jokir44

I made a quilt for my king size bed that goes to the floor on three sides and has a deep pillow cover as well. All the fabric is regular cotton and the backing is too. The batting is the thinnest Quilters dream cotton. Because of the length all around it added a lot of weight. I love the feel of a heavy quilt and now DH does too. If you don't already have the top finished you might consider making yours like I did mine.

quiltingshorttimer

I think a double cotton bat would produce a heavy quilt, also the top pattern may make a difference--blocks with lots of seams would be heavier than more simple ones. And a flannel backing (wash and shrink first) makes for a heavier feel too.

feline fanatic

Prism has many valid and excellent points. So with everything she said in mind, here are my suggestions....

If you have thrift stores, Salvation Army or Goodwill around, seek them out and see if you can find an old wool army blanket. You can also find them in Army surplus stores. They are super heavy but also very scratchy! I made a quilt using the an old wool army blanket as the batting and the scratchy fibers can still be felt through the cotton backing. So I rarely use this quilt as a quilt. It is a fabulous wall hanging in my bedroom and I will only pull it down and put it on the bed on the coldest of frigid winter nights, I am talking those nights where it is expected to be 20 below zero, so it rarely gets used as a quilt but I love looking at it hanging on the wall behind my bed every day. I put a layer of hobbs Polydown over the wool army blanket. The quilt is very heavy but I feel what also added to the weight is a lot of piecing on the top. All those seam allowances can add weight. Here is a picture of the unbound quilt hanging from my clothes line. You can clearly see how it is weighing down the line even with all those clothespins and the quilt is bone dry in this pic (note the pic is turned sideways so look on the right hand side to see the clothesline). And it is a small quilt, only 54" x 72".
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Additionally, I quilt on a longarm. I simply can not imagine trying to manhandle that quilt using a domestic sewing machine. So if you do proceed with trying to make a really heavy quilt you may not be able to manipulate it through a DSM for quilting and may have to resort to tying or sending out to a longarmer who is willing to work with a wool army blanket as batting. You may also wish to consider a pattern with loads of small pieces so you have many seam allowances to add to the weight.

Edited to add, the wool army blanket I used my DH picked up at a salvation army for $2. I prewashed it to make sure it could handle being laundered and to preshrink it. Additionally this quilt also does not have real nice drape but that is ok.

bj

It’s been a few years, but I saw Alex Anderson on her old show turn a lighter weight quilt into a duvet cover. It was beautiful. After the quilt was done, she sewed a third layer on the back for the pocket to slide the duvet into. I don’t remember if she closed the end with buttons or Velcro. But the weight of the quilt would be determined by the weight of the duvet.

kathyathome

Thank you all so much for the thoughtful responses. After talking to son, especially making sure he knows the difference between weight and warmth, and after discussing the washing and drying issue, we've decided on Quilters Dream Cotton Supreme. I want to be able to quilt the 8" apart that this batting allows. They have an absolutely gigantic top-loading washer and dryer (I had to stand on a stool to reach the bottom and remove the clothes, and I'm 5'4", not a shrimp) which might handle the quilt. It agitates but not with that pedestal thing in the middle, more like a front-loader only it loads from the top. DIL washes her king-sized quilts in it, and son's quilt will be a twin bed size. The pattern I'm using (labyrinth walk) makes 9 blocks, and I only need 6, so will use the extra 3 for a vertical 3-block wall hanging and try the batting out with an extra layer of utility flannel to see if I want to add that to the quilt itself. Will definitely pre-shrink the flannel several times before using. Son is a police officer, and I'm pretty sure that weight comforts him in some way, relieving some of the stress of his job, so maybe the extra layer of flannel would provide that if the QD isn't enough. He also likes to hang out in a hammock in their back yard - another cocooning sort of thing. The quilt isn't for his bed, will be used as a lap cover while watching TV, reading, or napping. Thanks again friends for all the suggestions and things to think about.

tesspug

I can't quilt with a double batting. It's too hard to push through my machine. I get the heaviness I like by using two quilts.

suern3

Kathy - sounds like you have a good plan worked out. Should be a perfect quilt for your son, made with so much love!