
I was born there in 1929, and saw them having been well used - 5 yrs before WWII.
I don't remember seeing them in Indiana, though, when we moved there in 1937.
It does sound like we are talking about the same kind of blankets though.
Thanks for any information you find. ( I would like them for quilting, but no chance here. This town is the same age as my mom!) Lucky you! Jeannie

pal

Maggiemuggins, Your avatar is wonderful! Would like to know more about it. Hard to get the grin off my face.

janedee

either wool or warm and natural can make the quilt heavy

maggiemuggins

This is a machine embroidery design from Embroidery Library...there is a set of these kitties for christmas and they have sets of them for other occasions as well...I just couldnt resist getting them and made some gifts for family and friends for Christmas..they stitch out really well.

ckcowl

wool batting adds loft and fluffiness-without weight.

double batt would be very difficult to hand quilt.

back in the day= the small squares with all the seams added weight- many small blocks were created on a muslin foundation- an extra layer of weight- old wool or cotton blankets were re-purposed as batts...that is really where all that weight came from- if you want a really weighty quilt a flannel/denim one will give you the heft you desire- using a blanket in place of a batt- and using foundations...all add the extra weight

grammy17

I had a neighbor from Korea 50 years ago. Her quilts were really pads they used to sleep on -on the floor- in the case of no mattress. That was heavy.