Which cotton bat for hand quilting

[Georgia B.]

The first time I used a cotton bat, I hand quilted it. It was soooo difficult to push the needle through that I swore to never hand quilt a cotton bat again. So I've been machine quilting them, but I really want to hand quilt. Is there a chart somewhere online that shows the different bats and ease of quilting? Seems like when I go to mfg's website, they all say they have a bat that is easy to hand quilt, but I don't trust them any more. Or perhaps someone here knows of a type of cotton bat that is easy to quilt?

[wendy w.]

I would imagine they all are. I would take a needle shopping and try it in different ones myself :?

[wendy w.]

Request by Quilter's Dream is an excellent cotton batt. I use Hobbs 100% Heirloom Organic Cotton too. Use good needles, for example Roxanne betweens. And, try using a finger cot on your thumb on the needle holding hand; it helps to grip the needle so you don't struggle to pull the needle through.

[Rita C.]

Have you tried wool? I made a wool quilt and used wool batting and it was a dream to stitch through - like butter. Alex has a class on this in the classroom here where she discusses the different battings for hand quilting.

[Rita C.]

Indeed, wool needles really nice. However, if you want an old-fashioned look, 100% cotton is a must. I forgot to mention in my earlier response, that it is well worth the effort to do a run of test of samples. I struggled through quilting a bed size quilt with a hard to needle bat. So, I made samples of 100% cotton, Request, Hobbs, Fairfield, Mountain Mist, as well as wool, and the 80/20 blends. I used a rectangle 6 inches x 8 inches sandwiching the batts between rectangles of muslin. On one side I hand quilted, and on the other I machine quilted. I basted around the perimeter and used a Sharpie permanent marker to write on the lower edge what it was. Then, I machine washed and dried the samples. I can't tell you how often I refer to those samples. I keep them on a ring in my studio for reference.

[Rita C.]

Thanks for the info! It's a great idea to get samples. I didn't know they'd send them. I'm sure wool is wonderful, but I'm looking for cotton. I do use high quality needles and a thimble, but quilting that cotton bat was a chore instead of a pleasure.