Determine how your quilt will be used. Daily use on a bed? Displayed on a wall? Is it for an adult, child or even a pet? Will it be washed frequently? Natural fibers tend to shrink when washed which may be nice for bedding while polyester may be the right choice for a wall hanging that shows off beautiful quilting stitches. It is very common for quilters to choose 100% cotton or cotton/poly blend if the quilt top is cotton. The thinking is that by using all cotton materials, the quilt will shrink at the same rate. Some quilters choose to place 2 layers of batting, one cotton and one wool, for a high loft look and feel. This is where hand quilters and longarm quilters may showcase their stitched designs. Other quilters will pick batting based on the loft, how a particular batting drapes, and even cost. Choosing batting is a personal preference and you will want to experiment with the different varieties to get the effect you want.
PRICE
Polyester is the least expensive, followed by cotton, wool, and bamboo.
WARMTH
Wool is the warmest, followed by polyester, and cotton.
BOLT or PACKAGE
Batting from a bolt is a nice option if you need a large quantity of batting as this will bring the average cost down. It is also nice that the batting is very flat, except maybe a center fold. Package batting will have may fold creases which may interfere with your quilting. You may want to unfold the batting before use and lay it out on a flat surface to let the fibers relax and release those folds. Overnight should be enough time or if you are in a hurry to get started, you may take your batting, unfold and gently place in the dryer. Tumble for a few minutes using NO HEAT. This should help loosen the creased folds.
Get the Right Size
As a general rule of thumb, the batting should be a few inches larger than the quilt top all the way around in case there is any shifting but smaller than the backing. This will allow you to have extra batting in the binding if you desire and also give you some wiggle room if the batting should shift during the quilting process.
Using Left Over Batting
Save your scraps of batting! There are several ways to use them. Placemats, mug rugs, mini quilts, zipper pouches, rag quilts, table runner, just to name a few. If you have some bigger pieces, you can sew them together to make one large piece for another quilt. Simply load matching thread on your sewing machine and set it for a big zig zag stitch. Place the pieces of batting side-by-side (but do not overlap) and sew the pieces together. Heat press Batting Together is another option to join batting.
Please feel free to share your comments below. Let me know if you have found a particular batting that gave you amazing results or if there are other solutions that can be added to this list.
